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Designing Assignments for Learning

The rapid shift to remote teaching and learning meant that many instructors reimagined their assessment practices. Whether adapting existing assignments or creatively designing new opportunities for their students to learn, instructors focused on helping students make meaning and demonstrate their learning outside of the traditional, face-to-face classroom setting. This resource distills the elements of assignment design that are important to carry forward as we continue to seek better ways of assessing learning and build on our innovative assignment designs.

On this page:

Rethinking traditional tests, quizzes, and exams.

• Examples from the Columbia University Classroom
• Tips for Designing Assignments for Learning

Reflect On Your Assignment Design

Connect with the ctl.

• Resources and References

Cite this resource: Columbia Center for Teaching and Learning (2021). Designing Assignments for Learning. Columbia University. Retrieved [today’s date] from https://ctl.columbia.edu/resources-and-technology/teaching-with-technology/teaching-online/designing-assignments/

Traditional assessments tend to reveal whether students can recognize, recall, or replicate what was learned out of context, and tend to focus on students providing correct responses (Wiggins, 1990). In contrast, authentic assignments, which are course assessments, engage students in higher order thinking, as they grapple with real or simulated challenges that help them prepare for their professional lives, and draw on the course knowledge learned and the skills acquired to create justifiable answers, performances or products (Wiggins, 1990). An authentic assessment provides opportunities for students to practice, consult resources, learn from feedback, and refine their performances and products accordingly (Wiggins 1990, 1998, 2014). 

Authentic assignments ask students to “do” the subject with an audience in mind and apply their learning in a new situation. Examples of authentic assignments include asking students to: 

• Write for a real audience (e.g., a memo, a policy brief, letter to the editor, a grant proposal, reports, building a website) and/or publication;
• Solve problem sets that have real world application; 
• Design projects that address a real world problem; 
• Engage in a community-partnered research project;
• Create an exhibit, performance, or conference presentation ;
• Compile and reflect on their work through a portfolio/e-portfolio.

Noteworthy elements of authentic designs are that instructors scaffold the assignment, and play an active role in preparing students for the tasks assigned, while students are intentionally asked to reflect on the process and product of their work thus building their metacognitive skills (Herrington and Oliver, 2000; Ashford-Rowe, Herrington and Brown, 2013; Frey, Schmitt, and Allen, 2012). 

It’s worth noting here that authentic assessments can initially be time consuming to design, implement, and grade. They are critiqued for being challenging to use across course contexts and for grading reliability issues (Maclellan, 2004). Despite these challenges, authentic assessments are recognized as beneficial to student learning (Svinicki, 2004) as they are learner-centered (Weimer, 2013), promote academic integrity (McLaughlin, L. and Ricevuto, 2021; Sotiriadou et al., 2019; Schroeder, 2021) and motivate students to learn (Ambrose et al., 2010). The Columbia Center for Teaching and Learning is always available to consult with faculty who are considering authentic assessment designs and to discuss challenges and affordances.   

Examples from the Columbia University Classroom 

Columbia instructors have experimented with alternative ways of assessing student learning from oral exams to technology-enhanced assignments. Below are a few examples of authentic assignments in various teaching contexts across Columbia University. 

• E-portfolios: Statia Cook shares her experiences with an ePorfolio assignment in her co-taught Frontiers of Science course (a submission to the Voices of Hybrid and Online Teaching and Learning initiative); CUIMC use of ePortfolios ;
• Case studies: Columbia instructors have engaged their students in authentic ways through case studies drawing on the Case Consortium at Columbia University. Read and watch a faculty spotlight to learn how Professor Mary Ann Price uses the case method to place pre-med students in real-life scenarios;
• Simulations: students at CUIMC engage in simulations to develop their professional skills in The Mary & Michael Jaharis Simulation Center in the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and the Helene Fuld Health Trust Simulation Center in the Columbia School of Nursing; 
• Experiential learning: instructors have drawn on New York City as a learning laboratory such as Barnard’s NYC as Lab webpage which highlights courses that engage students in NYC;
• Design projects that address real world problems: Yevgeniy Yesilevskiy on the Engineering design projects completed using lab kits during remote learning. Watch Dr. Yesilevskiy talk about his teaching and read the Columbia News article . 
• Writing assignments: Lia Marshall and her teaching associate Aparna Balasundaram reflect on their “non-disposable or renewable assignments” to prepare social work students for their professional lives as they write for a real audience; and Hannah Weaver spoke about a sandbox assignment used in her Core Literature Humanities course at the 2021 Celebration of Teaching and Learning Symposium . Watch Dr. Weaver share her experiences.  

​Tips for Designing Assignments for Learning

While designing an effective authentic assignment may seem like a daunting task, the following tips can be used as a starting point. See the Resources section for frameworks and tools that may be useful in this effort.  

Align the assignment with your course learning objectives 

Identify the kind of thinking that is important in your course, the knowledge students will apply, and the skills they will practice using through the assignment. What kind of thinking will students be asked to do for the assignment? What will students learn by completing this assignment? How will the assignment help students achieve the desired course learning outcomes? For more information on course learning objectives, see the CTL’s Course Design Essentials self-paced course and watch the video on Articulating Learning Objectives .  

Identify an authentic meaning-making task

For meaning-making to occur, students need to understand the relevance of the assignment to the course and beyond (Ambrose et al., 2010). To Bean (2011) a “meaning-making” or “meaning-constructing” task has two dimensions: 1) it presents students with an authentic disciplinary problem or asks students to formulate their own problems, both of which engage them in active critical thinking, and 2) the problem is placed in “a context that gives students a role or purpose, a targeted audience, and a genre.” (Bean, 2011: 97-98). 

An authentic task gives students a realistic challenge to grapple with, a role to take on that allows them to “rehearse for the complex ambiguities” of life, provides resources and supports to draw on, and requires students to justify their work and the process they used to inform their solution (Wiggins, 1990). Note that if students find an assignment interesting or relevant, they will see value in completing it. 

Consider the kind of activities in the real world that use the knowledge and skills that are the focus of your course. How is this knowledge and these skills applied to answer real-world questions to solve real-world problems? (Herrington et al., 2010: 22). What do professionals or academics in your discipline do on a regular basis? What does it mean to think like a biologist, statistician, historian, social scientist? How might your assignment ask students to draw on current events, issues, or problems that relate to the course and are of interest to them? How might your assignment tap into student motivation and engage them in the kinds of thinking they can apply to better understand the world around them? (Ambrose et al., 2010). 

Determine the evaluation criteria and create a rubric

To ensure equitable and consistent grading of assignments across students, make transparent the criteria you will use to evaluate student work. The criteria should focus on the knowledge and skills that are central to the assignment. Build on the criteria identified, create a rubric that makes explicit the expectations of deliverables and share this rubric with your students so they can use it as they work on the assignment. For more information on rubrics, see the CTL’s resource Incorporating Rubrics into Your Grading and Feedback Practices , and explore the Association of American Colleges & Universities VALUE Rubrics (Valid Assessment of Learning in Undergraduate Education). 

Build in metacognition

Ask students to reflect on what and how they learned from the assignment. Help students uncover personal relevance of the assignment, find intrinsic value in their work, and deepen their motivation by asking them to reflect on their process and their assignment deliverable. Sample prompts might include: what did you learn from this assignment? How might you draw on the knowledge and skills you used on this assignment in the future? See Ambrose et al., 2010 for more strategies that support motivation and the CTL’s resource on Metacognition ). 

Provide students with opportunities to practice

Design your assignment to be a learning experience and prepare students for success on the assignment. If students can reasonably expect to be successful on an assignment when they put in the required effort ,with the support and guidance of the instructor, they are more likely to engage in the behaviors necessary for learning (Ambrose et al., 2010). Ensure student success by actively teaching the knowledge and skills of the course (e.g., how to problem solve, how to write for a particular audience), modeling the desired thinking, and creating learning activities that build up to a graded assignment. Provide opportunities for students to practice using the knowledge and skills they will need for the assignment, whether through low-stakes in-class activities or homework activities that include opportunities to receive and incorporate formative feedback. For more information on providing feedback, see the CTL resource Feedback for Learning . 

Communicate about the assignment 

Share the purpose, task, audience, expectations, and criteria for the assignment. Students may have expectations about assessments and how they will be graded that is informed by their prior experiences completing high-stakes assessments, so be transparent. Tell your students why you are asking them to do this assignment, what skills they will be using, how it aligns with the course learning outcomes, and why it is relevant to their learning and their professional lives (i.e., how practitioners / professionals use the knowledge and skills in your course in real world contexts and for what purposes). Finally, verify that students understand what they need to do to complete the assignment. This can be done by asking students to respond to poll questions about different parts of the assignment, a “scavenger hunt” of the assignment instructions–giving students questions to answer about the assignment and having them work in small groups to answer the questions, or by having students share back what they think is expected of them.

Plan to iterate and to keep the focus on learning 

Draw on multiple sources of data to help make decisions about what changes are needed to the assignment, the assignment instructions, and/or rubric to ensure that it contributes to student learning. Explore assignment performance data. As Deandra Little reminds us: “a really good assignment, which is a really good assessment, also teaches you something or tells the instructor something. As much as it tells you what students are learning, it’s also telling you what they aren’t learning.” ( Teaching in Higher Ed podcast episode 337 ). Assignment bottlenecks–where students get stuck or struggle–can be good indicators that students need further support or opportunities to practice prior to completing an assignment. This awareness can inform teaching decisions. 

Triangulate the performance data by collecting student feedback, and noting your own reflections about what worked well and what did not. Revise the assignment instructions, rubric, and teaching practices accordingly. Consider how you might better align your assignment with your course objectives and/or provide more opportunities for students to practice using the knowledge and skills that they will rely on for the assignment. Additionally, keep in mind societal, disciplinary, and technological changes as you tweak your assignments for future use. 

