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A Complete Analysis of Assignment of Design Rights

Karan Singh | Updated: Mar 01, 2022 | Category: Design

Industrial Designs are part of the appealing section, but they are also used as a blueprint for the production of handcrafted/industrial goods. The appealing part of a practical object that must appeal to the sense of sight and may include the shape, colour, or pattern of the article is known as Industrial Design. For the Design Registration, an Industrial Design must be unique and new. For a time duration of 5, 10, or 15 years, Designs are safeguarded against illegal replication or duplication. In this blog, we shall discuss the Assignment of Design Rights.

Table of Contents

What is the meaning of Design?

Before we discuss the Assignment of Design Rights, let’s understand the meaning of Design and Assignment. According to Section 2(d) of the Designs Act, 2000 , Design refers to only the features of shape, pattern, ornament, configuration, or composition of lines or colour or their combination thereof applied to any article, whether 2-d or 3-d or in both forms, by any industrial process or means, whether mechanical, manual, or chemical, separate or combined which is the completed article appeal to & are judged simply by the eye, but it eliminates any principle, mode, construction, as defined in Clause (V) of sub-section of Section 3 of the Trade & Merchandise Marks Act, 1958 , artistic works or property mark as defined under Section 2(c) of the Copyright Act, 1957 .

What is an Assignment?

The assignment is a legal term that refers to the transfer of property, rights, or other benefits from one individual to another (assignor). Both property law & contract law make use of this assignment term. The assignment term can relate to either the act of transferring or the transferred benefits, rights, or property.

Assignment of Design Rights

Section 30 of the Design Act , as amended by Rules 32, 33, 34 & 35 of the Design Rules, 2001 , recognised contracts for the Assignment of Design Rights and set up a method for their recording. Section 30(1) of the Act facilitates that if an individual acquires the Copyright in a registered Design through transmission, assignments, or other legal means, he or she may apply to the Controller in the given form to register their title. As per Section 30(3) of the Design Act, 2000, an Assignment of Design Rights should be in written form, and the agreement between both the parties should be lessened to the form of an instrument personify all of the terms & conditions governing their rights & obligations, and the application for title Registration under such instrument should be filed in the suggested manner with the Controller within the specified time, i.e., 6 months of the execution date. The person registered as the Design owner has the exclusive right to assign their rights, as per Section 30(4) of the Design Act, 2000.

Only if the Copyright of Design is statutorily recognised under the necessities of the Designs Act is it protected. Similarly, 3 rd party rights obtained via licenses or assignments are only effective if they are properly registered in accordance with the necessities of the Act and the Rules enacted thereunder. Under the Law of Design, there is no concept of a common-law license.

Assignment of Design Rights with the help of Agreements

Assignment Agreements deals with the transfer of IP Rights from one individual or company to another. An Intellectual Property Agreement is a documented & enforceable contract that completes & formalises a purchase and sale of IPRs between two organisations. Patents, Trademarks, and/or Copyrights are an example of Intellectual Property that can be purchased. Assignment Agreements differ from license agreements in that an Assignment Agreement transfers ownership of IP from the assignor to the assignee; on the other side, a licence agreement only permits the licensee to use the IP for a definite time.

An Assignment Agreement can’t be compared to a negotiating document since, in a negotiation, the transferee may get a superior title than the transferor, which cannot occur in a transfer or assignment. An Assignment Agreement may comprise an overall and exclusive sale of the rights, granting the assignee complete ownership of IPRs to exploit them in any way, shape, or form it sees fit, subject to any constraint set for the in the Assignment Agreement. These contracts are governed or regulated in India under the Indian Contract Act, 1972 & the Indian Stamp Act, Of 1899 .

Process of Assignment of Design Rights under Design Act, 2000

• After Design Registration , an ownership application under Rule 33 of the Design Rules, 2001 should be made to the Controller for the title Registration in the new owner’s name;
• The agreement of Assignment of Design Rights should be written, and all of the parties’ concerns must be given in the form of the instrument, including all the terms & conditions, as per Rule 37 of the Design Rules;
• After all, necessities have been completed, and the Assignment of Design Rights will be enforceable from that date;
• Within 6 months of the implementation or execution date of the instrument, a title registration application should be submitted. This period can be extended for an extra 6 months.

The Design Act, 2000 [1] and Copyright Act safeguard the rights of the actual designer & deal with the transfer of rights to succeeding owners. Section 30 of the Act and Rules 32-35 of the Design Rules, 2001 deal with the Assignment of Design Rights. If they are not written carefully as required by law, these agreements give birth to legal & equitable rights in law & raise a slide of concerns.

As a result, it is a perfect idea to comprise Agreement terms that handle concerns like jurisdiction, ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution), and governing law to make sure that disagreements are resolved quickly. It’s a lawfully binding agreement that should adhere to all valid laws.

Read our Article : Rectification of Design in India – An Overview

A legal writing enthusiast, a wanderer, and a zealous reader. After gaining a lot of knowledge about the diverse legal topics and developing research skills, Karan joined the league of legal content writers to deliver quality-rich blogs.

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Assignment of Design to Constructors: Documentation and drawings

by Keith Robinson, RSW, FCSC, FCSI, Cameron Franchuk, PE, and Gerald Murnane

Recent pressures have caused responsibility for many design solutions to be transferred to the constructor, as mentioned in Part 1 and Part 2 of this series. To properly complete deferred design, a solid understanding of regulations surrounding shop drawings, specifications, submittals, and other types of documentation is necessary.

Documentation regulations

The International Building Code ( IBC ) does not require supporting registered professionals to submit documentation detailing their commitment to design and compliance following site reviews. However, this is required of the registered professional of record (RPR) so there is a record of assurances to address building permit and occupancy obligations to the authorities having jurisdiction (AHJs). The following are some examples of documentation regulations set by architectural and engineering associations in the United States and Canada.

The New York State Education Department (NYSED) Office of the Professions requires professional engineers licensed by the New York State Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE-NY) and architects licensed under other jurisdictions to follow design delegation guidelines. These guidelines state a design professional may delegate through or accept delegation from a contractor or subcontractor for the design of certain ancillary building components or systems when all parameters the design must satisfy are clearly stated, with a further ruling the supporting registered professional design the solution based on the RPR’s performance specifications.

Two Canadian organizations, Engineers and Geoscientists BC (EGBC) and the Architectural Institute of British Columbia (AIBC), established guidelines for documentation mirroring each other’s responsibilities, which are intended to be completed by the supporting registered professional and are retained by the RPR as a part of the permanent project file.

In Canada, the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta (APEGA) requires specialty professionals ( i.e. supporting registered professionals) to complete letters of commitment and compliance to provide closure to the responsibility of the applicable component of deferred or collaborative design, confirm whether site review is required to certify component completion, and offer assurance that the specialty professional is competent in the work being performed. These are retained by the RPR as a part ofthe permanent project file.

Professional Engineers Ontario (PEO) in Canada requires specialty engineers ( i.e. supporting registered professionals) to complete the standard form for commitment to general review and letter of general conformance when site visits form a part of the work for assurance of installed components. These documents prove specialty engineers are qualified to perform the work being provided to the project and are retained by the RPR as a part of the permanent project file.

Other jurisdictions

Other jurisdictions have similar requirements for the supporting registered professional. Although not identified as well as in the previous references, some form of documentation indicating responsibility for the completed work is required from the supporting registered professional in these areas and is retained by the RPR as a part of the permanent project file. For example, under the Missouri Code of State Regulations ( CSR ), the  rule 20 CSR 2030-21.020, “Engineer of Record and Specialty Engineers,” includes definitions, communication and performance requirements, and participant responsibilities. Also, under the California Code of Regulations ( CCR ), Title 21, Division 1-21, “Designation of Responsibilities for Public School Standards,” includes definitions, the types of delegation that are permitted, and participant responsibilities.

Submittal of the various commitment and compliance documents identified by professional engineering associations establishes a similar relationship with the constructor’s engineer as with the subconsultants. They are responsible for their portion of design in a similar way as the coordinating professional of record (CPR), except liability associated with that risk is administered by the RPR.

Document submittal and shop drawing expectations

Guidance governing the best practice expectations for treatment of various types of submittals and shop drawings provided by the constructor during the construction period is similarly fractured between various engineering and architectural associations. Other forms of contract, such as the ones that are available from AIA and ConsensusDOCS in the United States, contain words describing responsibilities for ‘signed and sealed’ submissions specifically assigned to the constructor.

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India: All You Need To Know About The Assignment Of Design Rights

Industrial design.

Industrial designs are part of the aesthetic sector, but they're also meant to be used as a blueprint for the production of industrial or handcrafted goods. The ornamental or aesthetic part of a practical object that must appeal to the sense of sight and may consist of the shape, pattern, and/or colour of the article is known as industrial design. To be protected, an industrial design must be new and original. For a period of five, ten, or fifteen years, industrial designs are protected against unlawful duplication or replication.

According to Section 2(d) of the Designs Act, 2000, design refers to "only the features of shape, configuration, pattern or ornament or composition of lines or color or a combination thereof applied to any article, whether two dimensional or three dimensional or in both forms, by any industrial process or means, whether manual, mechanical or chemical, separate or combined, which in the finished article appeal to and are judged solely by the eye," but it excludes "any mode or principle or construction", as defined in clause (v) of sub-section of Section 2 of the Trade and Merchandise Marks Act, 1958, property mark or artistic works as defined under Section 2(c) of the Copyright Act, 1957.

Assignment of Design rights

Assignment is a legal phrase that refers to the transfer of rights, property, or other benefits from one person to another (the "assignor"). Both contract and property law make use of this term. The term can relate to either the act of transferring or the transferred rights/property/benefits.

Section 30 of the Design Act of 2000( Hereinafter referred to as "Act"), as amended by Rules 32, 33, 34, and 35 of the Design Rules of 2001, recognizes design assignment contracts and establishes a method for their recording. Section 30(1) of the Design Act provides that if a person acquires the copyright in a registered design through assignments, transmission, or other legal means, he may apply to the Controller in the specified form to register his title. According to Section 30(3) of the Design Act of 2000, an assignment must be in writing, and the agreement between the parties must be reduced to the form of an instrument embodying all of the terms and conditions governing their rights and obligations, and the application for registration of title under such instrument must be filed in the prescribed manner with the Controller within the stipulated time-that is, within six months of the execution date. The person registered as the proprietor of the design has the absolute right to assign the design rights, according to Section 30(4) of the Design Act of 2000.

Only if the design's Copyright is statutorily recognised under the requirements of the Designs Act, 2000, is it protected. Similarly, third-party rights obtained through assignments or licences are only effective if they are properly registered in accordance with the Act's requirements and the Rules enacted thereunder. Under design law, there is no concept of a common law licence.

Assignment of the Semiconductor Integrated Circuits Layout Design

An electronic circuit made on the surface of semiconductor material is known as a semiconductor integrated circuit. Integrated circuits have transformed the field of electronics by being employed in practically all electronic devices currently in use. The sheer quantity of electronic appliances we use on a daily basis demonstrates the significance of semiconductor integrated circuits or chips in today's environment.

The layout or arrangement of the chip determines its ability to perform a specific function. As a result, a second enactment was required to protect the chip designer's investment. In India, the Semiconductor Integrated Circuits Layouts Design Act of 2000 would provide this protection.This was done in accordance with India's commitments under the TRIPS Agreement.

'An assignment in writing by act of the parties concerned,' according to Section 2(b) of the Semiconductor Integrated Circuits Layout-Design Act, 2000. According to Section 19 of the Act, the registration of the design, as well as all subsequent assignments, will serve as prima facie evidence of its validity.

