Teaching Tip: individualized assignments
By: Barbara Millis
April 13th, 2007
Overview:
Design an individualized assignment that’s easy to grade. Have all students do the same assignment with different data. Assign data sets or have the student choose. WebCampus has an option to grade discussions.
That means that you can have students post their answers in view of the rest of the class. If students are expected to complete their assignments with data different than all others, they must actually read the other postings.
The type of student who posts early is the type that would go back and look at others’ writings. The type who waits until the last minute finds that he or she must read through the entire class’s postings in order to create an original post.
Example 1:
- Students are sent to the Fortune 500 list. Each student picks a company and researches its Internet privacy policy. On the Discussion Board, the student answers several questions about cookies, SSL and information “sharing.”
The student posts his or her opinion on the company’s policy. Two examples are given so that students understand the expectations for the assignment. Since students must use a company not yet posted, they get a good idea of what Fortune 500 companies are and are not doing to protect privacy and to collect and sell information.
Example 2:
- Each student is randomly assigned three countries. Students are assigned a range of projects throughout the semester to improve Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Access skills.
The projects culminate in a PowerPoint presentation that uses charts and data from each of the previous projects. The projects are easy to grade as they all have the same expectations, however, they are nearly impossible to plagiarize.
Online Resources:
This list can help you create an individualized assignment for your students.
| Name | Type of information | 50 States | Facts about each state |
| CIA World Factbook | Demographic, economic, etc. | ClassesUSA | Degree and certificate programs |
| Dictionary.Com | Word lookup |
| Education Resources Information Center | Journals, articles, etc. |
| eHow | Instructions for everything |
| Electronic Crime Scene Investigation | Crime scene investigations |
| Ellis Island Foundation | Immigration information |
| Enchanted Learning | U.S. presidents |
| Family Watchdog | National sex offenders |
| FastWeb | Scholarships |
| Federal Bureau of Investigation | Most wanted, crimes, investigations |
| FF Toolbox | Fantasy Football Rankings |
| Fortune 500 List | Top 500 Companies |
| Genomes Online (GOLD) | Genome projects |
| Google Earth | Pictoral database |
| Internet Movie Database | Movies |
| Landings | Pilot information |
| MedlinePlus | Prescribed drugs |
| Missing Money | Unclaimed property |
| Monster.com | Jobs database |
| MySpace Database | MySpace resources |
| National Weather Service | Hourly stats since 1996 |
| National Wildfire database | Wildfire mitigation programs |
| Pet Finder | Lost and found animals |
| Political Money Line | Campaign contributions |
| Rejection Hotline | Phone numbers |
| Surf Line | Surfing conditions |
| U.S. Census | Demographic, economic, etc. |
| U.S. Patent and Trademark Office | Patents |
| USACOPS | Careers in law enforcement |
| WebMD | Medical |
| WWW Music database | Music, artists and songs |
| You Tube | Video archive |
Source: Sandy Week, College of Business Administration
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Barbara Millis, director of the Excellence in Teaching Program, can be reached at millis@unr.edu.
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