Now is a great time to reflect on your practices and experiences with assignment design and think critically about your approach. Take a closer look at an existing assignment. Questions to consider include: What is this assignment meant to do? What purpose does it serve? Why do you ask students to do this assignment? How are they prepared to complete the assignment? Does the assignment assess the kind of learning that you really want? What would help students learn from this assignment? 

Using the tips in the previous section: How can the assignment be tweaked to be more authentic and meaningful to students? 

As you plan forward for post-pandemic teaching and reflect on your practices and reimagine your course design, you may find the following CTL resources helpful: Reflecting On Your Experiences with Remote Teaching , Transition to In-Person Teaching , and Course Design Support .

The Columbia Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) is here to help!

For assistance with assignment design, rubric design, or any other teaching and learning need, please request a consultation by emailing [email protected] . 

Transparency in Learning and Teaching (TILT) framework for assignments. The TILT Examples and Resources page ( https://tilthighered.com/tiltexamplesandresources ) includes example assignments from across disciplines, as well as a transparent assignment template and a checklist for designing transparent assignments . Each emphasizes the importance of articulating to students the purpose of the assignment or activity, the what and how of the task, and specifying the criteria that will be used to assess students. 

Association of American Colleges & Universities (AAC&U) offers VALUE ADD (Assignment Design and Diagnostic) tools ( https://www.aacu.org/value-add-tools ) to help with the creation of clear and effective assignments that align with the desired learning outcomes and associated VALUE rubrics (Valid Assessment of Learning in Undergraduate Education). VALUE ADD encourages instructors to explicitly state assignment information such as the purpose of the assignment, what skills students will be using, how it aligns with course learning outcomes, the assignment type, the audience and context for the assignment, clear evaluation criteria, desired formatting, and expectations for completion whether individual or in a group.

Villarroel et al. (2017) propose a blueprint for building authentic assessments which includes four steps: 1) consider the workplace context, 2) design the authentic assessment; 3) learn and apply standards for judgement; and 4) give feedback. 

References 

Ambrose, S. A., Bridges, M. W., & DiPietro, M. (2010). Chapter 3: What Factors Motivate Students to Learn? In How Learning Works: Seven Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching . Jossey-Bass. 

Ashford-Rowe, K., Herrington, J., and Brown, C. (2013). Establishing the critical elements that determine authentic assessment. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education. 39(2), 205-222, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2013.819566 .  

Bean, J.C. (2011). Engaging Ideas: The Professor’s Guide to Integrating Writing, Critical Thinking, and Active Learning in the Classroom . Second Edition. Jossey-Bass. 

Frey, B. B, Schmitt, V. L., and Allen, J. P. (2012). Defining Authentic Classroom Assessment. Practical Assessment, Research, and Evaluation. 17(2). DOI: https://doi.org/10.7275/sxbs-0829  

Herrington, J., Reeves, T. C., and Oliver, R. (2010). A Guide to Authentic e-Learning . Routledge. 

Herrington, J. and Oliver, R. (2000). An instructional design framework for authentic learning environments. Educational Technology Research and Development, 48(3), 23-48. 

Litchfield, B. C. and Dempsey, J. V. (2015). Authentic Assessment of Knowledge, Skills, and Attitudes. New Directions for Teaching and Learning. 142 (Summer 2015), 65-80. 

Maclellan, E. (2004). How convincing is alternative assessment for use in higher education. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education. 29(3), June 2004. DOI: 10.1080/0260293042000188267

McLaughlin, L. and Ricevuto, J. (2021). Assessments in a Virtual Environment: You Won’t Need that Lockdown Browser! Faculty Focus. June 2, 2021. 

Mueller, J. (2005). The Authentic Assessment Toolbox: Enhancing Student Learning through Online Faculty Development . MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching. 1(1). July 2005. Mueller’s Authentic Assessment Toolbox is available online. 

Schroeder, R. (2021). Vaccinate Against Cheating With Authentic Assessment . Inside Higher Ed. (February 26, 2021).  

Sotiriadou, P., Logan, D., Daly, A., and Guest, R. (2019). The role of authentic assessment to preserve academic integrity and promote skills development and employability. Studies in Higher Education. 45(111), 2132-2148. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2019.1582015    

Stachowiak, B. (Host). (November 25, 2020). Authentic Assignments with Deandra Little. (Episode 337). In Teaching in Higher Ed . https://teachinginhighered.com/podcast/authentic-assignments/  

Svinicki, M. D. (2004). Authentic Assessment: Testing in Reality. New Directions for Teaching and Learning. 100 (Winter 2004): 23-29. 

Villarroel, V., Bloxham, S, Bruna, D., Bruna, C., and Herrera-Seda, C. (2017). Authentic assessment: creating a blueprint for course design. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education. 43(5), 840-854. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2017.1412396    

Weimer, M. (2013). Learner-Centered Teaching: Five Key Changes to Practice . Second Edition. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. 

Wiggins, G. (2014). Authenticity in assessment, (re-)defined and explained. Retrieved from https://grantwiggins.wordpress.com/2014/01/26/authenticity-in-assessment-re-defined-and-explained/

Wiggins, G. (1998). Teaching to the (Authentic) Test. Educational Leadership . April 1989. 41-47. 

Wiggins, Grant (1990). The Case for Authentic Assessment . Practical Assessment, Research & Evaluation , 2(2). 

Wondering how AI tools might play a role in your course assignments?

See the CTL’s resource “Considerations for AI Tools in the Classroom.”

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Pedagogy - Diversifying Your Teaching Methods, Learning Activities, and Assignments

Definition of Pedagogy 

In the most general sense, pedagogy is all the ways that instructors and students work with the course content. The fundamental learning goal for students is to be able to do “something meaningful” with the course content. Meaningful learning typically results in students working in the middle to upper levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy . We sometimes find that novice instructors conflate course content with pedagogy. This often results in “teaching as talking” where the presentation of content by the instructor is confused with the learning of content by the students. Think of your course content as clay and pedagogy as the ways you ask students to make “something meaningful” from that clay. Pedagogy is the combination of teaching methods (what instructors do), learning activities (what instructors ask their students to do), and learning assessments (the assignments, projects, or tasks that measure student learning).

Key Idea for Pedagogy

Diversify your pedagogy by varying your teaching methods, learning activities, and assignments. Critically assess your pedagogy through the lens of BIPOC students’ experiences at a PWI . We visualize these two related practices as a cycle because they are iterative and ongoing. Diversifying your pedagogy likely means shedding some typical ways of teaching in your discipline, or the teaching practices you inherited. It likely means doing more active learning and less traditional lecturing. Transforming good pedagogy into equitable pedagogy means rethinking your pedagogy in light of the PWI context and considering the ways your pedagogy may help or hinder learning for BIPOC students. 

PWI Assumptions for Pedagogy

Understanding where students are on the spectrum of novice to expert learning in your discipline or course is a key challenge to implementing effective and inclusive pedagogy (National Research Council 2000). Instructors are typically so far removed from being a novice learner in their disciplines that they struggle to understand where students are on that spectrum. A key PWI assumption is that students understand how your disciplinary knowledge is organized and constructed . Students typically do not understand your discipline or the many other disciplines they are working in during their undergraduate years. Even graduate students may find it puzzling to explain the origins, methodologies, theories, logics, and assumptions of their disciplines. A second PWI assumption is that students are (or should be) academically prepared to learn your discipline . Students may be academically prepared for learning in some disciplines, but unless their high school experience was college preparatory and well supported, students (especially first-generation college students) are likely finding their way through a mysterious journey of different disciplinary conventions and modes of working and thinking (Nelson 1996).

A third PWI assumption is that instructors may confuse students’ academic underpreparation with their intelligence or capacity to learn . Academic preparation is typically a function of one’s high school experience including whether that high school was well resourced or under funded. Whether or not a student receives a quality high school education is usually a structural matter reflecting inequities in our K12 educational systems, not a reflection of an individual student’s ability to learn. A final PWI assumption is that students will learn well in the ways that the instructor learned well . Actually most instructors in higher education self-selected into disciplines that align with their interests, skills, academic preparation, and possibly family and community support. Our students have broader and different goals for seeking a college education and bring a range of skills to their coursework, which may or may not align with instructors’ expectations of how students learn. Inclusive teaching at a PWI means supporting the learning and career goals of our students.

Pedagogical Content Knowledge as a Core Concept

Kind and Chan (2019) propose that Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) is the synthesis of Content Knowledge (expertise about a subject area) and Pedagogical Knowledge (expertise about teaching methods, assessment, classroom management, and how students learn). Content Knowledge (CK) without Pedagogical Knowledge (PK) limits instructors’ ability to teach effectively or inclusively. Novice instructors that rely on traditional lectures likely have limited Pedagogical Knowledge and may also be replicating their own inherited teaching practices. While Kind and Chan (2019) are writing from the perspective of science education, their concepts apply across disciplines. Moreover, Kind and Chan (2019) support van Driel et al.’s assertion that:

high-quality PCK is not characterized by knowing as many strategies as possible to teach a certain topic plus all the misconceptions students may have about it but by knowing when to apply a certain strategy in recognition of students’ actual learning needs and understanding why a certain teaching approach may be useful in one situation (quoted in Kind and Chan 2019, 975). 

As we’ve stressed throughout this guide, the teaching context matters, and for inclusive pedagogy, special attention should be paid to the learning goals, instructor preparation, and students’ point of entry into course content. We also argue that the PWI context shapes what instructors might practice as CK, PK, and PCK. We recommend instructors become familiar with evidence-based pedagogy (or the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning , SoTL) in their fields. Moreover, we advise instructors to find and follow those instructors and scholars that specifically focus on inclusive teaching in their fields in order to develop an inclusive, flexible, and discipline-specific Pedagogical Content Knowledge.