Assignments and Transmissions are covered in Chapter V of the Semiconductor Integrated Circuits Layouts Design Act, 2000. Section 20 of the Semiconductor Integrated Circuits Layouts Design Act of 2000 gives the owner of a layout design the authority to assign the layout design and to issue effective receipts for any money received in exchange for the assignment.This is subject to the provisions of the aforementioned Act, as well as any rights that appear to be vested in another person based on the register. A registered layout-design is assignable and transmissible with or without the goodwill of the business involved under Section 21 of the Semiconductor Integrated Circuits Layouts Design Act, 2000.According to Section 22 of the Semiconductor Integrated Circuits Layouts Design Act, 2000, when an integrated circuit layout is assigned without goodwill, the assignment will not take effect unless the assignee applies to the Registrar for directions with respect to the assignment not later than six months from the date on which the assignment is made or within such extended period, if any, not exceeding three months in the aggregate, as the Registrar may allow. The assignee must register the title with the registrar, according to Section 23 of the Semiconductor Integrated Circuits Layouts Design Act, 2000.If the matter is still before the registrar or an appeal from an order therefrom is pending, Section 24 of the Semiconductor Integrated Circuits Layouts Design Act, 2000 prohibits the assignee from utilizing the registration as proof of title.

These rights can be assigned with the help of Assignment Agreements

Assignment agreements deal with the transfer of intellectual property rights from one person or organisation to another. An Intellectual Property Agreement (IP Agreement) or an Intellectual Property Assignment Agreement is a documented and enforceable contract that completes and formalizes a purchase and sale of intellectual property rights between two organisations. Copyrights, trademarks, and/or patents are examples of intellectual property that can be purchased. Assignment agreements differ from licence agreements in that an assignment agreement transfers ownership of intellectual property from the assignor to the assignee, whereas a licence agreement merely allows the licensee to use the intellectual property for a certain time.

An assignment agreement cannot be compared to a negotiating document since in a negotiation, the transferee may obtain a superior title than the transferor, which cannot occur in an assignment/transfer.

An assignment agreement may include a complete and exclusive sale of the rights, granting the assignee complete ownership of the intellectual property rights to exploit them in any way, shape, or form it sees fit, subject to any constraints set forth in the agreement. These contracts are governed in India under the Indian Contract Act of 1872 and the Indian Stamp Act of 1899.

Process of Assignment under Designs Act, 2000

• After a design is registered, an application for ownership under Rule 33 of the Design Rules, 2001 must be made to the Controller for the registration of title in the new owner's name.
• The agreement of assignment must be written, and all of the parties' concerns should be provided in the form of the instrument comprising all of the terms and conditions, according to Rule 37 of the Design Rules.
• After all requirements have been completed and the assignment of rights has been registered with the register of designs, the assignment of rights will be enforceable from that date.
• Within six months of the instrument's implementation date, a title registration application must be submitted. This period can be extended for an additional six months.

The Design Act of 2000 and the Copyright Act of 1957 protect the rights of the original designer and deal with the transfer of rights to succeeding owners. The Assignment Agreement assists two parties in transferring intellectual property rights to one another for product development and commercial purposes. Section 30 of the Design Act and Rules 32-35 of the Design Rules, 2001 deal with design assignment agreements. If they are not carefully written as required by law, these assignment agreements give birth to legal and equitable rights in law and raise a slew of concerns.As a result, it's a good idea to include Assignment Agreement terms that handle concerns like governing law, jurisdiction, and Alternative Dispute Resolution to ensure that disagreements are resolved quickly. It is a legally binding agreement that must adhere to all applicable laws. The enforceability of assignment agreements encourages these individuals to develop innovative technologies that benefit society in the long run. In addition to adhering to these Rules, it is critical to ensure that the agreement properly identifies who owns what. The task must be specific, as well as the duration for which the individual will be the owner of the intellectual property.This would serve as a safeguard in the event of a potential dispute over the Design's ownership.

All You Need To Know About The Assignment Of Design Rights

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.

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Teaching Commons > Teaching Guides > Assignment Design

Assignment Design

Here's a short list of some general assignment design strategies that apply to a wide variety of disciplines.

A number of strategies for deterring plagiarism are discussed, including asking your students to write about current topics relevant to your course and staging essay assignments throughout the quarter.

​Integrative learning occurs when students make connections among ideas and experiences in order to transfer learning to new contexts.​

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Designing Assignments and Presenting Them to Students

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Here are some ways to help students learn your subject through writing about it, while developing their writing skills at the same time. Designing your assignments with learning in mind is the single most important way you can support students’ development as writers. Research on student learning demonstrates that many problems of language use and reasoning dissipate when students are engaged with their subject matter and are aware of their purposes for writing. Plagiarism also decreases when students can see a pathway to success. (See our pages Deterring Plagiarism for more discussion of this benefit, and Effective Instructional Techniques for a list of teaching activities to back up your good assignments.) 

NOTE: The page Books and Articles on Writing in the Disciplines lists a number of books with further suggestions and examples for assignment design: see especially Bean, Walvoord and Anderson, and Wright and Herteis. The research basis for these ideas is evident in the works by Beyer et al., Light, Russell, and Thaiss and Zawacki.

Assignment Prompts: Telling Students What You Want

• Keep showing how writing is used for learning and thinking in your discipline: e.g., by commenting on the ways knowledge is produced and disseminated in your field, by analysing the style and organization of course readings, by asking invited speakers about their writing practices e.g., by mentioning your own use of writing as a way to develop ideas and discuss them with others. 
• Create assignment prompts that refer explicitly to elements in the course:    e.g., “apply what you have learned about theories of deviance,” “formulate a hypothesis as defined in Lab 4,” “locate this article’s position in the current arguments about X.”      
• Ask questions that will lead students beyond mere summary or replication of sources: e.g., “Critically evaluate which of the two levels of analysis offers the best explanation for war,” “Choose an important detail or key word and show its function in the novel,” “To what extent is statement A true?”
• Ask students for various modes of writing, not always essays and reports: e.g., microthemes (concise pieces of 150-200 words): abstract of a required reading, summary of one side of a controversy, interpretation of given set of data, solution of a quandary e.g., non-linear genres: response journals to readings or field work, diagrams, posters, cartoons, videos, blogs (NOTE: specify whether and how to document sources) e.g., real-world genres (especially of types seen in course readings): government briefing paper, environmental impact statement, museum display notes, manual for clients or the public (again, let students know whether academic documentation is needed). 
• Describe success in realistic and understandable terms: e.g., by formulating grading criteria (perhaps as a rubric with numerical values, or as a checklist of specific expectations, or as a description of good work, or a description by grade levels) e.g., by showing examples of past student writing with commentary on what exactly makes them good—or improvable.
• Define the reader (and thus a role for the writer)—not always yourself or your TA: e.g., “explain to other students in your class who have not read the work,” “write as a scientific expert to managers who do not all have your background,” “advise the foreign minister of Lower Slabovia,” “be a director before rehearsals begin.”
• Help students avoid pitfalls by anticipating their questions and assumptions (keeping in mind that conventions may differ greatly among courses they are taking): e.g., about narrowing of topic, use of sources, use and placement of thesis statement, first-person references, expectation of documentation if writing in non-academic genre, documentation system.

NOTE: Specifications like those in points 5-7 can sometimes be given in appendices or separate pages to avoid overloading the assignment instructions. Some should also be explained or demonstrated orally in class.

Presenting Assignments: Reinforcing Students’ Motivation

• Give students many chances at writing and being read, starting early in the course, and sometimes ungraded or for only a few marks:  e.g., by asking for two-minute papers or exit notes at the end of a lecture or tutorial (What was the clearest point today? the muddiest point?), then reading the set through quickly and commenting on what was said at the start of the next class.
• Demonstrate  what you mean by the logical or cognitive operations you name (discuss, analyse/synthesize, compare/contrast, criticize, evaluate, etc.); Instructional librarians and writing specialists are sometimes available to visit your class to help in these sessions.  e.g., by drawing diagrams on the board, by outlining a good answer, by citing published models, by commenting on the organizational patterns in course readings, by leading class or tutorial exercises that practice the operations e.g., by using some class time to show and practice ways of understanding and developing assignment topics (focussing broad topics, generating lists of potential questions and controversies in specific topics, using search terms to find relevant resources).
• Similarly, let students know what you expect when you name a genre of writing (essay, report, book review, peer review, journal, journal article, critical response, reflective response, blog, annotated bibliography, literature review, case study, brief, memo): e.g., by describing its function in the discipline and/or profession (including types of readers), noting differences in function and form from high school or from other courses, supplying examples and noting range of adaptations. 
• * Most importantly, ensure that students have a chance to apply your feedback and learn from trial and error:     e.g., by scaffolding a sequence of assignments (summary of one article, comparison of two, then analysis of three or more) e.g., by structuring larger assignments in two or more stages (proposal, first draft, revised draft; introduction and thesis statement, then full paper)

Coaching Through the Process: Getting Students to Take Responsibility

• Ask students to write or talk briefly in class about their progress and discoveries as they work on longer projects. Expressing anxieties can lead to discussion of possible strategies. 
• Suggest that students write focus statements periodically as they draft, for themselves or as part of class exercises: state briefly why they have included a particular point, what they want to say about it, and why that is worth saying. These exercises can help both those who are blocked and those who ramble, and they can reassure the anxious that they have something to say.
• Structure peer review sessions (in class or online) so students respond to each other as authentic readers in the discipline, not just untrained proofreaders. You can ask pairs of students to look briefly at an excerpt from each other’s work (e.g., a first paragraph or an outline), then challenge them each to summarize what they remember. Or for longer projects, ask students to look at each other’s drafts in class or online and answer simple focussed questions: “What was the most interesting idea in this piece?” “What points need clarifying?” “Did all sections of the paper relate to the stated thesis?” 
• Refuse to let students’ problems of process become your problems of grading. Encourage students to consult you in office hours—it’s easier to look at flawed drafts than mark awful final copies. Comment on cogency and coherence of reasoning, and note points where you genuinely can’t follow the argument, then ask the student to come up with solutions. Find passages you can admire, say why, and ask the student for more of the same qualities.
• Encourage all students to find and use other sources of writing instruction. The lefthand menu on this website leads to information about Writing Centres and Writing Courses at U of T. The News and Writing Plus pages outline non-credit group instruction. Direct students also to relevant handouts in the Advice section (including one on Understanding Essay Topics ). 
• Refer students to specialists when needed. Help is available at U of T for anxious students ( Academic Success Centre ), students with possible learning disabilities (e.g. showing a striking discrepancy between oral and written performance: Accessibility Services ), students facing challenges in learning English as a second or third or fourth language (our section for English Language Learners sets out the range of resources). Present your suggestion as an opportunity to improve and develop. Then follow up by commenting on specific improvements and by asking students about their learning experiences.

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Getting Started with Creative Assignments

Creative teaching and learning can be cultivated in any course context to increase student engagement and motivation, and promote thinking skills that are critical to problem-solving and innovation. This resource features examples of Columbia faculty who teach creatively and have reimagined their course assessments to allow students to demonstrate their learning in creative ways. Drawing on these examples, this resource provides suggestions for creating a classroom environment that supports student engagement in creative activities and assignments.  

On this page:

• The What and Why of Creative Assignments

Examples of Creative Teaching and Learning at Columbia

• How To Get Started

The What and Why of Creative Assignments  

Creative assignments encourage students to think in innovative ways as they demonstrate their learning. Thinking creatively involves combining or synthesizing information or course materials in new ways and is characterized by “a high degree of innovation, divergent thinking, and risk-taking” (AAC&U). It is associated with imagination and originality, and additional characteristics include: being open to new ideas and perspectives, believing alternatives exist, withholding judgment, generating multiple approaches to problems, and trying new ways to generate ideas  (DiYanni, 2015: 41). Creative thinking is considered an important skill alongside critical thinking in tackling contemporary problems. Critical thinking allows students to evaluate the information presented to them while creative thinking is a process that allows students to generate new ideas and innovate.