Suggested Practices for Diversifying + Assessing Pedagogy

Although diversifying and critically assessing teaching methods, learning activities, and assignments will vary across disciplines, we offer a few key starting points. Diversifying your pedagogy is easier than critically assessing it through a PWI lens, but both steps are essential. In general, you can diversify your pedagogy by learning about active learning, peer learning, team-based learning, experiential learning, problem-based learning, and case-based learning, among others . There is extensive evidence-based pedagogical literature and practical guides readily available for these methods. And you can also find and follow scholars in your discipline that use these and other teaching methods.

Diversifying Your Pedagogy

Convert traditional lectures into interactive (or active) lectures.

For in-person or synchronous online courses, break a traditional lecture into “mini-lectures” of 10-15 minutes in length. After each mini-lecture, ask your students to process their learning using a discussion or problem prompt, a Classroom Assessment Technique (CAT), a Think-Pair-Share, or another brief learning activity. Read Lecturing from Center for Teaching , Vanderbilt University.

Structure small group discussions

Provide both a process and concrete questions or tasks to guide student learning (for example, provide a scenario with 3 focused tasks such as identify the problem, brainstorm possible solutions, and list the pros/cons for each solution). Read How to Hold a Better Class Discussion , The Chronicle of Higher Education .

Integrate active learning

Integrate active learning, especially into courses that are conceptual, theoretical, or otherwise historically challenging (for example, calculus, organic chemistry, statistics, philosophy). For gateway courses, draw upon the research of STEM and other education specialists on how active learning and peer learning improves student learning and reduces disparities. Read the Association of American Universities STEM Network Scholarship .  

Include authentic learning

Include authentic learning, learning activities and assignments that mirror how students will work after graduation. What does it mean to think and work like an engineer? How do project teams work together? How does one present research in an educational social media campaign? Since most students seeking a college education will not become academic researchers or faculty, what kinds of things will they do in the “real world?” Help students practice and hone those skills as they learn the course content. Read Edutopia’s PBL: What Does It Take for a Project to Be Authentic?

Vary assignments and provide options

Graded assignments should range from low to high stakes. Low stakes assignments allow students to learn from their mistakes and receive timely feedback on their learning. Options for assignments allow students to demonstrate their learning, rather than demonstrate their skill at a particular type of assessment (such as a multiple choice exam or an academic research paper). Read our guide, Create Assessments That Promote Learning for All Students .

Critically Assess Your Pedagogy

Critically assessing your pedagogy through the PWI lens with attention to how your pedagogy may affect the learning of BIPOC students is more challenging and highly contextual. Instructors will want to review and apply the concepts and principles discussed in the earlier sections of this guide on Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs), PWI Assumptions, and Class Climate. 

Reflect on patterns

Reflect on patterns of participation, progress in learning (grade distributions), and other course-related evidence. Look at your class sessions and assignments as experimental data. Who participated? What kinds of participation did you observe? Who didn’t participate? Why might that be? Are there a variety of ways for students to participate in the learning activities (individually, in groups, via discussion, via writing, synchronously/in-person, asynchronously/online)?

Respond to feedback on climate

Respond to feedback on climate from on-going check-ins and Critical Incident Questionnaires (CIQs) as discussed in the Climate Section (Ongoing Practices). Students will likely disengage from your requests for feedback if you do not respond to their feedback. Use this feedback to re-calibrate and re-think your pedagogy. 

Seek feedback on student learning

Seek feedback on student learning in the form of Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs), in-class polls, asynchronous forums, exam wrappers, and other methods.  Demonstrate that you care about your students’ learning by responding to this feedback as well. Here’s how students in previous semesters learned this material … I’m scheduling a problem-solving review session in the next class in response to the results of the exam …

Be diplomatic but clear when correcting mistakes and misconceptions

First-generation college students, many of whom may also identify as BIPOC, have typically achieved a great deal with few resources and significant barriers (Yosso 2005). However, they may be more likely to internalize their learning mistakes as signs that they don’t belong at the university. When correcting, be sure to normalize mistakes as part of the learning process. The correct answer is X, but I can see why you thought it was Y. Many students think it is Y because … But the correct answer is X because … Thank you for helping us understand that misconception.

Allow time for students to think and prepare for participation in a non-stressful setting

This was already suggested in the Climate Section (Race Stressors), but it is worth repeating. BIPOC students and multilingual students may need more time to prepare, not because of their intellectual abilities, but because of the effects of race stressors and other stressors increasing their cognitive load. Providing discussion or problem prompts in advance will reduce this stress and make space for learning. Additionally both student populations may experience stereotype threat, so participation in the “public” aspects of the class session may be stressful in ways that are not true for the majority white and domestic students. If you cannot provide prompts in advance, be sure to allow ample individual “think time” during a synchronous class session.

Avoid consensus models or majority rules processes

This was stated in the Climate Section (Teaching Practices to Avoid), but it’s such an entrenched PWI practice that it needs to be spotlighted and challenged. If I am a numerical “minority” and I am asked to come to consensus or agreement with a numerical “majority,” it is highly likely that my perspective will be minimized or dismissed. Or, I will have to expend a lot of energy to persuade my group of the value of my perspective, which is highly stressful. This is an unacceptable burden to put on BIPOC students and also may result in BIPOC students being placed in the position of teaching white students about a particular perspective or experience. The resulting tensions may also damage BIPOC students’ positive relationships with white students and instructors. When suitable for your content, create a learning experience that promotes seeking multiple solutions to problems, cases, or prompts. Rather than asking students to converge on one best recommendation, why not ask students to log all possible solutions (without evaluation) and then to recommend at least two solutions that include a rationale? Moreover, for course content dealing with policies, the recommended solutions could be explained in terms of their possible effects on different communities. If we value diverse perspectives, we need to structure the consideration of those perspectives into our learning activities and assignments. 

We recognize the challenges of assessing your pedagogy through the PWI lens and doing your best to assess the effects on BIPOC student learning. This is a complex undertaking. But we encourage you to invite feedback from your students as well as to seek the guidance of colleagues, including advisors and other student affairs professionals, to inform your ongoing practices of teaching inclusively at a PWI. In the next section, we complete our exploration of the Inclusive Teaching at a PWI Framework by exploring the importance of auditing, diversifying, and critically assessing course content.

Pedagogy References

Kind, Vanessa and Kennedy K.H. Chan. 2019. “Resolving the Amalgam: Connecting Pedagogical Content Knowledge, Content Knowledge and Pedagogical Knowledge.” International Journal of Science Education . 41(7): 964-978.

Howard, Jay. N.D. “How to Hold a Better Class Discussion: Advice Guide.” The Chronicle of Higher Education . https://www.chronicle.com/article/how-to-hold-a-better-class-discussion/#2 

National Research Council. 2000. “How Experts Differ from Novices.” Chap 2 in How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School: Expanded Edition . Washington D.C.: The National Academies Press. https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/9853/how-people-learn-brain-mind-experience-and-school-expanded-edition

Nelson, Craig E. 1996. “Student Diversity Requires Different Approaches to College Teaching, Even in Math and Science.” The American Behavioral Scientist . 40 (2): 165-175.

Sathy, Viji and Kelly A. Hogan. N.D.  “How to Make Your Teaching More Inclusive: Advice Guide.” The Chronicle of Higher Education . https://www.chronicle.com/article/how-to-make-your-teaching-more-inclusive/?cid=gen_sign_in

Yosso, Tara J. 2005. “Whose Culture Has Capital? A Critical Race Theory Discussion of Community Cultural Wealth.” Race, Ethnicity and Education . 8 (1): 69-91.

• Research and Resources
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Guidelines and Policies for Graduate Student Teaching Assistants and Instructors

Roles & responsibilities, selection and assignment of tas, graduate students as instructors of record (ior), ta appointment letters, supervision and evaluation, stipends for teaching assistants, grievance procedures.

Last updated: June 2018

A key component of the education of many graduate students is the professional development gained in serving as a teaching assistant (TA) or instructor of record (IOR). In many departments at Duke, across all schools, Graduate School students perform a variety of roles related to teaching. These activities represent different levels of independence, and of direct contact with undergraduate, graduate and/or professional students.

Types of roles: The designations of these TA assignments may differ among the various schools and graduate programs, and can include roles as laboratory assistant, laboratory director, grader of essays and examinations, course development assistant, leader of discussion sections, lead teaching assistants, and other roles in support of the principal instructor of a course. Sometimes graduate students are given an opportunity to be an IOR for certain undergraduate courses, in which case they are responsible for all aspects of the course, in consultation with faculty of the unit(s) in which the course is listed.

During the course of their graduate education, TAs should, where possible and appropriate, progress from teaching assignments closely supervised by faculty to less closely supervised assignments. To the extent possible, departments should make teaching assignments that support the ongoing intellectual and professional development of graduate students as they progress through their programs.

Students’ responsibilities: A critical obligation of TA or IOR training is that the graduate student diligently performs all of the duties that are involved in the role. By accepting the assignment, the student commits to adequate preparation for teaching, punctual attendance of all scheduled class meetings and office-hours, timely and conscientious evaluation of student work, and prompt communication to students, faculty, or university administrators of any concerns, as appropriate to their nature. Teaching assistants or IORs must make arrangements for alternative teaching coverage or rescheduling if they are unable to attend a scheduled meeting or perform a duty.

Any TA or IOR who fails to fulfill the assigned duties for the teaching role may be relieved of duties, and teaching stipend support may be removed. Moreover, as teaching is a core part of the academic requirements of many graduate programs, failing to meet the obligations of the role may have serious implications for a student’s academic status.

All graduate students involved in teaching must bear in mind that they must uphold the Duke Community Standard at all times. They should be mindful that using a position of authority for illicit gain, including sexual favors, is expressly prohibited. They must conduct themselves honorably and avoid potential conflicts of interest. For example, graduate student TAs must review their class roster(s) and disclose to the course instructor of record any reasonably perceived conflicts of interest involving students in the class, including any romantic or business relationships. Similarly, graduate student IORs must similarly disclose to the appropriate Director of Graduate Studies.

The appropriate program or department Director of Graduate Studies must inform all graduate TAs and graduate IORs that they are mandatory reporters for any disclosures of sexual misconduct they receive in their capacity as a TA/IOR. As such, they are required to report such disclosures to the Office of Student Conduct: https://studentaffairs.duke.edu/sexual-misconduct- prevention-and-response .

Training in Teaching

Departmental training: All units offering courses to which TAs are assigned should ensure that each TA has the training necessary to be successful. Depending on the teaching role, this training might include a discipline-specific introduction to issues of course design and planning, instructional methods, effective assignment sequencing, and issues of evaluation and grading. Such training should be offered either prior to or concurrent with their appointment. Departments that do not already have training programs are encouraged to work with The Graduate School in developing them.

Training from The Graduate School: Many departments provide multiple opportunities for graduate students to obtain high-quality teaching experience. Nonetheless, training and experience in teaching is important enough to graduate education that The Graduate School has cultivated several other means by which graduate students may gain instructional experience to better prepare them professionally. Such opportunities are especially useful for students in departments or programs with limited TAing or teaching roles for graduate students.

Graduate TAs should be encouraged to avail themselves of the extensive pedagogical resources, programming, and workshops offered by The Graduate School. In particular:

• The course GS 750 “Fundamentals of College Teaching” is very useful for graduate students to take either the semester before or concurrently with their initial TA assignments.
• The Certificate in College Teaching offers a set of courses and experiences that can help students build instructional skills and pedagogical knowledge, useful both now as teaching assistants, and later as potential faculty members of colleges and universities.
• The Bass Instructional Fellowships support high-quality teaching experiences for Ph.D. students when normal means of funding are unavailable. The Bass program provides opportunities to be a TA, an IOR, or to receive training and experience in online college teaching.
• The Preparing Future Faculty program provides a direct view into the faculty experience at a variety of different kinds of higher education institutions, from small community colleges to large public research universities. As part of this program, The Graduate School maintains contact with other nearby colleges and universities who occasionally need temporary instructors. Although The Graduate School does not mediate such arrangements, these contacts can provide excellent opportunities for advanced Duke graduate students to gain teaching experience.

Why provide training in teaching: Because teaching expertise represents a set of skills and perspectives acquired through training, experience, and critical reflection, preparation for and practice in teaching are at the core of an effective professional development program for graduate TAs and IORs. Departments in which students routinely pursue academic careers should provide ongoing training to ensure that their graduate students are adequately prepared for their teaching responsibilities, both at Duke and as faculty members elsewhere.

Graduate students in programs that do not typically lead to careers in academia, or who do not expect to pursue such a career, also benefit from TA training and instructional experiences. Such activities hone professional abilities to marshal, summarize, and present concepts, data and other material in clear and effective form. These are skills important for all PhD graduates, and are therefore highly desirable for students planning careers in business, government or other non-academic sectors, as well as in the academy. Doctoral programs in this category are thus encouraged to develop training programs and other instructional activities that will provide students with opportunities to sharpen and refine their presentational skills.

In order to ensure that graduate students are qualified and appropriate for their roles as TAs, the following minimum guidelines should be followed in their selection and assignment:

• Only enrolled graduate students who demonstrate the necessary proficiency in English for a given role should be appointed as a TA in that role. The level of a non-native speaker’s English proficiency can be determined by The Graduate School’s English for International Students (EIS) program before or after the student has taken EIS courses.
• First-year graduate TAs are normally expected to receive oversight from an individual course director or head TA, who should mentor them in carrying out duties in a specific laboratory or lecture course. First-year graduate TAs should have little if any independent instructional responsibilities, unless they have entered their graduate programs with significant prior teaching experience.
• The assignment of teaching roles among graduate students should be made with competence, suitability, fairness and equity as key considerations. The assignment should reflect a professional development opportunity for the TA, as well as a role that the student has the ability to perform well.

The Graduate School encourages departments to allow well-trained and qualified graduate students to be an IOR for courses, as long as the following criteria are met:

• The candidate instructor must have passed prelims or have a previous master’s or doctoral degree relevant to the course being taught.
• The course can only have undergraduates or non-degree-seeking students enrolled for graded credit; other graduate students cannot enroll in this course for a grade.
• The instructor should have completed several terms of teaching or TAing in a role that includes being the primary facilitator of instruction (e.g., leading discussion sections, labs, etc.).
• The instructor should have engaged in pedagogical training (e.g., completing several courses in the Certificate in College Teaching Program).
• The Director of Undergraduate Studies for the unit sponsoring the course in which a graduate IOR will teach should orient the IOR to his or her unique roles and responsibilities (e.g., grade submission, reporting academic misconduct, Title IX reporting, etc.) before the start of the course, and be available for ad hoc consulting during the semester of teaching.
• Graduate students may not be IORs for independent study courses.

Departments or programs sponsoring courses in which TAs will train must provide written TA appointments to the relevant graduate students in advance of any term in which they are to teach. To ensure a common understanding of TA duties, appointment communications should clearly specify

• the role and expectations of the position the graduate student will fill,
• the approximate average number of hours per week required, and
• the financial support the student will receive.

Departments and programs are strongly encouraged to prepare brief descriptions of the various TA duties for their courses in which TAs train, and to make these descriptions available to all graduate students.

Departments and programs with TAs should provide feedback to the TAs on their teaching. This feedback should include a recap meeting and/or written evaluation by the appropriate staff or faculty member responsible for the course, section, or laboratory taught by the TA. It should be based on direct observation of the TA in the classroom or lab, and/or follow-up consultations with the TA.

A teacher course evaluation instrument—whether the one currently used by the undergraduate college or one devised by the department—should be completed by undergraduate students to evaluate their TA’s performance in lecture, laboratory, or discussion sections and made available to the TA after the course is over.

To enhance the training and teaching experience of graduate students, departments should provide graduate TAs with faculty teaching mentor(s) who can provide ongoing guidance during their appointment.

The Graduate School is committed to providing financial support to all doctoral students in years one through five. Graduate students teaching in courses offered by Arts and Sciences receive stipend support based on a per-course rate, set by Trinity College, which varies by the nature of the assignment. All students with a given assignment in a course receive the same rate. The Graduate School also follows the A&S instructional TA rate for Bass TAs and IORs. Other schools within the university may set TA rates as they deem appropriate.

The amount of support for teaching is typically supplemented with a graduate fellowship in order for the total stipend to remain at the annual recommended level, as posted on The Graduate School’s financial information webpages, during the initial five years of graduate study.

The professional development of graduate students as teachers is considered part of their doctoral training. For this reason, the university has strict guidelines on how much teaching any graduate students may do so as to ensure that they retain sufficient time for other equally important components of their doctoral education. The required instructional duties of a TA or IOR must be limited to no more than 20 hours per week averaged over the semester in which the course occurs. Grader assignments typically require a few hours per week on average, while teaching assistantships with an extensive instructional role often involve more than 10 hours per week. The instructor of record should provide the expected hours per week for the TA role(s) in a given course, prior to the start of classes.

If a graduate student has a grievance regarding teaching assignments or related issues, all efforts should be made to resolve them with the course instructor of record or other immediate supervisor of the TA or IOR. If the complaint cannot be resolved satisfactorily at this level, the student may bring this before the department or program’s Director of Graduate Studies. If there still is no satisfactory resolution, the grievance can be brought to The Graduate School, which will be the final avenue of appeal.

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Designing Assessments of Student Learning

Image Hollie Nyseth Brehm, ​​​​​Associate Professor, Department of Sociology  Professor Hollie Nyseth Brehm was a graduate student the first time she taught a class, “I didn’t have any training on how to teach, so I assigned a final paper and gave them instructions: ‘Turn it in at the end of course.’ That was sort of it.” Brehm didn’t have a rubric or a process to check in with students along the way. Needless to say, the assignment didn’t lead to any major breakthroughs for her students. But it was a learning experience for Brehm. As she grew her teaching skills, she began to carefully craft assignments to align to course goals, make tasks realistic and meaningful, and break down large assignments into manageable steps. "Now I always have rubrics. … I always scaffold the assignment such that they’ll start by giving me their paper topic and a couple of sources and then turn in a smaller portion of it, and we write it in pieces. And that leads to a much better learning experience for them—and also for me, frankly, when I turn to grade it .”

Reflect  

Have you ever planned a big assignment that didn’t turn out as you’d hoped? What did you learn, and how would you design that assignment differently now? 

What are students learning in your class? Are they meeting your learning outcomes? You simply cannot answer these questions without assessment of some kind.

As educators, we measure student learning through many means, including assignments, quizzes, and tests. These assessments can be formal or informal, graded or ungraded. But assessment is not simply about awarding points and assigning grades. Learning is a process, not a product, and that process takes place during activities such as recall and practice. Assessing skills in varied ways helps you adjust your teaching throughout your course to support student learning

Research tells us that our methods of assessment don’t only measure how much students have learned. They also play an important role in the learning process. A phenomenon known as the “testing effect” suggests students learn more from repeated testing than from repeated exposure to the material they are trying to learn (Karpicke & Roediger, 2008). While exposure to material, such as during lecture or study, helps students store new information, it’s crucial that students actively practice retrieving that information and putting it to use. Frequent assessment throughout a course provides students with the practice opportunities that are essential to learning.

In addition we can’t assume students can transfer what they have practiced in one context to a different context. Successful transfer of learning requires understanding of deep, structural features and patterns that novices to a subject are still developing (Barnett & Ceci, 2002; Bransford & Schwartz, 1999). If we want students to be able to apply their learning in a wide variety of contexts, they must practice what they’re learning in a wide variety of contexts .

Providing a variety of assessment types gives students multiple opportunities to practice and demonstrate learning. One way to categorize the range of assessment options is as formative or summative.

Formative and Summative Assessment

Opportunities not simply to practice, but to receive feedback on that practice, are crucial to learning (Ambrose et al., 2010). Formative assessment facilitates student learning by providing frequent low-stakes practice coupled with immediate and focused feedback. Whether graded or ungraded, formative assessment helps you monitor student progress and guide students to understand which outcomes they’ve mastered, which they need to focus on, and what strategies can support their learning. Formative assessment also informs how you modify your teaching to better meet student needs throughout your course.