Creative assignments can be integrated into any course regardless of discipline. Examples include the use of infographic assignments in Nursing (Chicca and Chunta, 2020) and Chemistry (Kothari, Castañeda, and McNeil, 2019); podcasting assignments in Social Work (Hitchcock, Sage & Sage, 2021); digital storytelling assignments in Psychology (Sheafer, 2017) and Sociology (Vaughn and Leon, 2021); and incorporating creative writing in the economics classroom (Davis, 2019) or reflective writing into Calculus assignment ( Gerstle, 2017) just to name a few. In a 2014 study, organic chemistry students who elected to begin their lab reports with a creative narrative were more excited to learn and earned better grades (Henry, Owens, and Tawney, 2015). In a public policy course, students who engaged in additional creative problem-solving exercises that included imaginative scenarios and alternative solution-finding showed greater interest in government reform and attentiveness to civic issues (Wukich and Siciliano, 2014).

The benefits of creative assignments include increased student engagement, motivation, and satisfaction (Snyder et al., 2013: 165); and furthered student learning of course content (Reynolds, Stevens, and West, 2013). These types of assignments promote innovation, academic integrity, student self-awareness/ metacognition (e.g., when students engage in reflection through journal assignments), and can be made authentic as students develop and apply skills to real-world situations.  

When instructors give students open-ended assignments, they provide opportunities for students to think creatively as they work on a deliverable. They “unlock potential” (Ranjan & Gabora and Beghetto in Gregerson et al., 2013) for students to synthesize their knowledge and propose novel solutions. This promotes higher-level thinking as outlined in the revised Bloom’s Taxonomy’s “create” cognitive process category: “putting elements together to form a novel coherent whole or make an original product,” this involves generating ideas, planning, and producing something new. 

The examples that follow highlight creative assignments in the Columbia University classroom. The featured Columbia faculty taught creatively – they tried new strategies, purposefully varied classroom activities and assessment modalities, and encouraged their students to take control of what and how they were learning (James & Brookfield, 2014: 66).

Dr. Cruz changed her course assessment by “moving away from high stakes assessments like a final paper or a final exam, to more open-ended and creative models of assessments.”  Students were given the opportunity to synthesize their course learning, with options on topic and format of how to demonstrate their learning and to do so individually or in groups. They explored topics that were meaningful to them and related to the course material. Dr. Cruz noted that “This emphasis on playfulness and creativity led to fantastic final projects including a graphic novel interpretation, a video essay that applied critical theory to multiple texts, and an interactive virtual museum.” Students “took the opportunity to use their creative skills, or the skills they were interested in exploring because some of them had to develop new skills to produce these projects.” (Dr. Cruz; Dead Ideas in Teaching and Learning , Season 3, Episode 6). Along with their projects, students submitted an artist’s statement, where they had to explain and justify their choices. 

Dr. Cruz noted that grading creative assignments require advanced planning. In her case, she worked closely with her TAs to develop a rubric that was shared with students in advance for full transparency and emphasized the importance of students connecting ideas to analytical arguments discussed in the class. 

Watch Dr. Cruz’s 2021 Symposium presentation. Listen to Dr. Cruz talk about The Power of Blended Classrooms in Season 3, Episode 6 of the Dead Ideas in Teaching and Learning podcast. Get a glimpse into Dr. Cruz’s online classroom and her creative teaching and the design of learning experiences that enhanced critical thinking, creativity, curiosity, and community by viewing her Voices of Hybrid and Online Teaching and Learning submission.

As part of his standard practice, Dr. Yesilevskiy scaffolds assignments – from less complex to more complex – to ensure students integrate the concepts they learn in the class into their projects or new experiments. For example, in Laboratory 1, Dr. Yesilevskiy slowly increases the amount of independence in each experiment over the semester: students are given a full procedure in the first experiment and by course end, students are submitting new experiment proposals to Dr. Yesilevskiy for approval. This is creative thinking in action. Students not only learned how to “replicate existing experiments, but also to formulate and conduct new ones.”

Watch Dr. Yesilevskiy’s 2021 Symposium presentation. 

How Do I Get Started?: Strategies to Support Creative Assignments

The previous section showcases examples of creative assignments in action at Columbia. To help you support such creative assignments in your classroom, this section details three strategies to support creative assignments and creative thinking. Firstly, re-consider the design of your assignments to optimize students’ creative output. Secondly, scaffold creative assignments using low-stakes classroom activities that build creative capacity. Finally, cultivate a classroom environment that supports creative thinking.     

Design Considerations for Creative Assignments 

Thoughtfully designed open-ended assignments and evaluation plans encourage students to demonstrate their learning in authentic ways. When designing creative assignments, consider the following suggestions for structuring and communicating to your students about the assignment. 

Set clear expectations . Students may feel lost in the ambiguity and complexity of an open-ended assignment that requires them to create something new. Communicate the creative outcomes and learning objectives for the assignments (Ranjan & Gabora, 2013), and how students will be expected to draw on their learning in the course. Articulare how much flexibility and choice students have in determining what they work on and how they work on it. Share the criteria or a rubric that will be used to evaluate student deliverables. See the CTL’s resource Incorporating Rubrics Into Your Feedback and Grading Practices . If planning to evaluate creative thinking, consider adapting the American Association of Colleges and Universities’ creative thinking VALUE rubric . 

Structure the project to sustain engagement and promote integrity. Consider how the project might be broken into smaller assignments that build upon each other and culminate in a synthesis project. The example presented above from Dr. Yesilevskiy’s teaching highlights how he scaffolded lab complexity, progressing from structured to student-driven. See the section below “Activities to Prepare Students for Creative Assignments” for sample activities to scaffold this work. 

Create opportunities for ongoing feedback . Provide feedback at all phases of the assignment from idea inception through milestones to completion. Leverage office hours for individual or group conversations and feedback on project proposals, progress, and issues. See the CTL’s resource on Feedback for Learning . Consider creating opportunities for structured peer review for students to give each other feedback on their work. Students benefit from learning about their peers’ projects, and seeing different perspectives and approaches to accomplishing the open-ended assignment. See the CTL’s resource Peer Review: Intentional Design for Any Course Context . 

Share resources to support students in their work. Ensure all students have access to the resources they will need to be successful on the assigned project. Connect students with campus resources that can help them accomplish the project’s objectives. For instance, if students are working on a research project – connect them to the Library instruction modules “ From Books to Bytes: Navigating the Research Ecosystem ,” encourage them to schedule a consultation with a specialist for research support through Columbia Libraries , or seek out writing support. If students will need equipment to complete their project, remind them of campus resources such as makerspaces (e.g., The Makerspace @ Columbia in Room 254 Engineering Terrace/Mudd; Design Center at Barnard College); borrowing equipment (e.g., Instructional Media and Technology Services (IMATS) at Barnard; Gabe M. Wiener Music & Arts Library ). 

Ask students to submit a self-reflection with their project. Encourage students to reflect on their process and the decisions they made in order to complete the project. Provide guiding questions that have students reflect on their learning, make meaning, and engage their metacognitive thinking skills (see the CTL’s resource of Metacognition ). Students can be asked to apply the rubric to their work or to submit a creative statement along with their work that describes their intent and ownership of the project.

Collect feedback from students and iterate. Invite students to give feedback on the assigned creative project, as well as the classroom environment and creative activities used. Tell students how you will use their suggestions to make improvements to activities and assignments, and make adjustments to the classroom environment. See the CTL’s resource on Early and Mid-Semester Student Feedback . 

Low-Stakes Activities to Prepare Students for Creative Assignments

The activities described below are meant to be scaffolded opportunities leading to a larger creative project. They are low-stakes, non-graded activities that make time in the classroom for students to think, brainstorm, and create (Desrochers and Zell, 2012) and prepare them to do the creative thinking needed to complete course assignments. The activities can be adapted for any course context, with or without the use of technology, and can be done individually or collaboratively (see the CTL’s resource on Collaborative Learning to explore digital tools that are available for group work). 

Brainstorming 

Brainstorming is a process that students can engage in to generate as many ideas as possible related to a topic of study or an assignment topic (Sweet et al., 2013: 87). As they engage in this messy and jugement-free work, students explore a range of possibilities. Brainstorming reveals students’ prior knowledge (Ambrose et al., 2010: 29). Brainstorm activities are useful early on to help create a classroom culture rooted in creativity while also serving as a potential icebreaker activity that helps instructors learn more about what prior knowledge and experiences students are bringing to the course or unit of study. This activity can be done individually or in groups, and in class or asynchronously. Components may include:

• Prompt students to list off (individually or collaboratively) their ideas on a whiteboard, free write in a Google Doc or some other digital space. 
• Provide formative feedback to assist students to further develop their ideas.
• Invite students to reflect on the brainstorm process, look over their ideas and determine which idea to explore further.

Mind mapping

A mind map, also known as a cognitive or concept map, allows students to visually display their thinking and knowledge organization, through lines connecting concepts, arrows showing relationships, and other visual cues (Sweet et al., 2013: 89; Ambrose et al. 2010: 63). This challenges students to synthesize and be creative as they display words, ideas, tasks or principles (Barkley, 2010: 219-225). A mind mapping activity can be done individually or in groups, and in class or asynchronously. This activity can be an extension of a brainstorming session, whereby students take an idea from their brainstormed list and further develop it. 

Components of a mind mapping activity may include:

• Prompt students to create a map of their thinking on a topic, concept, or question. This can be done on paper, on a whiteboard, or with digital mind mapping or whiteboard tools such as Google Drawing.
• Provide formative feedback on the mind maps.
• Invite students to reflect on their mind map, and determine where to go next.

Digital storytelling

Digital storytelling involves integrating multimedia (images, text, video, audio, etc.) and narrative to produce immersive stories that connect with course content. Student-produced stories can promote engagement and learning in a way that is both personal and universal (McLellan, 2007). Digital storytelling contributes to learning through student voice and creativity in constructing meaning (Rossiter and Garcia, 2010). 

Tools such as the CTL-developed Mediathread as well as EdDiscussion support collaborative annotation of media objects. These annotations can be used in writing and discussions, which can involve creating a story. For freeform formats, digital whiteboards allow students to drop in different text and media and make connections between these elements. Such storytelling can be done collaboratively or simply shared during class. Finally, EdBlogs can be used for a blog format, or Google Slides if a presentation format is better suited for the learning objective.

Asking questions to explore new possibilities

Tap into student imagination, stimulate curiosity, and create memorable learning experiences by asking students to pose “What if?” “why” and “how” questions – how might things be done differently; what will a situation look like if it is viewed from a new perspective?; or what could a new approach to solving a problem look like? (James & Brookfield, 2014: 163). Powerful questions are open-ended ones where the answer is not immediately apparent; such questions encourage students to think about a topic in new ways, and they promote learning as students work to answer them (James & Brookfield, 2014: 163). Setting aside time for students to ask lots of questions in the classroom and bringing in questions posed on CourseWorks Discussions or EdDiscussion sends the message to students that their questions matter and play a role in learning. 

Cultivate Creative Thinking in the Classroom Environment

Create a classroom environment that encourages experimentation and thinking from new and diverse perspectives. This type of environment encourages students to share their ideas without inhibition and personalize the meaning-making process. “Creative environments facilitate intentional acts of divergent (idea generation, collaboration, and design thinking) and convergent (analysis of ideas, products, and content created) thinking processes.” (Sweet et al., 2013: 20)

Encourage risk-taking and learning from mistakes . Taking risks in the classroom can be anxiety inducing so students will benefit from reassurance that their creativity and all ideas are welcome. When students bring up unexpected ideas, rather than redirecting or dismissing, seize it as an opportunity for a conversation in which students can share, challenge, and affirm ideas (Beghetto, 2013). Let students know that they can make mistakes, “think outside of the box” without penalty (Desrochers and Zell, 2012), and embrace failure seeing it as a learning opportunity.