Technology Tip

Design quizzes in CarmenCanvas to provide immediate and useful feedback to students based on their answers. Learn more about setting up quizzes in Carmen. 

Summative assessment measures student learning by comparing it to a standard. Usually these types of assessments evaluate a range of skills or overall performance at the end of a unit, module, or course. Unlike formative assessment, they tend to focus more on product than process. These high-stakes experiences are typically graded and should be less frequent (Ambrose et al., 2010).

Using Bloom's Taxonomy

Bloom’s Taxonomy is a common framework for thinking about how students can demonstrate their learning on assessments, as well as for articulating course and lesson learning outcomes .

Benjamin Bloom (alongside collaborators Max Englehart, Edward Furst, Walter Hill, and David Krathwohl) published Taxonomy of Educational Objectives in 1956.   The taxonomy provided a system for categorizing educational goals with the intent of aiding educators with assessment. Commonly known as Bloom’s Taxonomy, the framework has been widely used to guide and define instruction in both K-12 and university settings. The original taxonomy from 1956 included a cognitive domain made up of six categories: Knowledge, Comprehension, Application, Analysis, Synthesis, and Evaluation. The categories after Knowledge were presented as “skills and abilities,” with the understanding that knowledge was the necessary precondition for putting these skills and abilities into practice. 

A revised Bloom's Taxonomy from 2001 updated these six categories to reflect how learners interact with knowledge. In the revised version, students can:  Remember content, Understand ideas, Apply information to new situations, Analyze relationships between ideas, Evaluate information to justify perspectives or decisions, and Create new ideas or original work. In the graphic pictured here, the categories from the revised taxonomy are imagined as the layers of a cake.

Assessing students on a variety of Bloom's categories will give you a better sense of how well they understand your course content. The taxonomy can be a helpful guide to predicting which tasks will be most difficult for students so you can provide extra support where it is needed. It can also be used to craft more transparent assignments and test questions by honing in on the specific skills you want to assess and finding the right language to communicate exactly what you want students to do.  See the Sample Bloom's Verbs in the Examples section below.

Diving deeper into Bloom's Taxonomy

Like most aspects of our lives, activities and assessments in today’s classroom are inextricably linked with technology. In 2008, Andrew Churches extended Bloom’s Taxonomy to address the emerging changes in learning behaviors and opportunities as “technology advances and becomes more ubiquitous.” Consult Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy for ideas on using digital tools to facilitate and assess learning across the six categories of learning.

Did you know that the cognitive domain (commonly referred to simply as Bloom's Taxonomy) was only one of three domains in the original Bloom's Taxonomy (1956)? While it is certainly the most well-known and widely used, the other two domains— psychomotor and affective —may be of interest to some educators. The psychomotor domain relates to physical movement, coordination, and motor skills—it might apply to the performing arts or other courses that involve movement, manipulation of objects, and non-discursive communication like body language. The affective domain pertains to feelings, values, motivations, and attitudes and is used more often in disciplines like medicine, social work, and education, where emotions and values are integral aspects of learning. Explore the full taxonomy in  Three Domains of Learning: Cognitive, Affective, and Psychomotor (Hoque, 2017).

In Practice

Consider the following to make your assessments of student learning effective and meaningful.

Align assignments, quizzes, and tests closely to learning outcomes.

It goes without saying that you want students to achieve the learning outcomes for your course. The testing effect implies, then, that your assessments must help them retrieve the knowledge and practice the skills that are relevant to those outcomes.

Plan assessments that measure specific outcomes for your course. Instead of choosing quizzes and tests that are easy to grade or assignment types common to your discipline, carefully consider what assessments will best help students practice important skills. When assignments and feedback are aligned to learning outcomes, and you share this alignment with students, they have a greater appreciation for your course and develop more effective strategies for study and practice targeted at achieving those outcomes (Wang, et al., 2013).

Provide authentic learning experiences.

Consider how far removed from “the real world” traditional assessments like academic essays, standard textbook problems, and multiple-choice exams feel to students. In contrast, assignments that are authentic resemble real-world tasks. They feel relevant and purposeful, which can increase student motivation and engagement (Fink, 2013). Authentic assignments also help you assess whether students will be able to transfer what they learn into realistic contexts beyond your course.

Integrate assessment opportunities that prepare students to be effective and successful once they graduate, whether as professionals, as global citizens, or in their personal lives.

To design authentic assignments:

• Choose real-world content . If you want students to be able to apply disciplinary methods, frameworks, and terminology to solve real-world problems after your course, you must have them engage with real-world examples, procedures, and tools during your course. Include actual case studies, documents, data sets, and problems from your field in your assessments.
• Target a real-world audience . Ask students to direct their work to a tangible reader, listener or viewer, rather than to you. For example, they could write a blog for their peers or create a presentation for a future employer.
• Use real-world formats . Have students develop content in formats used in professional or real-life discourse. For example, instead of a conventional paper, students could write an email to a colleague or a letter to a government official, develop a project proposal or product pitch for a community-based company, post a how-to video on YouTube, or create an infographic to share on social media.

Simulations, role plays, case studies, portfolios, project-based learning, and service learning are all great avenues to bring authentic assessment into your course.

Make sure assignments are achievable.

Your students juggle coursework from several classes, so it’s important to be conscious of workload. Assign tasks they can realistically handle at a given point in the term. If it takes you three hours to do something, it will likely take your students six hours or more. Choose assignments that assess multiple learning outcomes from your course to keep your grading manageable and your feedback useful (Rayner et al., 2016).

Scaffold assignments so students can develop knowledge and skills over time.

For large assignments, use scaffolding to integrate multiple opportunities for feedback, reflection, and improvement. Scaffolding means breaking a complex assignment down into component parts or smaller progressive tasks over time. Practicing these smaller tasks individually before attempting to integrate them into a completed assignment supports student learning by reducing the amount of information they need to process at a given time (Salden et al., 2006).

Scaffolding ensures students will start earlier and spend more time on big assignments. And it provides you more opportunities to give feedback and guidance to support their ultimate success. Additionally, scaffolding can draw students’ attention to important steps in a process that are often overlooked, such as planning and revision, leading them to be more independent and thoughtful about future work.

A familiar example of scaffolding is a research paper. You might ask students to submit a topic or thesis in Week 3 of the semester, an annotated bibliography of sources in Week 6, a detailed outline in Week 9, a first draft on which they can get peer feedback in Week 11, and the final draft in the last week of the semester.

Your course journey is decided in part by how you sequence assignments. Consider where students are in their learning and place assignments at strategic points throughout the term. Scaffold across the course journey by explaining how each assignment builds upon the learning achieved in previous ones (Walvoord & Anderson, 2011). 

Be transparent about assignment instructions and expectations. 

Communicate clearly to students about the purpose of each assignment, the process for completing the task, and the criteria you will use to evaluate it before they begin the work. Studies have shown that transparent assignments support students to meet learning goals and result in especially large increases in success and confidence for underserved students (Winkelmes et al., 2016).

To increase assignment transparency:

• Explain how the assignment links to one or more course learning outcomes . Understanding why the assignment matters and how it supports their learning can increase student motivation and investment in the work.
• Outline steps of the task in the assignment prompt . Clear directions help students structure their time and effort. This is also a chance to call out disciplinary standards with which students are not yet familiar or guide them to focus on steps of the process they often neglect, such as initial research.
• Provide a rubric with straightforward evaluation criteria . Rubrics make transparent which parts of an assignment you care most about. Sharing clear criteria sets students up for success by giving them the tools to self-evaluate and revise their work before submitting it. Be sure to explain your rubric, and particularly to unpack new or vague terms; for example, language like "argue," “close reading,” "list significant findings," and "document" can mean different things in different disciplines. It is helpful to show exemplars and non-exemplars along with your rubric to highlight differences in unacceptable, acceptable, and exceptional work.

Engage students in reflection or discussion to increase assignment transparency. Have them consider how the assessed outcomes connect to their personal lives or future careers. In-class activities that ask them to grade sample assignments and discuss the criteria they used, compare exemplars and non-exemplars, engage in self- or peer-evaluation, or complete steps of the assignment when you are present to give feedback can all support student success.

Technology Tip   

Enter all  assignments and due dates  in your Carmen course to increase transparency. When assignments are entered in Carmen, they also populate to Calendar, Syllabus, and Grades areas so students can easily track their upcoming work. Carmen also allows you to  develop rubrics  for every assignment in your course. 

Sample Bloom’s Verbs

Building a question bank, using the transparent assignment template, sample assignment: ai-generated lesson plan.

Include frequent low-stakes assignments and assessments throughout your course to provide the opportunities for practice and feedback that are essential to learning. Consider a variety of formative and summative assessment types so students can demonstrate learning in multiple ways. Use Bloom’s Taxonomy to determine—and communicate—the specific skills you want to assess.

Remember that effective assessments of student learning are:

• Aligned to course learning outcomes
• Authentic, or resembling real-world tasks
• Achievable and realistic
• Scaffolded so students can develop knowledge and skills over time
• Transparent in purpose, tasks, and criteria for evaluation
• Collaborative learning techniques: A handbook for college faculty (book)
• Cheating Lessons (book)
• Minds online: Teaching effectively with technology (book)
• Assessment: The Silent Killer of Learning (video)
• TILT Higher Ed Examples and Resource (website)
• Writing to Learn: Critical Thinking Activities for Any Classroom (guide)

Ambrose, S.A., Bridges, M.W., Lovett, M.C., DiPietro, M., & Norman, M.K. (2010).  How learning works: Seven research-based principles for smart teaching . John Wiley & Sons. 

Barnett, S.M., & Ceci, S.J. (2002). When and where do we apply what we learn? A taxonomy for far transfer.  Psychological Bulletin , 128 (4). 612–637.  doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.128.4.612  

Bransford, J.D, & Schwartz, D.L. (1999). Rethinking transfer: A simple proposal with multiple implications.  Review of Research in Education , 24 . 61–100.  doi.org/10.3102/0091732X024001061  

Fink, L. D. (2013).  Creating significant learning experiences: An integrated approach to designing college courses . John Wiley & Sons. 

Karpicke, J.D., & Roediger, H.L., III. (2008). The critical importance of retrieval for learning.  Science ,  319 . 966–968.  doi.org/10.1126/science.1152408  

Rayner, K., Schotter, E. R., Masson, M. E., Potter, M. C., & Treiman, R. (2016). So much to read, so little time: How do we read, and can speed reading help?.  Psychological Science in the Public Interest ,  17 (1), 4-34.  doi.org/10.1177/1529100615623267     

Salden, R.J.C.M., Paas, F., van Merriënboer, J.J.G. (2006). A comparison of approaches to learning task selection in the training of complex cognitive skills.  Computers in Human Behavior , 22 (3). 321–333.  doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2004.06.003  

Walvoord, B. E., & Anderson, V. J. (2010).  Effective grading: A tool for learning and assessment in college . John Wiley & Sons. 

Wang, X., Su, Y., Cheung, S., Wong, E., & Kwong, T. (2013). An exploration of Biggs’ constructive alignment in course design and its impact on students’ learning approaches.  Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education , 38 (4). 477–491.  doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2004.06.003  

Winkelmes, M., Bernacki, M., Butler, J., Zochowski, M., Golanics, J., & Weavil, K.H. (2016). A teaching intervention that increases underserved college students’ success.  Peer Review , 18 (1/2). 31–36. Retrieved from  https://www.aacu.org/peerreview/2016/winter-spring/Winkelmes

Related Teaching Topics

A positive approach to academic integrity, creating and adapting assignments for online courses, ai teaching strategies: transparent assignment design, designing research or inquiry-based assignments, using backward design to plan your course, universal design for learning: planning with all students in mind, search for resources.

Center for Teaching

Assessing student learning.

Forms and Purposes of Student Assessment

Assessment is more than grading, assessment plans, methods of student assessment, generative and reflective assessment, teaching guides related to student assessment, references and additional resources.

Student assessment is, arguably, the centerpiece of the teaching and learning process and therefore the subject of much discussion in the scholarship of teaching and learning. Without some method of obtaining and analyzing evidence of student learning, we can never know whether our teaching is making a difference. That is, teaching requires some process through which we can come to know whether students are developing the desired knowledge and skills, and therefore whether our instruction is effective. Learning assessment is like a magnifying glass we hold up to students’ learning to discern whether the teaching and learning process is functioning well or is in need of change.

To provide an overview of learning assessment, this teaching guide has several goals, 1) to define student learning assessment and why it is important, 2) to discuss several approaches that may help to guide and refine student assessment, 3) to address various methods of student assessment, including the test and the essay, and 4) to offer several resources for further research. In addition, you may find helfpul this five-part video series on assessment that was part of the Center for Teaching’s Online Course Design Institute.

What is student assessment and why is it Important?

In their handbook for course-based review and assessment, Martha L. A. Stassen et al. define assessment as “the systematic collection and analysis of information to improve student learning” (2001, p. 5). An intentional and thorough assessment of student learning is vital because it provides useful feedback to both instructors and students about the extent to which students are successfully meeting learning objectives. In their book Understanding by Design , Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe offer a framework for classroom instruction — “Backward Design”— that emphasizes the critical role of assessment. For Wiggins and McTighe, assessment enables instructors to determine the metrics of measurement for student understanding of and proficiency in course goals. Assessment provides the evidence needed to document and validate that meaningful learning has occurred (2005, p. 18). Their approach “encourages teachers and curriculum planners to first ‘think like an assessor’ before designing specific units and lessons, and thus to consider up front how they will determine if students have attained the desired understandings” (Wiggins and McTighe, 2005, p. 18). [1]

Not only does effective assessment provide us with valuable information to support student growth, but it also enables critically reflective teaching. Stephen Brookfield, in Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher, argues that critical reflection on one’s teaching is an essential part of developing as an educator and enhancing the learning experience of students (1995). Critical reflection on one’s teaching has a multitude of benefits for instructors, including the intentional and meaningful development of one’s teaching philosophy and practices. According to Brookfield, referencing higher education faculty, “A critically reflective teacher is much better placed to communicate to colleagues and students (as well as to herself) the rationale behind her practice. She works from a position of informed commitment” (Brookfield, 1995, p. 17). One important lens through which we may reflect on our teaching is our student evaluations and student learning assessments. This reflection allows educators to determine where their teaching has been effective in meeting learning goals and where it has not, allowing for improvements. Student assessment, then, both develop the rationale for pedagogical choices, and enables teachers to measure the effectiveness of their teaching.

The scholarship of teaching and learning discusses two general forms of assessment. The first, summative assessment , is one that is implemented at the end of the course of study, for example via comprehensive final exams or papers. Its primary purpose is to produce an evaluation that “sums up” student learning. Summative assessment is comprehensive in nature and is fundamentally concerned with learning outcomes. While summative assessment is often useful for communicating final evaluations of student achievement, it does so without providing opportunities for students to reflect on their progress, alter their learning, and demonstrate growth or improvement; nor does it allow instructors to modify their teaching strategies before student learning in a course has concluded (Maki, 2002).

The second form, formative assessment , involves the evaluation of student learning at intermediate points before any summative form. Its fundamental purpose is to help students during the learning process by enabling them to reflect on their challenges and growth so they may improve. By analyzing students’ performance through formative assessment and sharing the results with them, instructors help students to “understand their strengths and weaknesses and to reflect on how they need to improve over the course of their remaining studies” (Maki, 2002, p. 11). Pat Hutchings refers to as “assessment behind outcomes”: “the promise of assessment—mandated or otherwise—is improved student learning, and improvement requires attention not only to final results but also to how results occur. Assessment behind outcomes means looking more carefully at the process and conditions that lead to the learning we care about…” (Hutchings, 1992, p. 6, original emphasis). Formative assessment includes all manner of coursework with feedback, discussions between instructors and students, and end-of-unit examinations that provide an opportunity for students to identify important areas for necessary growth and development for themselves (Brown and Knight, 1994).

It is important to recognize that both summative and formative assessment indicate the purpose of assessment, not the method . Different methods of assessment (discussed below) can either be summative or formative depending on when and how the instructor implements them. Sally Brown and Peter Knight in Assessing Learners in Higher Education caution against a conflation of the method (e.g., an essay) with the goal (formative or summative): “Often the mistake is made of assuming that it is the method which is summative or formative, and not the purpose. This, we suggest, is a serious mistake because it turns the assessor’s attention away from the crucial issue of feedback” (1994, p. 17). If an instructor believes that a particular method is formative, but he or she does not take the requisite time or effort to provide extensive feedback to students, the assessment effectively functions as a summative assessment despite the instructor’s intentions (Brown and Knight, 1994). Indeed, feedback and discussion are critical factors that distinguish between formative and summative assessment; formative assessment is only as good as the feedback that accompanies it.

It is not uncommon to conflate assessment with grading, but this would be a mistake. Student assessment is more than just grading. Assessment links student performance to specific learning objectives in order to provide useful information to students and instructors about learning and teaching, respectively. Grading, on the other hand, according to Stassen et al. (2001) merely involves affixing a number or letter to an assignment, giving students only the most minimal indication of their performance relative to a set of criteria or to their peers: “Because grades don’t tell you about student performance on individual (or specific) learning goals or outcomes, they provide little information on the overall success of your course in helping students to attain the specific and distinct learning objectives of interest” (Stassen et al., 2001, p. 6). Grades are only the broadest of indicators of achievement or status, and as such do not provide very meaningful information about students’ learning of knowledge or skills, how they have developed, and what may yet improve. Unfortunately, despite the limited information grades provide students about their learning, grades do provide students with significant indicators of their status – their academic rank, their credits towards graduation, their post-graduation opportunities, their eligibility for grants and aid, etc. – which can distract students from the primary goal of assessment: learning. Indeed, shifting the focus of assessment away from grades and towards more meaningful understandings of intellectual growth can encourage students (as well as instructors and institutions) to attend to the primary goal of education.

Barbara Walvoord (2010) argues that assessment is more likely to be successful if there is a clear plan, whether one is assessing learning in a course or in an entire curriculum (see also Gelmon, Holland, and Spring, 2018). Without some intentional and careful plan, assessment can fall prey to unclear goals, vague criteria, limited communication of criteria or feedback, invalid or unreliable assessments, unfairness in student evaluations, or insufficient or even unmeasured learning. There are several steps in this planning process.

• Defining learning goals. An assessment plan usually begins with a clearly articulated set of learning goals.
• Defining assessment methods. Once goals are clear, an instructor must decide on what evidence – assignment(s) – will best reveal whether students are meeting the goals. We discuss several common methods below, but these need not be limited by anything but the learning goals and the teaching context.
• Developing the assessment. The next step would be to formulate clear formats, prompts, and performance criteria that ensure students can prepare effectively and provide valid, reliable evidence of their learning.
• Integrating assessment with other course elements. Then the remainder of the course design process can be completed. In both integrated (Fink 2013) and backward course design models (Wiggins & McTighe 2005), the primary assessment methods, once chosen, become the basis for other smaller reading and skill-building assignments as well as daily learning experiences such as lectures, discussions, and other activities that will prepare students for their best effort in the assessments.
• Communicate about the assessment. Once the course has begun, it is possible and necessary to communicate the assignment and its performance criteria to students. This communication may take many and preferably multiple forms to ensure student clarity and preparation, including assignment overviews in the syllabus, handouts with prompts and assessment criteria, rubrics with learning goals, model assignments (e.g., papers), in-class discussions, and collaborative decision-making about prompts or criteria, among others.
• Administer the assessment. Instructors then can implement the assessment at the appropriate time, collecting evidence of student learning – e.g., receiving papers or administering tests.
• Analyze the results. Analysis of the results can take various forms – from reading essays to computer-assisted test scoring – but always involves comparing student work to the performance criteria and the relevant scholarly research from the field(s).
• Communicate the results. Instructors then compose an assessment complete with areas of strength and improvement, and communicate it to students along with grades (if the assignment is graded), hopefully within a reasonable time frame. This also is the time to determine whether the assessment was valid and reliable, and if not, how to communicate this to students and adjust feedback and grades fairly. For instance, were the test or essay questions confusing, yielding invalid and unreliable assessments of student knowledge.
• Reflect and revise. Once the assessment is complete, instructors and students can develop learning plans for the remainder of the course so as to ensure improvements, and the assignment may be changed for future courses, as necessary.