Model creative thinking . Model curiosity and how to ask powerful questions, and encourage students to be curious about everything (Synder et al., 2013, DiYanni, 2015). Give students a glimpse into your own creative thinking process – how you would approach an open-ended question, problem, or assignment? Turn your own mistakes into teachable moments. By modeling creative thinking, you are giving students permission to engage in this type of thinking.

Build a community that supports the creative classroom environment. Have students get to know and interact with each other so that they become comfortable asking questions and taking risks in front of and with their peers. See the CTL’s resource on Community Building in the Classroom . This is especially important if you are planning to have students collaborate on creative activities and assignments and/or engage in peer review of each other’s work. 

Plan for play. Play is integral to learning (Cavanagh, 2021; Eyler, 2018; Tatter, 2019). Play cultivates a low stress, high trust, inclusive environment, as students build relationships with each. This allows students to feel more comfortable in the classroom and motivates them to tackle more difficult content (Forbes, 2021). Set aside time for play (Ranjan & Gabora, 2013; Sinfield, Burns, & Abegglen, 2018). Design for play with purpose grounded in learning goals. Create a structured play session during which students experiment with a new topic, idea, or tool and connect it to curricular content or their learning experience. Play can be facilitated through educational games such as puzzles, video games, trivia competitions, scavenger hunts or role-playing activities in which students actively apply knowledge and skills as they act out their role (Eyler, 2018; Barkley, 2010). For an example of role-playing games explore Reacting to the Past , an active learning pedagogy of role-playing games developed by Mark Carnes at Barnard College. 

The CTL is here to help!

CTL consultants are happy to support instructors as they design activities and assignments that promote creative thinking. Email [email protected] to schedule a consultation.

Ambrose et al. (2010). How Learning Works: 7 Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching. Jossey-Bass.

Barkley, E. F., Major, C. H., and Cross, K. P. (2014). Collaborative Learning Techniques: A Handbook for College Faculty . 

Barkley, E. F. (2010) Student Engagement Techniques: A Handbook for College Faculty.

Beghetto, R. (2013). Expect the Unexpected: Teaching for Creativity in the Micromoments. In M.B. Gregerson, H.T. Snyder, and J.C. Kaufman (Eds.). Teaching Creatively and Teaching Creativity . Springer. 

Cavanagh, S. R. (2021). How to Play in the College Classroom in a Pandemic, and Why You Should . The Chronicle of Higher Education. February 9, 2021.

Chicca, J. and Chunta, K, (2020). Engaging Students with Visual Stories: Using Infographics in Nursing Education . Teaching and Learning in Nursing. 15(1), 32-36.

Davis, M. E. (2019). Poetry and economics: Creativity, engagement and learning in the economics classroom. International Review of Economics Education. Volume 30. 

Desrochers, C. G. and Zell, D. (2012). Gave projects, tests, or assignments that required original or creative thinking! POD-IDEA Center Notes on Instruction. 

DiYanni, R. (2015). Critical and creative thinking : A brief guide for teachers . John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. 

Eyler, J. R. (2018). How Humans Learn. The Science and Stories Behind Effective College Teaching. West Virginia University Press. 

Forbes, L. K. (2021). The Process of Play in Learning in Higher Education: A Phenomenological Study. Journal of Teaching and Learning. Vol. 15, No. 1, pp. 57-73. 

Gerstle, K. (2017). Incorporating Meaningful Reflection into Calculus Assignments. PRIMUS. Problems, Resources, and Issues in Mathematics Undergraduate Studies. 29(1), 71-81.

Gregerson, M. B., Snyder, H. T., and Kaufman, J. C. (2013). Teaching Creatively and Teaching Creativity . Springer. 

Henry, M., Owens, E. A., and Tawney, J. G. (2015). Creative Report Writing in Undergraduate Organic Chemistry Laboratory Inspires Non Majors. Journal of Chemical Education , 92, 90-95.

Hitchcock, L. I., Sage, T., Lynch, M. and Sage, M. (2021). Podcasting as a Pedagogical Tool for Experiential Learning in Social Work Education. Journal of Teaching in Social Work . 41(2). 172-191.

James, A., & Brookfield, S. D. (2014). Engaging imagination : Helping students become creative and reflective thinkers . John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated.

Jackson, N. (2008). Tackling the Wicked Problem of Creativity in Higher Education.

Jackson, N. (2006). Creativity in higher education. SCEPTrE Scholarly Paper , 3 , 1-25.

Kleiman, P. (2008). Towards transformation: conceptions of creativity in higher education.

Kothari, D., Hall, A. O., Castañeda, C. A., and McNeil, A. J. (2019). Connecting Organic Chemistry Concepts with Real-World Context by Creating Infographics. Journal of Chemistry Education. 96(11), 2524-2527. 

McLellan, H. (2007). Digital Storytelling in Higher Education. Journal of Computing in Higher Education. 19, 65-79. 

Ranjan, A., & Gabora, L. (2013). Creative Ideas for Actualizing Student Potential. In M.B. Gregerson, H.T. Snyder, and J.C. Kaufman (Eds.). Teaching Creatively and Teaching Creativity . Springer. 

Rossiter, M. and Garcia, P. A. (2010). Digital Storytelling: A New Player on the Narrative Field. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education. No. 126, Summer 2010. 

Sheafer, V. (2017). Using digital storytelling to teach psychology: A preliminary investigation. Psychology Learning & Teaching. 16(1), 133-143. 

Sinfield, S., Burns, B., & Abegglen, S. (2018). Exploration: Becoming Playful – The Power of a Ludic Module. In A. James and C. Nerantzi (Eds.). The Power of Play in Higher Education . Palgrave Macmillan.

Reynolds, C., Stevens, D. D., and West, E. (2013). “I’m in a Professional School! Why Are You Making Me Do This?” A Cross-Disciplinary Study of the Use of Creative Classroom Projects on Student Learning. College Teaching. 61: 51-59.

Sweet, C., Carpenter, R., Blythe, H., and Apostel, S. (2013). Teaching Applied Creative Thinking: A New Pedagogy  for the 21st Century. Stillwater, OK: New Forums Press Inc. 

Tatter, G. (2019). Playing to Learn: How a pedagogy of play can enliven the classroom, for students of all ages . Harvard Graduate School of Education. 

Vaughn, M. P. and Leon, D. (2021). The Personal Is Political Art: Using Digital Storytelling to Teaching Sociology of Sexualities. Teaching Sociology. 49(3), 245-255. 

Wukich, C. and Siciliano, M. D. (2014). Problem Solving and Creativity in Public Policy Courses: Promoting Interest and Civic Engagement. Journal of Political Science Education . 10, 352-368.

CTL resources and technology for you.

• Overview of all CTL Resources and Technology

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Eberly Center

Teaching excellence & educational innovation, creating assignments.

Here are some general suggestions and questions to consider when creating assignments. There are also many other resources in print and on the web that provide examples of interesting, discipline-specific assignment ideas.

Consider your learning objectives.

What do you want students to learn in your course? What could they do that would show you that they have learned it? To determine assignments that truly serve your course objectives, it is useful to write out your objectives in this form: I want my students to be able to ____. Use active, measurable verbs as you complete that sentence (e.g., compare theories, discuss ramifications, recommend strategies), and your learning objectives will point you towards suitable assignments.

Design assignments that are interesting and challenging.

This is the fun side of assignment design. Consider how to focus students’ thinking in ways that are creative, challenging, and motivating. Think beyond the conventional assignment type! For example, one American historian requires students to write diary entries for a hypothetical Nebraska farmwoman in the 1890s. By specifying that students’ diary entries must demonstrate the breadth of their historical knowledge (e.g., gender, economics, technology, diet, family structure), the instructor gets students to exercise their imaginations while also accomplishing the learning objectives of the course (Walvoord & Anderson, 1989, p. 25).

Double-check alignment.

After creating your assignments, go back to your learning objectives and make sure there is still a good match between what you want students to learn and what you are asking them to do. If you find a mismatch, you will need to adjust either the assignments or the learning objectives. For instance, if your goal is for students to be able to analyze and evaluate texts, but your assignments only ask them to summarize texts, you would need to add an analytical and evaluative dimension to some assignments or rethink your learning objectives.

Name assignments accurately.

Students can be misled by assignments that are named inappropriately. For example, if you want students to analyze a product’s strengths and weaknesses but you call the assignment a “product description,” students may focus all their energies on the descriptive, not the critical, elements of the task. Thus, it is important to ensure that the titles of your assignments communicate their intention accurately to students.

Consider sequencing.

Think about how to order your assignments so that they build skills in a logical sequence. Ideally, assignments that require the most synthesis of skills and knowledge should come later in the semester, preceded by smaller assignments that build these skills incrementally. For example, if an instructor’s final assignment is a research project that requires students to evaluate a technological solution to an environmental problem, earlier assignments should reinforce component skills, including the ability to identify and discuss key environmental issues, apply evaluative criteria, and find appropriate research sources.

Think about scheduling.

Consider your intended assignments in relation to the academic calendar and decide how they can be reasonably spaced throughout the semester, taking into account holidays and key campus events. Consider how long it will take students to complete all parts of the assignment (e.g., planning, library research, reading, coordinating groups, writing, integrating the contributions of team members, developing a presentation), and be sure to allow sufficient time between assignments.

Check feasibility.

Is the workload you have in mind reasonable for your students? Is the grading burden manageable for you? Sometimes there are ways to reduce workload (whether for you or for students) without compromising learning objectives. For example, if a primary objective in assigning a project is for students to identify an interesting engineering problem and do some preliminary research on it, it might be reasonable to require students to submit a project proposal and annotated bibliography rather than a fully developed report. If your learning objectives are clear, you will see where corners can be cut without sacrificing educational quality.

Articulate the task description clearly.

If an assignment is vague, students may interpret it any number of ways – and not necessarily how you intended. Thus, it is critical to clearly and unambiguously identify the task students are to do (e.g., design a website to help high school students locate environmental resources, create an annotated bibliography of readings on apartheid). It can be helpful to differentiate the central task (what students are supposed to produce) from other advice and information you provide in your assignment description.

Establish clear performance criteria.

Different instructors apply different criteria when grading student work, so it’s important that you clearly articulate to students what your criteria are. To do so, think about the best student work you have seen on similar tasks and try to identify the specific characteristics that made it excellent, such as clarity of thought, originality, logical organization, or use of a wide range of sources. Then identify the characteristics of the worst student work you have seen, such as shaky evidence, weak organizational structure, or lack of focus. Identifying these characteristics can help you consciously articulate the criteria you already apply. It is important to communicate these criteria to students, whether in your assignment description or as a separate rubric or scoring guide . Clearly articulated performance criteria can prevent unnecessary confusion about your expectations while also setting a high standard for students to meet.

Specify the intended audience.

Students make assumptions about the audience they are addressing in papers and presentations, which influences how they pitch their message. For example, students may assume that, since the instructor is their primary audience, they do not need to define discipline-specific terms or concepts. These assumptions may not match the instructor’s expectations. Thus, it is important on assignments to specify the intended audience http://wac.colostate.edu/intro/pop10e.cfm (e.g., undergraduates with no biology background, a potential funder who does not know engineering).

Specify the purpose of the assignment.

If students are unclear about the goals or purpose of the assignment, they may make unnecessary mistakes. For example, if students believe an assignment is focused on summarizing research as opposed to evaluating it, they may seriously miscalculate the task and put their energies in the wrong place. The same is true they think the goal of an economics problem set is to find the correct answer, rather than demonstrate a clear chain of economic reasoning. Consequently, it is important to make your objectives for the assignment clear to students.

Specify the parameters.

If you have specific parameters in mind for the assignment (e.g., length, size, formatting, citation conventions) you should be sure to specify them in your assignment description. Otherwise, students may misapply conventions and formats they learned in other courses that are not appropriate for yours.

A Checklist for Designing Assignments

Here is a set of questions you can ask yourself when creating an assignment.

• Provided a written description of the assignment (in the syllabus or in a separate document)?
• Specified the purpose of the assignment?
• Indicated the intended audience?
• Articulated the instructions in precise and unambiguous language?
• Provided information about the appropriate format and presentation (e.g., page length, typed, cover sheet, bibliography)?  
• Indicated special instructions, such as a particular citation style or headings?  
• Specified the due date and the consequences for missing it?
• Articulated performance criteria clearly?
• Indicated the assignment’s point value or percentage of the course grade?
• Provided students (where appropriate) with models or samples?

Adapted from the WAC Clearinghouse at http://wac.colostate.edu/intro/pop10e.cfm .

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Designing assignments.

Making a few revisions to your writing assignments can make a big difference in the writing your students will produce. The most effective changes involve specifying what you would like students to do in the assignment and suggesting concrete steps students can take to achieve that goal.

Clarify what you want your students to do…and why they’re doing it

Kerry Walk, former director of the Princeton Writing Program, offers these principles to consider when designing a writing assignment (condensed and adapted from the original): “At least one sentence on your assignment sheet should explicitly state what you want students to do. The assignment is usually signaled by a verb, such as “analyze,” “assess,” “explain,” or “discuss.” For example, in a history course, after reading a model biography, students were directed as follows: ‘Your assignment is to write your own biographical essay on Mao, using Mao’s reminiscences (as told to a Western journalist), speeches, encyclopedia articles, a medical account from Mao’s physician, and two contradictory obituaries.’ In addition, including a purpose for the assignment can provide crucial focus and guidance. Explaining to students why they’re doing a particular assignment can help them grasp the big picture—what you’re trying to teach them and why learning it is worthwhile. For example, ‘This assignment has three goals: for you to (1) see how the concepts we’ve learned thus far can be used in a different field from economics, (2) learn how to write about a model, and (3) learn to critique a model or how to defend one.’”

Link course writing goals to assignments

Students are more likely to understand what you are asking them to do if the assignment re-uses language that you’ve already introduced in class discussions, in writing activities, or in your Writing Guide. In the assignment below, Yale professor Dorlores Hayden uses writing terms that have been introduced in class:

Choose your home town or any other town or city you have lived in for at least a year. Based upon the readings on the history of transportation, discuss how well or how poorly pedestrian, horse-drawn, steam- powered, and electric transportation might have served your town or city before the gasoline automobile. (If you live in a twentieth-century automobile-oriented suburb, consider rural transportation patterns before the car and the suburban houses.) How did topography affect transportation choices? How did transportation choices affect the local economy and the built environment? Length, 1000 words (4 typed pages plus a plan of the place and/or a photograph). Be sure to argue a strong thesis and back it up with quotations from the readings as well as your own analysis of the plan or photograph.

Give students methods for approaching their work

Strong writing assignments not only identify a clear writing task, they often provide suggestions for how students might begin to accomplish the task. In order to avoid overloading students with information and suggestions, it is often useful to separate the assignment prompt and the advice for approaching the assignment. Below is an example of this strategy from one of Yale’s English 114 sections:

Assignment: In the essays we have read so far, a debate has emerged over what constitutes cosmopolitan practice , loosely defined as concrete actions motivated by a cosmopolitan philosophy or perspective. Using these readings as evidence, write a 5-6-page essay in which you make an argument for your own definition of effective cosmopolitan practice.

Method: In order to develop this essay, you must engage in a critical conversation with the essays we have read in class. In creating your definition of cosmopolitan practice, you will necessarily draw upon the ideas of these authors. You must show how you are building upon, altering, or working in opposition to their ideas and definitions through your quotation and analysis of their concepts and evidence.

Questions to consider:  These questions are designed to prompt your thinking. You do not need to address all these questions in the body of your essay; instead, refer to any of these issues only as they support your ideas.

• How would you define cosmopolitan practice? How does your definition draw upon or conflict with the definitions offered by the authors we have read so far?
• What are the strengths of your definition of cosmopolitan practice? What problems does it address? How do the essays we have read support those strengths? How do those strengths address weaknesses in other writers’ arguments?
• What are the limitations or problems with your definition? How would the authors we have read critique your definition? How would you respond to those critiques?

Case Study: A Sample Writing Assignment and Revision

A student responding to the following assignment felt totally at sea, with good reason:

Write an essay describing the various conceptions of property found in your readings and the different arguments for and against the distribution of property and the various justifications of, and attacks on, ownership. Which of these arguments has any merits? What is the role of property in the various political systems discussed? The essay should concentrate on Hobbes, Locke, and Marx.

“How am I supposed to structure the essay?” the student asked. “Address the first question, comparing the three guys? Address the second question, doing the same, etc.? … Do I talk about each author separately in terms of their conceptions of the nation, and then have a section that compares their arguments, or do I have a 4 part essay which is really 4 essays (two pages each) answering each question? What am I going to put in the intro, and the conclusion?” Given the tangle of ideas presented in the assignment, the student’s panic and confusion are understandable.

A better-formulated assignment poses significant challenges, but one of them is not wondering what the instructor secretly wants. Here’s a possible revision, which follows the guidelines suggested above:

[Course Name and Title]

[Instructor’s Name]

Due date: Thursday, February 24, at 11:10am in section

Length: 5-6pp. double-spaced

Limiting your reading to the sourcebook, write a comparative analysis of Hobbes’s, Locke’s, and Marx’s conceptions of property.

The purpose of this assignment is to help you synthesize some difficult political theory and identify the profound differences among some key theorists.

The best papers will focus on a single shared aspect of the theorists’ respective political ideologies, such as how property is distributed, whether it should be owned, or what role it serves politically. The best papers will not only focus on a specific topic, but will state a clear and arguable thesis about it (“the three authors have differing conceptions of property” is neither) and go on to describe and assess the authors’ viewpoints clearly and concisely.

Note that this revised assignment is now not only clearer than the original; it also requires less regurgitation and more sustained thought.

For more information about crafting and staging your assignments, see “ The Papers We Want to Read ” by Linda Simon, Social Studies; Jan/Feb90, Vol. 81 Issue 1, p37, 3p. (The link to Simon’s article will only work if your computer is on the Yale campus.) See also the discussion of Revising Assignments in the section of this website on Addressing Plagiarism .

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Assignment Design and Assessment

Assignments are a major part of pedagogy. Designing assignments can therefore be one of the most influential elements of classroom teaching. Thoughtful assignment design can support student learning by helping students practice meaningful tasks that carry on into their careers or across the curriculum.

The graphic below illustrates how assessment can provide a continuous process of planning, measuring, analyzing results, and using the results to make informed decisions that lead to improvements. Because learning is a process that is driven by the products it produces at each stage, it is important to think about how assignments are designed and assessed so that they can support student learning.

Below are several videos describing a range of assessment techniques:

Transparency in Assignments

Transparent assignments promote students’ conscious understanding of how they learn. Research from the Transparency in Teaching and Learning Project has shown that when students understand the task, its purpose, and the criteria for evaluating their work, they are more motivated. That doesn’t mean we don’t give students challenging work, rather, that we help them understand the struggles we design for them.

Our adaptation of Palmer’s transparent assignment template is a great tool for helping faculty think through how to make the learning process clear to students.

Click on the links below for exemplary assignments from a range of disciplines at UCF.

• Humanities Assignment
• Business Assignment
• Public Administration Assignment
• Public Speaking Assignment and Evaluation Sheet
• Biomedical Science Assignment and Peer Review Sheet
• General Group Project Assignment

More Information About Assessment

For information about UCF’s Academic Learning Compacts (ALCs), see Operational Excellence and Assessment Support .

Read more about providing students with effective feedback here: https://lsa.umich.edu/sweetland/instructors/teaching-resources/giving-feedback-on-student-writing.html

General Assignment Design Good Practices

Below are some general suggestions to consider when creating assignments:

• Identify the learning outcomes. What do you want students to learn? What kind of assignment will focus on developing and demonstrating those skills and knowledge?
• Design assignments that are engaging. Consider how to engage students and focus their efforts in ways that are interesting, challenging, and motivating. What might interest students about a given topic or assignment?
• Clearly articulate the purpose of the assignment. Share with students how the knowledge, skills or activities may be useful in the students’ major, career, civic or personal life. This may include values or human dimensions – what students learn about themselves or interacting with others – as well as academics.
• Describe the component tasks clearly. Make the key steps in your assignment explicit, so all students are aware of them. If an assignment is vague, students may interpret it any number of ways – and not necessarily how you intended. While strong students can fill in the gaps, weaker students are disadvantaged.
• Situate each assignment in the course context. Consider how your assignment builds on students’ prior learning in your course or in previous courses. Could you include low stakes practice opportunities – with some feedback – for any skills or steps that are key to your assignment or course?
• Identify the intended audience. Students should consider the audience they’re addressing in papers and presentations, which influences how they pitch their message and other communication choices.
• Specify the format and other parameters. If you have specific parameters for the assignment (e.g., length, size, formatting, citation conventions), specify them in your assignment prompt. Otherwise, students may misapply conventions and formats they learned in other courses; your assignment can help students learn to apply communication conventions and approaches appropriate to the discipline and task.
• Provide clear performance criteria. Clearly articulate to students what your criteria are for strong work, either in your assignment prompt or as a separate rubric or scoring guide. Clear criteria, shared in student friendly language, can prevent confusion about expectations while also setting a high standard for students to meet.
• Share strong samples. If possible, share models or (annotated) samples of strong student work with your class.
• Give the assignment’s time frame and value. Be sure to include milestones and due dates, and any penalties, as well as the assignment’s point value / percentage of students’ grade.
• Consider scaffolding large, complex assignments. It can be beneficial to break complex assignments into smaller components and provide feedback along the way. This approach helps keep students on track, so their efforts are effective, and can be especially useful in group assignments, so you can intervene if needed.

Additional Resources and Scholarship

Cook, L. & Fusch, D. (2016). One Easy Way Faculty Can Improve Student Success . Academic Impressions.

Hutchings, P. (2016).  Aligning Educational Outcomes and Practices (PDF)  (Occasional Paper #26). Urbana, IL: University of Illinois and Indiana University, National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (NILOA).

Hutchings, P., et al. (2014). Catalyzing Assignment Design Activity on Your Campus: Lessons from NILOA’s Assignment Library Initiative (PDF) .  Urbana, IL: University of Illinois and Indiana University, National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (NILOA).

Hutchings, P. (2010).  Opening Doors to Faculty Involvement in Assessment (PDF)  (Occasional Paper #4). Urbana, IL: University of Illinois and Indiana University, National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (NILOA).

Note: Please contact ACE to borrow a book.

Barkley, E. & Major, C. (2016). Learning Assessment Techniques: A Handbook for College Faculty . San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Fink, L. (2013). Creating Significant Learning Experiences: An Integrated Approach to Designing College Courses .   San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

McKeachie, W. & Svinicki, M. (2013). McKeachie’s Teaching Tips . Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Skene, A. & Fedko, S. (2010). Assignment Scaffolding (PDF) . Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Scarborough Centre for Teaching and Learning.