Let’s see how this might work in practice through an example. An instructor in a Political Science course on American Environmental Policy may have a learning goal (among others) of students understanding the historical precursors of various environmental policies and how these both enabled and constrained the resulting legislation and its impacts on environmental conservation and health. The instructor therefore decides that the course will be organized around a series of short papers that will combine to make a thorough policy report, one that will also be the subject of student presentations and discussions in the last third of the course. Each student will write about an American environmental policy of their choice, with a first paper addressing its historical precursors, a second focused on the process of policy formation, and a third analyzing the extent of its impacts on environmental conservation or health. This will help students to meet the content knowledge goals of the course, in addition to its goals of improving students’ research, writing, and oral presentation skills. The instructor then develops the prompts, guidelines, and performance criteria that will be used to assess student skills, in addition to other course elements to best prepare them for this work – e.g., scaffolded units with quizzes, readings, lectures, debates, and other activities. Once the course has begun, the instructor communicates with the students about the learning goals, the assignments, and the criteria used to assess them, giving them the necessary context (goals, assessment plan) in the syllabus, handouts on the policy papers, rubrics with assessment criteria, model papers (if possible), and discussions with them as they need to prepare. The instructor then collects the papers at the appropriate due dates, assesses their conceptual and writing quality against the criteria and field’s scholarship, and then provides written feedback and grades in a manner that is reasonably prompt and sufficiently thorough for students to make improvements. Then the instructor can make determinations about whether the assessment method was effective and what changes might be necessary.

Assessment can vary widely from informal checks on understanding, to quizzes, to blogs, to essays, and to elaborate performance tasks such as written or audiovisual projects (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005). Below are a few common methods of assessment identified by Brown and Knight (1994) that are important to consider.

According to Euan S. Henderson, essays make two important contributions to learning and assessment: the development of skills and the cultivation of a learning style (1980). The American Association of Colleges & Universities (AAC&U) also has found that intensive writing is a “high impact” teaching practice likely to help students in their engagement, learning, and academic attainment (Kuh 2008).

Things to Keep in Mind about Essays

• Essays are a common form of writing assignment in courses and can be either a summative or formative form of assessment depending on how the instructor utilizes them.
• Essays encompass a wide array of narrative forms and lengths, from short descriptive essays to long analytical or creative ones. Shorter essays are often best suited to assess student’s understanding of threshold concepts and discrete analytical or writing skills, while longer essays afford assessments of higher order concepts and more complex learning goals, such as rigorous analysis, synthetic writing, problem solving, or creative tasks.
• A common challenge of the essay is that students can use them simply to regurgitate rather than analyze and synthesize information to make arguments. Students need performance criteria and prompts that urge them to go beyond mere memorization and comprehension, but encourage the highest levels of learning on Bloom’s Taxonomy . This may open the possibility for essay assignments that go beyond the common summary or descriptive essay on a given topic, but demand, for example, narrative or persuasive essays or more creative projects.
• Instructors commonly assume that students know how to write essays and can encounter disappointment or frustration when they discover that this is sometimes not the case. For this reason, it is important for instructors to make their expectations clear and be prepared to assist, or provide students to resources that will enhance their writing skills. Faculty may also encourage students to attend writing workshops at university writing centers, such as Vanderbilt University’s Writing Studio .

Exams and time-constrained, individual assessment

Examinations have traditionally been a gold standard of assessment, particularly in post-secondary education. Many educators prefer them because they can be highly effective, they can be standardized, they are easily integrated into disciplines with certification standards, and they are efficient to implement since they can allow for less labor-intensive feedback and grading. They can involve multiple forms of questions, be of varying lengths, and can be used to assess multiple levels of student learning. Like essays they can be summative or formative forms of assessment.

Things to Keep in Mind about Exams

• Exams typically focus on the assessment of students’ knowledge of facts, figures, and other discrete information crucial to a course. While they can involve questioning that demands students to engage in higher order demonstrations of comprehension, problem solving, analysis, synthesis, critique, and even creativity, such exams often require more time to prepare and validate.
• Exam questions can be multiple choice, true/false, or other discrete answer formats, or they can be essay or problem-solving. For more on how to write good multiple choice questions, see this guide .
• Exams can make significant demands on students’ factual knowledge and therefore can have the side-effect of encouraging cramming and surface learning. Further, when exams are offered infrequently, or when they have high stakes by virtue of their heavy weighting in course grade schemes or in student goals, they may accompany violations of academic integrity.
• In the process of designing an exam, instructors should consider the following questions. What are the learning objectives that the exam seeks to evaluate? Have students been adequately prepared to meet exam expectations? What are the skills and abilities that students need to do well on the exam? How will this exam be utilized to enhance the student learning process?

Self-Assessment

The goal of implementing self-assessment in a course is to enable students to develop their own judgment and the capacities for critical meta-cognition – to learn how to learn. In self-assessment students are expected to assess both the processes and products of their learning. While the assessment of the product is often the task of the instructor, implementing student self-assessment in the classroom ensures students evaluate their performance and the process of learning that led to it. Self-assessment thus provides a sense of student ownership of their learning and can lead to greater investment and engagement. It also enables students to develop transferable skills in other areas of learning that involve group projects and teamwork, critical thinking and problem-solving, as well as leadership roles in the teaching and learning process with their peers.

Things to Keep in Mind about Self-Assessment

• Self-assessment is not self-grading. According to Brown and Knight, “Self-assessment involves the use of evaluative processes in which judgement is involved, where self-grading is the marking of one’s own work against a set of criteria and potential outcomes provided by a third person, usually the [instructor]” (1994, p. 52). Self-assessment can involve self-grading, but instructors of record retain the final authority to determine and assign grades.
• To accurately and thoroughly self-assess, students require clear learning goals for the assignment in question, as well as rubrics that clarify different performance criteria and levels of achievement for each. These rubrics may be instructor-designed, or they may be fashioned through a collaborative dialogue with students. Rubrics need not include any grade assignation, but merely descriptive academic standards for different criteria.
• Students may not have the expertise to assess themselves thoroughly, so it is helpful to build students’ capacities for self-evaluation, and it is important that they always be supplemented with faculty assessments.
• Students may initially resist instructor attempts to involve themselves in the assessment process. This is usually due to insecurities or lack of confidence in their ability to objectively evaluate their own work, or possibly because of habituation to more passive roles in the learning process. Brown and Knight note, however, that when students are asked to evaluate their work, frequently student-determined outcomes are very similar to those of instructors, particularly when the criteria and expectations have been made explicit in advance (1994).
• Methods of self-assessment vary widely and can be as unique as the instructor or the course. Common forms of self-assessment involve written or oral reflection on a student’s own work, including portfolio, logs, instructor-student interviews, learner diaries and dialog journals, post-test reflections, and the like.

Peer Assessment

Peer assessment is a type of collaborative learning technique where students evaluate the work of their peers and, in return, have their own work evaluated as well. This dimension of assessment is significantly grounded in theoretical approaches to active learning and adult learning . Like self-assessment, peer assessment gives learners ownership of learning and focuses on the process of learning as students are able to “share with one another the experiences that they have undertaken” (Brown and Knight, 1994, p. 52).  However, it also provides students with other models of performance (e.g., different styles or narrative forms of writing), as well as the opportunity to teach, which can enable greater preparation, reflection, and meta-cognitive organization.

Things to Keep in Mind about Peer Assessment

• Similar to self-assessment, students benefit from clear and specific learning goals and rubrics. Again, these may be instructor-defined or determined through collaborative dialogue.
• Also similar to self-assessment, it is important to not conflate peer assessment and peer grading, since grading authority is retained by the instructor of record.
• While student peer assessments are most often fair and accurate, they sometimes can be subject to bias. In competitive educational contexts, for example when students are graded normatively (“on a curve”), students can be biased or potentially game their peer assessments, giving their fellow students unmerited low evaluations. Conversely, in more cooperative teaching environments or in cases when they are friends with their peers, students may provide overly favorable evaluations. Also, other biases associated with identity (e.g., race, gender, or class) and personality differences can shape student assessments in unfair ways. Therefore, it is important for instructors to encourage fairness, to establish processes based on clear evidence and identifiable criteria, and to provide instructor assessments as accompaniments or correctives to peer evaluations.
• Students may not have the disciplinary expertise or assessment experience of the instructor, and therefore can issue unsophisticated judgments of their peers. Therefore, to avoid unfairness, inaccuracy, and limited comments, formative peer assessments may need to be supplemented with instructor feedback.

As Brown and Knight assert, utilizing multiple methods of assessment, including more than one assessor when possible, improves the reliability of the assessment data. It also ensures that students with diverse aptitudes and abilities can be assessed accurately and have equal opportunities to excel. However, a primary challenge to the multiple methods approach is how to weigh the scores produced by multiple methods of assessment. When particular methods produce higher range of marks than others, instructors can potentially misinterpret and mis-evaluate student learning. Ultimately, they caution that, when multiple methods produce different messages about the same student, instructors should be mindful that the methods are likely assessing different forms of achievement (Brown and Knight, 1994).