• MEMBERSHIPS & AWARDS
• CAREERS & INTERNSHIPS

All You Need To Know About The Assignment Of Design Rights

Introduction

Industrial design

Industrial designs are part of the aesthetic sector, but they’re also meant to be used as a blueprint for the production of industrial or handcrafted goods. The ornamental or aesthetic part of a practical object that must appeal to the sense of sight and may consist of the shape, pattern, and/or colour of the article is known as industrial design. To be protected, an industrial design must be new and original. For a period of five, ten, or fifteen years, industrial designs are protected against unlawful duplication or replication.

According to Section 2(d) of the Designs Act, 2000, design refers to “only the features of shape, configuration, pattern or ornament or composition of lines or color or a combination thereof applied to any article, whether two dimensional or three dimensional or in both forms, by any industrial process or means, whether manual, mechanical or chemical, separate or combined, which in the finished article appeal to and are judged solely by the eye,” but it excludes “any mode or principle or construction”, as defined in clause (v) of sub-section of Section 2 of the Trade and Merchandise Marks Act, 1958, property mark or artistic works as defined under Section 2(c) of the Copyright Act, 1957 .

Assignment of Design rights

Assignment is a legal phrase that refers to the transfer of rights, property, or other benefits from one person to another (the “assignor”). Both contract and property law make use of this term. The term can relate to either the act of transferring or the transferred rights/property/benefits.

Section 30 of the Design Act of 2000( Hereinafter referred to as “Act”), as amended by Rules 32, 33, 34, and 35 of the Design Rules of 2001, recognizes design assignment contracts and establishes a method for their recording. Section 30(1) of the Design Act provides that if a person acquires the copyright in a registered design through assignments, transmission, or other legal means, he may apply to the Controller in the specified form to register his title. According to Section 30(3) of the Design Act of 2000, an assignment must be in writing, and the agreement between the parties must be reduced to the form of an instrument embodying all of the terms and conditions governing their rights and obligations, and the application for registration of title under such instrument must be filed in the prescribed manner with the Controller within the stipulated time-that is, within six months of the execution date. The person registered as the proprietor of the design has the absolute right to assign the design rights, according to Section 30(4) of the Design Act of 2000.

Only if the design’s Copyright is statutorily recognised under the requirements of the Designs Act, 2000, is it protected. Similarly, third-party rights obtained through assignments or licences are only effective if they are properly registered in accordance with the Act’s requirements and the Rules enacted thereunder. Under design law, there is no concept of a common law licence.

Assignment of the Semiconductor Integrated Circuits Layout Design

An electronic circuit made on the surface of semiconductor material is known as a semiconductor integrated circuit. Integrated circuits have transformed the field of electronics by being employed in practically all electronic devices currently in use. The sheer quantity of electronic appliances we use on a daily basis demonstrates the significance of semiconductor integrated circuits or chips in today’s environment.

The layout or arrangement of the chip determines its ability to perform a specific function. As a result, a second enactment was required to protect the chip designer’s investment. In India, the Semiconductor Integrated Circuits Layouts Design Act of 2000 would provide this protection.This was done in accordance with India’s commitments under the TRIPS Agreement.

‘An assignment in writing by act of the parties concerned,’ according to Section 2(b) of the Semiconductor Integrated Circuits Layout-Design Act, 2000. According to Section 19 of the Act, the registration of the design, as well as all subsequent assignments, will serve as prima facie evidence of its validity.

Assignments and Transmissions are covered in Chapter V of the Semiconductor Integrated Circuits Layouts Design Act, 2000. Section 20 of the Semiconductor Integrated Circuits Layouts Design Act of 2000 gives the owner of a layout design the authority to assign the layout design and to issue effective receipts for any money received in exchange for the assignment.This is subject to the provisions of the aforementioned Act, as well as any rights that appear to be vested in another person based on the register. A registered layout-design is assignable and transmissible with or without the goodwill of the business involved under Section 21 of the Semiconductor Integrated Circuits Layouts Design Act, 2000.According to Section 22 of the Semiconductor Integrated Circuits Layouts Design Act, 2000, when an integrated circuit layout is assigned without goodwill, the assignment will not take effect unless the assignee applies to the Registrar for directions with respect to the assignment not later than six months from the date on which the assignment is made or within such extended period, if any, not exceeding three months in the aggregate, as the Registrar may allow. The assignee must register the title with the registrar, according to Section 23 of the Semiconductor Integrated Circuits Layouts Design Act, 2000.If the matter is still before the registrar or an appeal from an order therefrom is pending, Section 24 of the Semiconductor Integrated Circuits Layouts Design Act, 2000 prohibits the assignee from utilizing the registration as proof of title.

These rights can be assigned with the help of Assignment Agreements

Assignment agreements deal with the transfer of intellectual property rights from one person or organisation to another. An Intellectual Property Agreement (IP Agreement) or an Intellectual Property Assignment Agreement is a documented and enforceable contract that completes and formalizes a purchase and sale of intellectual property rights between two organisations. Copyrights, trademarks, and/or patents are examples of intellectual property that can be purchased.  Assignment agreements differ from licence agreements in that an assignment agreement transfers ownership of intellectual property from the assignor to the assignee, whereas a licence agreement merely allows the licensee to use the intellectual property for a certain time.

An assignment agreement cannot be compared to a negotiating document since in a negotiation, the transferee may obtain a superior title than the transferor, which cannot occur in an assignment/transfer.

An assignment agreement may include a complete and exclusive sale of the rights, granting the assignee complete ownership of the intellectual property rights to exploit them in any way, shape, or form it sees fit, subject to any constraints set forth in the agreement. These contracts are governed in India under the Indian Contract Act of 1872 and the Indian Stamp Act of 1899.

Process of Assignment under Designs Act, 2000

• After a design is registered, an application for ownership under Rule 33 of the Design Rules, 2001 must be made to the Controller for the registration of title in the new owner’s name.
• The agreement of assignment must be written, and all of the parties’ concerns should be provided in the form of the instrument comprising all of the terms and conditions, according to Rule 37 of the Design Rules.
• After all requirements have been completed and the assignment of rights has been registered with the register of designs, the assignment of rights will be enforceable from that date.
• Within six months of the instrument’s implementation date, a title registration application must be submitted. This period can be extended for an additional six months.

The Design Act of 2000 and the Copyright Act of 1957 protect the rights of the original designer and deal with the transfer of rights to succeeding owners. The Assignment Agreement assists two parties in transferring intellectual property rights to one another for product development and commercial purposes. Section 30 of the Design Act and Rules 32-35 of the Design Rules, 2001 deal with design assignment agreements. If they are not carefully written as required by law, these assignment agreements give birth to legal and equitable rights in law and raise a slew of concerns.As a result, it’s a good idea to include Assignment Agreement terms that handle concerns like governing law, jurisdiction, and Alternative Dispute Resolution to ensure that disagreements are resolved quickly. It is a legally binding agreement that must adhere to all applicable laws. The enforceability of assignment agreements encourages these individuals to develop innovative technologies that benefit society in the long run. In addition to adhering to these Rules, it is critical to ensure that the agreement properly identifies who owns what. The task must be specific, as well as the duration for which the individual will be the owner of the intellectual property.This would serve as a safeguard in the event of a potential dispute over the Design’s ownership.

Author:  Anuja Saraswat – a student of  B.A.LL.B (Hons.) from NMIMS Kirit P. Mehta School of Law (Mumbai), in case of any queries please contact/write back to us via email  [email protected]  or contact us at  Khurana & Khurana, Advocates and IP Attorneys .

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Assignment Design

Considering your course goals, reinforcing learning, giving instructions, additional resources.

A good assignment helps the professor and students pursue the learning goals of the course. Rather than starting with a prefabricated assignment, then, this is another opportune moment for backward design ; ideally, you start with your course goals and think creatively to devise work that will help you meet them. In practice, this means that a good assignment generally does two things: it reinforces important learning and offers an opportunity for the professor to assess the quality of that learning.

Seattle University English Professor John Bean, in his book Engaging Ideas , recommends asking yourself the following questions as you prepare to design an assignment:

• What are the main units or modules in my course?
• What are my main learning objectives for each of these modules and for the whole course? What are the chief concepts and principles that I want students to learn in each unit or module?
• What thinking skills am I trying to develop within each unit or module and throughout the whole course?
• Based on previous students’ experience, what are the most difficult aspects of my course for students?
• If I could change my students’ study habits, what would I most like to change?
• What difference do I want my course to make in my students’ lives—in their sense of self, their values, their ways of thinking? What is my unique stamp on this course? Ten years later, what do I want them to remember most about my course?

As you proceed, be clear (with yourself and, subsequently, with your students) on your specific goals for the students ( Learning Goals page ). It’s daunting to attempt to design an assignment that taps “critical thinking” (in all its possible forms), but it’s quite possible to craft something more focused, if your goal is also more focused. For example, if you want students to be able to come to conclusions amidst potentially contradictory information, you could assign a literature review that asks students to consider, weigh, and critique various scientific studies in order to summarize what we know about a particular phenomenon; if, on the other hand, “critical thinking” means (to you) the ability to question ideas effectively, you could ask students to deconstruct and evaluate an opinion piece. If you want students to gain an understanding of what it’s like to work in your field, you can get specific with that, too; would a poster presentation make the most sense, or the performance of an experiment, or an essay that conforms to your discipline’s manual of style? If you want students to have an “understanding of the topic,” does that mean the ability to produce facts when asked (which might call for a test, or a Q & A session following a presentation), or does it mean the ability to see gaps in the field’s understanding (which might warrant a practice grant proposal)? Determine exactly what you want from your students, and design the assignment to get at that exact thing.

Another consideration is the complexity of the learning goal . If you’re looking for something fairly complex, you could design assignments to build slowly toward the final outcome. For example, if you want students to be able to write a full-blown psychology research paper by the end of the semester, it might help to break that down into smaller chunks, asking them to put together an introduction first, and then a method section, and so on, each time giving them feedback so that they’re ultimately ready to successfully put together something complete. If the final project is a complicated performance, perhaps students could demonstrate successful singing separately from successful movement on the stage, and only then integrate the two.

Once you’ve determined the goals that will be the focus of the assignment, there’s no reason to keep them to yourself, of course. Share them with your students so that they’ll know the reason for the assignment, and how to focus their efforts.

Josiah Osgood discusses best practices when creating assignments in the classroom. : : Transcript

If designed well, an assignment gives students a chance to rehearse, practice, and integrate the most important knowledge and skills they’ve picked up thus far in the class—and even to learn new things . This is what makes it the opposite of busywork. First of all, if the assignment is truly germane to the subject matter and goals of the course, it’ll by necessity push students to review relevant material. Then, by asking students to restate, transform, and apply that material, the work will deepen understanding. An essay might require students to synthesize various readings or theories; a presentation demands that learners find ways to express ideas in their own words; a research proposal strengthens one’s grasp of concepts by pushing toward the application of those concepts. Along the way you might be interested in developing new knowledge or skills; for example, maybe you want students to investigate a topic but also practice the ability to work effectively with others; group work, if structured well, can help people attain interpersonal as well as academic goals. Blogging can, too.

It bears noting that, in many cases, students will need more than one round of practice in order to master what they need to master. Consider whether your second assignment should resemble your first in order to give them adequate experience before moving on to new things.

To this end, also consider whether more frequent, smaller assignments might lead to more practice opportunities (and perhaps more learning) than fewer, higher-stakes assignments.

As mentioned above, it’s important to let students know what your goals and expectations are for any given assignment . It can be especially helpful to give these instructions in multiple formats, including aloud and in writing. A written version of instructions, according to John Bean, has several advantages: “(1) it meets the need of sensing or concrete learners…(2) it gives all students something to refer to late at night when their class notes no longer seem so clear; (3) if your institution has a writing center, it helps writing consultants understand what the professor is looking for…(4) most importantly, it helps professors identify potential problems with the assignment and thus clarify its purpose and focus.” He further argues that assignment instructions should be clear about the nature of the task, the audience, format, expectations for students’ work process (e.g., revisions, group work, etc.), and the assessment criteria you’ll be applying.

It’s also important to avoid busywork for the teacher, and busywork happens when you end up grading something that tells you little to nothing important about students’ learning, just for the sake of having something to grade. Instead, aim to assign students work that demands relevant and informative performances . The bottom line is to assign work that allows students to demonstrate what you really want to see. An open-book take-home exam isn’t a great way to assess memorization of concepts, but it can be an excellent way to see what students do with those concepts when they have time to review them and gather their thoughts.

This is another place where rubrics come in handy, for you and for the students. Designing the rubric (and see our Assessment Portal for more on this) helps you to get clear on what you’re looking for, and—if you discover that your assignment, as originally designed, won’t give you much that’s worth grading—might even cause you to revise the assignment before sharing it with the students. Then, when the rubric is in students’ hands, it will (ideally) guide them to produce an assignment that will reveal what they’re capable of.

It’s also worth keeping in mind that “assessment” is not synonymous with “grading” ( Grading page ). It may be that you want to assign grades to each of your students’ assignments, or it may be that you want to use them simply to gather information (and you might, for example, give students full credit for effortful work rather than grades based on their relative effectiveness at the task).

• Sherry Linkon, English 750:* Humanities in the Community*** (A reflection assignment based on group coursework, with a clear statement about the goal of the assignment—”The point is not to complain (though some complaining may feel good) but to identify how the choices you and your colleagues make, not only about your event but in your interactions as a team, affect the project and your relationships”—as well as an articulation of grading criteria.
• Joshua Meredith, Human Resources Management 700: * Workplace Ethics*** (a combination oral and take-home written midterm exam , with a clear grading rubric.)
• Deb Sivigny, Theater and Performing Studies 170: * Principles of Design*** (a hands-on project asking students to design—and redesign—business cards reflecting, in terms of content and form, what these students “claimed as their own.”)
• Ernesto Vasquez del Aguila, Anthropology 342:* Masculinities*** (A final paper with multiple options for approaches and clear instructions on what each section of the paper should be doing. “Over time you will develop your own system for reading, taking notes and writing. However, despite differences between people’s approaches to essay writing, every good essay should follow this basic structure.”)
• Sabrina Wesley-Nero, Education, Inquiry, and Justice 401:* Capstone*** (A final proposal in which students are asked “to use the PEDIJ as a springboard toward how you define ‘what’s next’ and how what you’ve learned in EDIJ can impact education, educational equity, and/or education equality,” with a clear rubric provided.)
• Bean, John C. (2001). Engaging Ideas . San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
• Dartmouth University Institute for Writing and Rhetoric. Syllabus and Assignment Design .
• Weimer, Maryellen. How Assignment Design Shapes Student Learning . Faculty Focus, April 2015.
• Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship (CNDLS) 3520 Prospect St. NW #314 Washington, DC 20057
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Methodology

• What Is a Research Design | Types, Guide & Examples

What Is a Research Design | Types, Guide & Examples

Published on June 7, 2021 by Shona McCombes . Revised on November 20, 2023 by Pritha Bhandari.

A research design is a strategy for answering your   research question  using empirical data. Creating a research design means making decisions about:

• Your overall research objectives and approach
• Whether you’ll rely on primary research or secondary research
• Your sampling methods or criteria for selecting subjects
• Your data collection methods
• The procedures you’ll follow to collect data
• Your data analysis methods

A well-planned research design helps ensure that your methods match your research objectives and that you use the right kind of analysis for your data.

Table of contents

Step 1: consider your aims and approach, step 2: choose a type of research design, step 3: identify your population and sampling method, step 4: choose your data collection methods, step 5: plan your data collection procedures, step 6: decide on your data analysis strategies, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about research design.

• Introduction

Before you can start designing your research, you should already have a clear idea of the research question you want to investigate.

There are many different ways you could go about answering this question. Your research design choices should be driven by your aims and priorities—start by thinking carefully about what you want to achieve.

The first choice you need to make is whether you’ll take a qualitative or quantitative approach.

Qualitative research designs tend to be more flexible and inductive , allowing you to adjust your approach based on what you find throughout the research process.

Quantitative research designs tend to be more fixed and deductive , with variables and hypotheses clearly defined in advance of data collection.

It’s also possible to use a mixed-methods design that integrates aspects of both approaches. By combining qualitative and quantitative insights, you can gain a more complete picture of the problem you’re studying and strengthen the credibility of your conclusions.

Practical and ethical considerations when designing research

As well as scientific considerations, you need to think practically when designing your research. If your research involves people or animals, you also need to consider research ethics .

• How much time do you have to collect data and write up the research?
• Will you be able to gain access to the data you need (e.g., by travelling to a specific location or contacting specific people)?
• Do you have the necessary research skills (e.g., statistical analysis or interview techniques)?
• Will you need ethical approval ?

At each stage of the research design process, make sure that your choices are practically feasible.

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Within both qualitative and quantitative approaches, there are several types of research design to choose from. Each type provides a framework for the overall shape of your research.

Types of quantitative research designs

Quantitative designs can be split into four main types.

• Experimental and   quasi-experimental designs allow you to test cause-and-effect relationships
• Descriptive and correlational designs allow you to measure variables and describe relationships between them.

With descriptive and correlational designs, you can get a clear picture of characteristics, trends and relationships as they exist in the real world. However, you can’t draw conclusions about cause and effect (because correlation doesn’t imply causation ).

Experiments are the strongest way to test cause-and-effect relationships without the risk of other variables influencing the results. However, their controlled conditions may not always reflect how things work in the real world. They’re often also more difficult and expensive to implement.

Types of qualitative research designs

Qualitative designs are less strictly defined. This approach is about gaining a rich, detailed understanding of a specific context or phenomenon, and you can often be more creative and flexible in designing your research.

The table below shows some common types of qualitative design. They often have similar approaches in terms of data collection, but focus on different aspects when analyzing the data.

Your research design should clearly define who or what your research will focus on, and how you’ll go about choosing your participants or subjects.

In research, a population is the entire group that you want to draw conclusions about, while a sample is the smaller group of individuals you’ll actually collect data from.

Defining the population

A population can be made up of anything you want to study—plants, animals, organizations, texts, countries, etc. In the social sciences, it most often refers to a group of people.

For example, will you focus on people from a specific demographic, region or background? Are you interested in people with a certain job or medical condition, or users of a particular product?

The more precisely you define your population, the easier it will be to gather a representative sample.

• Sampling methods

Even with a narrowly defined population, it’s rarely possible to collect data from every individual. Instead, you’ll collect data from a sample.

To select a sample, there are two main approaches: probability sampling and non-probability sampling . The sampling method you use affects how confidently you can generalize your results to the population as a whole.

Probability sampling is the most statistically valid option, but it’s often difficult to achieve unless you’re dealing with a very small and accessible population.

For practical reasons, many studies use non-probability sampling, but it’s important to be aware of the limitations and carefully consider potential biases. You should always make an effort to gather a sample that’s as representative as possible of the population.

Case selection in qualitative research

In some types of qualitative designs, sampling may not be relevant.

For example, in an ethnography or a case study , your aim is to deeply understand a specific context, not to generalize to a population. Instead of sampling, you may simply aim to collect as much data as possible about the context you are studying.

In these types of design, you still have to carefully consider your choice of case or community. You should have a clear rationale for why this particular case is suitable for answering your research question .

For example, you might choose a case study that reveals an unusual or neglected aspect of your research problem, or you might choose several very similar or very different cases in order to compare them.

Data collection methods are ways of directly measuring variables and gathering information. They allow you to gain first-hand knowledge and original insights into your research problem.

You can choose just one data collection method, or use several methods in the same study.

Survey methods

Surveys allow you to collect data about opinions, behaviors, experiences, and characteristics by asking people directly. There are two main survey methods to choose from: questionnaires and interviews .

Observation methods

Observational studies allow you to collect data unobtrusively, observing characteristics, behaviors or social interactions without relying on self-reporting.

Observations may be conducted in real time, taking notes as you observe, or you might make audiovisual recordings for later analysis. They can be qualitative or quantitative.

Other methods of data collection

There are many other ways you might collect data depending on your field and topic.

If you’re not sure which methods will work best for your research design, try reading some papers in your field to see what kinds of data collection methods they used.

Secondary data

If you don’t have the time or resources to collect data from the population you’re interested in, you can also choose to use secondary data that other researchers already collected—for example, datasets from government surveys or previous studies on your topic.

With this raw data, you can do your own analysis to answer new research questions that weren’t addressed by the original study.

Using secondary data can expand the scope of your research, as you may be able to access much larger and more varied samples than you could collect yourself.

However, it also means you don’t have any control over which variables to measure or how to measure them, so the conclusions you can draw may be limited.

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As well as deciding on your methods, you need to plan exactly how you’ll use these methods to collect data that’s consistent, accurate, and unbiased.

Planning systematic procedures is especially important in quantitative research, where you need to precisely define your variables and ensure your measurements are high in reliability and validity.

Operationalization

Some variables, like height or age, are easily measured. But often you’ll be dealing with more abstract concepts, like satisfaction, anxiety, or competence. Operationalization means turning these fuzzy ideas into measurable indicators.

If you’re using observations , which events or actions will you count?

If you’re using surveys , which questions will you ask and what range of responses will be offered?

You may also choose to use or adapt existing materials designed to measure the concept you’re interested in—for example, questionnaires or inventories whose reliability and validity has already been established.

Reliability and validity

Reliability means your results can be consistently reproduced, while validity means that you’re actually measuring the concept you’re interested in.

For valid and reliable results, your measurement materials should be thoroughly researched and carefully designed. Plan your procedures to make sure you carry out the same steps in the same way for each participant.

If you’re developing a new questionnaire or other instrument to measure a specific concept, running a pilot study allows you to check its validity and reliability in advance.

Sampling procedures

As well as choosing an appropriate sampling method , you need a concrete plan for how you’ll actually contact and recruit your selected sample.

That means making decisions about things like:

• How many participants do you need for an adequate sample size?
• What inclusion and exclusion criteria will you use to identify eligible participants?
• How will you contact your sample—by mail, online, by phone, or in person?

If you’re using a probability sampling method , it’s important that everyone who is randomly selected actually participates in the study. How will you ensure a high response rate?

If you’re using a non-probability method , how will you avoid research bias and ensure a representative sample?

Data management

It’s also important to create a data management plan for organizing and storing your data.

Will you need to transcribe interviews or perform data entry for observations? You should anonymize and safeguard any sensitive data, and make sure it’s backed up regularly.

Keeping your data well-organized will save time when it comes to analyzing it. It can also help other researchers validate and add to your findings (high replicability ).

On its own, raw data can’t answer your research question. The last step of designing your research is planning how you’ll analyze the data.

Quantitative data analysis

In quantitative research, you’ll most likely use some form of statistical analysis . With statistics, you can summarize your sample data, make estimates, and test hypotheses.

Using descriptive statistics , you can summarize your sample data in terms of:

• The distribution of the data (e.g., the frequency of each score on a test)
• The central tendency of the data (e.g., the mean to describe the average score)
• The variability of the data (e.g., the standard deviation to describe how spread out the scores are)

The specific calculations you can do depend on the level of measurement of your variables.

Using inferential statistics , you can:

• Make estimates about the population based on your sample data.
• Test hypotheses about a relationship between variables.

Regression and correlation tests look for associations between two or more variables, while comparison tests (such as t tests and ANOVAs ) look for differences in the outcomes of different groups.

Your choice of statistical test depends on various aspects of your research design, including the types of variables you’re dealing with and the distribution of your data.

Qualitative data analysis

In qualitative research, your data will usually be very dense with information and ideas. Instead of summing it up in numbers, you’ll need to comb through the data in detail, interpret its meanings, identify patterns, and extract the parts that are most relevant to your research question.

Two of the most common approaches to doing this are thematic analysis and discourse analysis .

There are many other ways of analyzing qualitative data depending on the aims of your research. To get a sense of potential approaches, try reading some qualitative research papers in your field.

If you want to know more about the research process , methodology , research bias , or statistics , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

• Simple random sampling
• Stratified sampling
• Cluster sampling
• Likert scales
• Reproducibility

 Statistics

• Null hypothesis
• Statistical power
• Probability distribution
• Effect size
• Poisson distribution

Research bias

• Optimism bias
• Cognitive bias
• Implicit bias
• Hawthorne effect
• Anchoring bias
• Explicit bias

A research design is a strategy for answering your   research question . It defines your overall approach and determines how you will collect and analyze data.

A well-planned research design helps ensure that your methods match your research aims, that you collect high-quality data, and that you use the right kind of analysis to answer your questions, utilizing credible sources . This allows you to draw valid , trustworthy conclusions.

Quantitative research designs can be divided into two main categories:

• Correlational and descriptive designs are used to investigate characteristics, averages, trends, and associations between variables.
• Experimental and quasi-experimental designs are used to test causal relationships .

Qualitative research designs tend to be more flexible. Common types of qualitative design include case study , ethnography , and grounded theory designs.

The priorities of a research design can vary depending on the field, but you usually have to specify:

• Your research questions and/or hypotheses
• Your overall approach (e.g., qualitative or quantitative )
• The type of design you’re using (e.g., a survey , experiment , or case study )
• Your data collection methods (e.g., questionnaires , observations)
• Your data collection procedures (e.g., operationalization , timing and data management)
• Your data analysis methods (e.g., statistical tests  or thematic analysis )

A sample is a subset of individuals from a larger population . Sampling means selecting the group that you will actually collect data from in your research. For example, if you are researching the opinions of students in your university, you could survey a sample of 100 students.

In statistics, sampling allows you to test a hypothesis about the characteristics of a population.

Operationalization means turning abstract conceptual ideas into measurable observations.

For example, the concept of social anxiety isn’t directly observable, but it can be operationally defined in terms of self-rating scores, behavioral avoidance of crowded places, or physical anxiety symptoms in social situations.

Before collecting data , it’s important to consider how you will operationalize the variables that you want to measure.

A research project is an academic, scientific, or professional undertaking to answer a research question . Research projects can take many forms, such as qualitative or quantitative , descriptive , longitudinal , experimental , or correlational . What kind of research approach you choose will depend on your topic.

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News and Resources from UWGB's Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning

Assignment Design

There’s a fine line between assignment design and assessment strategies . In short, designing good assignments is one means of assessing your students’ learning on a larger scale.

Assignments help measure student learning in your course. Effective assignment design in your course involves aligning your assignments with learning outcomes. When assignments and outcomes are aligned, good grades and good learning go hand in hand ( https://www.cmu.edu/teaching/designteach/design/assessments.html ).

Assessments fall into one of two categories, formative or summative .

Formative assessments are typically low-stakes and help students identify their strengths and weaknesses so that they can improve their learning. Routine formative assessments also help instructors identify the areas where students are struggling and adapt their teaching accordingly.

Summative assessments evaluate student learning (such as at the end of a unit of instruction). Summative assessments are generally higher stakes (like midterm exams and final projects).

Assignments are what students actually ‘do’ as part of those assessments.

Incorporating a mix of assignment activities in your course can help students practice and demonstrate their mastery of outcomes in multiple ways. Consider ways you can design your assignments so that they better mirror the application of knowledge in real-world scenarios. Assignments designed in this way are often referred to as Authentic Assessments ( Authentic-assessment.pdf (uwex.edu)). One type of highly authentic assessment is the long-term project which challenges students to solve a problem or complete a challenge requiring the application of course concepts ( Project_Based_Learning.pdf (uwex.edu) ).

More details and examples can be found in the tabbed content box below. Please also consider signing up for a CATL consultation with one of our instructional designers for some personalized assistance in developing your ideas for assignments and ensuring that they align with your course outcomes .

(Adapted from Carnegie Mellon's:  Design and Teach a Course )

Assessments should provide instructors and students with evidence of how well students have mastered the course outcomes.

There are two major reasons for aligning assessments with learning outcomes.

• Alignment increases the probability that we will provide students with the opportunities to learn and practice knowledge and skills that instructors will require students know in the objectives and in the assessments. (Teaching to the assessment is a  good  thing.)
• When instructors align assessments with outcomes, students are more likely to translate "good grades" into "good learning." Conversely, when instructors misalign assessments with objectives, students will focus on getting good grades on the assessments, rather than focusing on mastering the material that the instructor finds important.

Instructors may use different types of assessments to measure student proficiency in a learning objective. Moreover, instructors may use the same activity to measure different objectives. To ensure a more accurate assessment of student proficiency, many instructional designers recommend that you use different kinds of activities so that students have multiple ways to practice and demonstrate their knowledge and skills.

Formative assessment

The goal of formative assessment is to  monitor student learning  to provide ongoing feedback that can be used by instructors to improve their teaching and by students to improve their learning. More specifically, formative assessments:

• help students identify their strengths and weaknesses and target areas that need work
• help faculty recognize where students are struggling and address problems immediately

Formative assessments are generally  low stakes , which means that they have low or no point value. Examples of formative assessments include asking students to:

• draw a concept map in class to represent their understanding of a topic
• submit one or two sentences identifying the main point of a lecture
• turn in a research proposal for early feedback

Summative assessment

The goal of summative assessment is to  evaluate student learning  at the end of an instructional unit by comparing it against some standard or benchmark.

Summative assessments are often  high stakes , which means that they have a high point value. Examples of summative assessments include:

• a midterm exam
• a final project
• a senior recital

Information from summative assessments can be used formatively when students or faculty use it to guide their efforts and activities in subsequent courses.

Formative Assessments:

• Reading quizzes
• Concept map
• Muddiest point
• Pro/con grid
• Focused paraphrasing
• Reflective journal
• Virtual lab/game
• Webconference
• Debate (synchronous or asynchronous)
• Participant research
• Peer review

Summative Assessments:

• Presentation
• Portfolio project

Carnegie Mellon University on Aligning Assessments with Objectives with examples.

Items to consider when weighing your assessment options:

If you are thinking about using discussions, be sure to think about the following:.

• What kind of questions/situations do you want the students to discuss? Is it complex enough to allow students to build knowledge beyond the textbook? Will the discussion help students meet your objectives (and develop an answer for your essential questions)?
• What are your expectations for discussions? Should students participate (post) a certain number of times, with a certain number of words, and reply to a certain number of people?
• What is your role in the discussion (traffic cop, the person who clarifies issues, will you respond to every post)?

If you are thinking about using quizzes, be sure to think about the following:

• What type of questions will help your students meet the objectives of the course? Are you going to grade essay questions or just let the computer grade multiple choice questions?
• What is the place for academic integrity? Are you going to randomize questions, randomize answers, restrict time, restrict the answers that students can see after completing the exam?
• How are you going to populate your quiz? Are you going to write the questions or use questions that come from a textbook publisher?

If you are thinking of using essays, be sure to think about the following:

• Will these essays/papers help students to meet the course objectives, which ones? Is the length of the essay appropriate?
• What do you think about plagiarism checkers such as TurnItIn?
• To what extent will you allow students to submit drafts, and will you provide feedback on drafts, or will you use a peer review system?

Other items to consider:

• Are you thinking about using an alternative assignment? If so, you may want to talk with an instructional technologist or designer.
• Consider the type of feedback you will provide for each assignment. What should students expect from you; how will you communicate those expectations; and how soon will you provide feedback (realistically)?

Further resources

Small teaching online.

This book (requires UWGB login) contains many tips that are easy to integrate into your distance education class. The chapter on “ surfacing backward design” contains many tips for assessment for online classes, many of which are adaptable to all distance modalities.

CATL Resources

• Collaborative Learning Assignments  (Toolbox article)
• Administering Tests and Quizzes (including alternatives) (Toolbox article)
• Writing Good Multiple Choice Questions ( TeAch Tuesday , YouTube)

Tip sheets from UW-System

UW-System put together some tip sheets for common sticking points in assessment for distance education.

• Writing effective multiple choice questions
• Authentic assessments
• Unproctored online assessments
• Project-based learning

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Product design assignments from top startups in India

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Assignments

Top startups in India use these assignments to test their candidates.

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This is a community-sourced project, the idea is to give you a set of problem statements to practice before appearing for an interview. It is highly unlikely that you'll get the same problem statements from respective companies. A community-sourced project by

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• Main content

I made a GPT, a custom version of OpenAI's ChatGPT, and it only took me 15 minutes. Here's how.

• In early November, OpenAI unveiled GPTs, customizable versions of its AI chatbot ChatGPT.  
• GPTs can be customized to focus on specific tasks like coding, creative writing, and tech support. 
• It took Business Insider's Aaron Mok only 15 minutes to make a GPT, with satisfactory results. 

You can now create your own version of OpenAI's ChatGPT — and it can take as little as 15 minutes.

In early November, OpenAI unveiled a slate of updates to its conversational AI chatbot, one of which includes GPTs — spinoff versions of ChatGPT that users who pay for ChatGPT Plus can build to perform specific tasks like coding, creative writing, and tech support.

The aim for GPTs, according to OpenAI, is for users to create tailored versions of ChatGPT that can be more helpful in their personal and professional lives than the basic, generalist version of ChatGPT .

After all, anybody can build a GPT since no coding skills are required. Users can simply prompt the chatbot with instructions written in plain English on what they want the AI to look like, and the AI creates itself accordingly.

Less than a month after GPTs came out, curious ChatGPT users have jumped on the opportunity to play around with the feature. Some went to X , formerly known as Twitter, to share links to their custom AI chatbots that purport to do things like code websites , conduct research, and even turn photos of humans into Pixar characters.

But not everyone is excited about GPTs. After OpenAI announced its upgrades to ChatGPT, some founders expressed concerns that OpenAI will kill their AI startups as the capabilities of the AI giant's language models continue to reach new heights.

To understand how intuitive and powerful GPT can be, Business Insider made a GPT of a personal chef who specializes in high-protein recipes.

Here's how to create a GPT.

1) Open ChatGPT, then press the "Explore" button located on the left sidebar. Click "Create a GPT" on the right to begin.

2) Write a prompt in the message box to the left telling GPT Builder what you want it to do.

3) Once you enter the prompt, GPT Builder will spend a couple seconds generating the GPT. It will suggest a name for the custom chatbot, as well as a picture, both of which can be tweaked with additional prompts until you're satisfied.

4) GPT Builder will then ask you to refine the context with specifics on what you want the chatbot to do.

5) After the GPT is generated, ask the chatbot questions to test its capabilities. Adjust the chatbot by feeding it more queries based on its responses.

Final takeaways

Overall, making a GPT is straightforward. The GPT builder gave me clear, step-by-step instructions on how to build the chatbot, which sped up the process. It took me around 15 minutes to create a GPT that met my expectations.

I was also impressed by the GPTs answers. The chatbot responds to queries like "What are some affordable, high-protein snacks?" and "Make me a recipe that has 40 grams of protein and takes less than 20 minutes to make," in great detail.

However, the chatbot isn't perfect. When I asked the GPT to include pictures along with the recipes, the photos didn't appear in subsequent recipes it generated. Additional prompting was required.

Nevertheless, I can see regular people making GPTs in an effort to automate time-consuming tasks. But if you don't have the patience to spend time tweaking the AI chatbot to your liking, you might as well stick to the free version of ChatGPT, as it will provide similar results.

Watch: What is ChatGPT, and should we be afraid of AI chatbots?