These are only a few of the many forms of assessment that one might use to evaluate and enhance student learning (see also ideas present in Brown and Knight, 1994). To this list of assessment forms and methods we may add many more that encourage students to produce anything from research papers to films, theatrical productions to travel logs, op-eds to photo essays, manifestos to short stories. The limits of what may be assigned as a form of assessment is as varied as the subjects and skills we seek to empower in our students. Vanderbilt’s Center for Teaching has an ever-expanding array of guides on creative models of assessment that are present below, so please visit them to learn more about other assessment innovations and subjects.

Whatever plan and method you use, assessment often begins with an intentional clarification of the values that drive it. While many in higher education may argue that values do not have a role in assessment, we contend that values (for example, rigor) always motivate and shape even the most objective of learning assessments. Therefore, as in other aspects of assessment planning, it is helpful to be intentional and critically reflective about what values animate your teaching and the learning assessments it requires. There are many values that may direct learning assessment, but common ones include rigor, generativity, practicability, co-creativity, and full participation (Bandy et al., 2018). What do these characteristics mean in practice?

Rigor. In the context of learning assessment, rigor means aligning our methods with the goals we have for students, principles of validity and reliability, ethics of fairness and doing no harm, critical examinations of the meaning we make from the results, and good faith efforts to improve teaching and learning. In short, rigor suggests understanding learning assessment as we would any other form of intentional, thoroughgoing, critical, and ethical inquiry.

Generativity. Learning assessments may be most effective when they create conditions for the emergence of new knowledge and practice, including student learning and skill development, as well as instructor pedagogy and teaching methods. Generativity opens up rather than closes down possibilities for discovery, reflection, growth, and transformation.

Practicability. Practicability recommends that learning assessment be grounded in the realities of the world as it is, fitting within the boundaries of both instructor’s and students’ time and labor. While this may, at times, advise a method of learning assessment that seems to conflict with the other values, we believe that assessment fails to be rigorous, generative, participatory, or co-creative if it is not feasible and manageable for instructors and students.

Full Participation. Assessments should be equally accessible to, and encouraging of, learning for all students, empowering all to thrive regardless of identity or background. This requires multiple and varied methods of assessment that are inclusive of diverse identities – racial, ethnic, national, linguistic, gendered, sexual, class, etcetera – and their varied perspectives, skills, and cultures of learning.

Co-creation. As alluded to above regarding self- and peer-assessment, co-creative approaches empower students to become subjects of, not just objects of, learning assessment. That is, learning assessments may be more effective and generative when assessment is done with, not just for or to, students. This is consistent with feminist, social, and community engagement pedagogies, in which values of co-creation encourage us to critically interrogate and break down hierarchies between knowledge producers (traditionally, instructors) and consumers (traditionally, students) (e.g., Saltmarsh, Hartley, & Clayton, 2009, p. 10; Weimer, 2013). In co-creative approaches, students’ involvement enhances the meaningfulness, engagement, motivation, and meta-cognitive reflection of assessments, yielding greater learning (Bass & Elmendorf, 2019). The principle of students being co-creators of their own education is what motivates the course design and professional development work Vanderbilt University’s Center for Teaching has organized around the Students as Producers theme.

Below is a list of other CFT teaching guides that supplement this one and may be of assistance as you consider all of the factors that shape your assessment plan.

• Active Learning
• An Introduction to Lecturing
• Beyond the Essay: Making Student Thinking Visible in the Humanities
• Bloom’s Taxonomy
• Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs)
• Classroom Response Systems
• How People Learn
• Service-Learning and Community Engagement
• Syllabus Construction
• Teaching with Blogs
• Test-Enhanced Learning
• Assessing Student Learning (a five-part video series for the CFT’s Online Course Design Institute)

Angelo, Thomas A., and K. Patricia Cross. Classroom Assessment Techniques: A Handbook for College Teachers . 2 nd edition. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1993. Print.

Bandy, Joe, Mary Price, Patti Clayton, Julia Metzker, Georgia Nigro, Sarah Stanlick, Stephani Etheridge Woodson, Anna Bartel, & Sylvia Gale. Democratically engaged assessment: Reimagining the purposes and practices of assessment in community engagement . Davis, CA: Imagining America, 2018. Web.

Bass, Randy and Heidi Elmendorf. 2019. “ Designing for Difficulty: Social Pedagogies as a Framework for Course Design .” Social Pedagogies: Teagle Foundation White Paper. Georgetown University, 2019. Web.

Brookfield, Stephen D. Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher . San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1995. Print

Brown, Sally, and Peter Knight. Assessing Learners in Higher Education . 1 edition. London ;Philadelphia: Routledge, 1998. Print.

Cameron, Jeanne et al. “Assessment as Critical Praxis: A Community College Experience.” Teaching Sociology 30.4 (2002): 414–429. JSTOR . Web.

Fink, L. Dee. Creating Significant Learning Experiences: An Integrated Approach to Designing College Courses. Second Edition. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2013. Print.

Gibbs, Graham and Claire Simpson. “Conditions under which Assessment Supports Student Learning. Learning and Teaching in Higher Education 1 (2004): 3-31. Print.

Henderson, Euan S. “The Essay in Continuous Assessment.” Studies in Higher Education 5.2 (1980): 197–203. Taylor and Francis+NEJM . Web.

Gelmon, Sherril B., Barbara Holland, and Amy Spring. Assessing Service-Learning and Civic Engagement: Principles and Techniques. Second Edition . Stylus, 2018. Print.

Kuh, George. High-Impact Educational Practices: What They Are, Who Has Access to Them, and Why They Matter , American Association of Colleges & Universities, 2008. Web.

Maki, Peggy L. “Developing an Assessment Plan to Learn about Student Learning.” The Journal of Academic Librarianship 28.1 (2002): 8–13. ScienceDirect . Web. The Journal of Academic Librarianship. Print.

Sharkey, Stephen, and William S. Johnson. Assessing Undergraduate Learning in Sociology . ASA Teaching Resource Center, 1992. Print.

Walvoord, Barbara. Assessment Clear and Simple: A Practical Guide for Institutions, Departments, and General Education. Second Edition . San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2010. Print.

Weimer, Maryellen. Learner-Centered Teaching: Five Key Changes to Practice. Second Edition . San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2013. Print.

Wiggins, Grant, and Jay McTighe. Understanding By Design . 2nd Expanded edition. Alexandria,

VA: Assn. for Supervision & Curriculum Development, 2005. Print.

[1] For more on Wiggins and McTighe’s “Backward Design” model, see our teaching guide here .

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The Role of the Teaching Assistant

by Megan Tusler, Department of English and Teaching Consultant at the Chicago Center for Teaching  

Teaching Assistant roles can vary widely across the disciplines, and can include lecturing, discussion leading, assignment and paper grading, assignment design, syllabus design, administrative responsibilities, and a number of other minor and major responsibilities. The TA will probably find her assignment most rewarding if she is willing to think of herself as accountable both to the professor and to the students — TAs sometimes think of themselves as accountable primarily to the professor, but considering yourself an apprentice teacher and not an “assistant” will help you to learn more from the TA experience. 

In some disciplines, the TA is the first line of communication, the link between teacher and students.  He grades assignments and meets with students, leads labs, and conducts discussions and study groups. In others, the TA reads students’ papers and suggests a grade; their responsibilities are limited to knowing students exclusively through their writing. Both of these kinds of TAs, however, can be instrumental in helping students learn more and better. In any event, some of the first things to do as a TA include: 

• Meet with the professor and other TAs as early as possible. 
• At this meeting, set clear expectations about both what you can contribute to the course (in time, responsibilities, and skills) and what you hope to get out of the opportunity (in training, experience, and mentorship). Ask the professor what they expect from you, and how you can meet these expectations. Professors have an enormously varied set of expectations from their TAs, so if you will (for example) be expected to design an assignment, better to know from the outset. 
• Schedule a follow-up with the professor and other TAs to maintain open communication and to iron out course details. 
• Reach out to fellow course TAs: brainstorm section activities, offer and receive feedback, and seek advice in difficult classroom situations. Learn from more experienced TAs, and mentor others when the time comes.  
• Balance your TA work with other academic and professional obligations; consider this practice for a faculty position that combines teaching and research. 
• To help you manage your responsibilities, recommend university academic support and tutoring services to students who need more extra help than you can provide. TAs can also recommend that students form study groups or use peer editing (helpful if a student has lots of mechanical errors in her writing.) 
• Invite the professor to watch you teach (if you have a section) and request feedback on your teaching performance. In future, if you should require an extra letter, ask this professor for his or her feedback. 
• Make use of CCTL services for evaluating and improving your teaching. 

You should use this opportunity to be self-reflective about the aspects of teaching that you personally find easier or more difficult. For example, if you find that a professor consistently changes the grades that you give students, you might ask him or her if there are methods in your feedback practice that you can adjust. If you find yourself adapting easily to teaching a discussion group, consider what dynamics of discussion are going well and why. 

There are a number of factors that affect your efficacy as a TA; these are some of the things that make a good TA. 

• Preparation. Whether you’re leading a discussion section, a review section, or a lab section, plan your materials in advance. Ask former TAs and the professor for materials developed for previous classes, and collaborate with fellow course TAs to update and expand those materials. 
• Course knowledge. In addition to whatever background training you have in your field, be sure to stay up to date with the content of the course you are TAing for. Nothing is as disappointing to students as finding out that their TA hasn’t read the textbook or doesn’t attend lecture. That said, TAs frequently teach in courses that are outside of their fields: you are not required to be the expert that the professor is, but you should be current with the course readings and assignments. 
• Communication skills. In particular, you need to be able to explain complicated things clearly, develop interesting examples, and listen carefully as students ask questions or try to explain their confusion. You should be able to communicate to students via email and in person in effective ways. 
• Accessibility and availability. You need to seem approachable to your students; achieve this by maintaining a friendly attitude and encouraging students to visit your office hours or email you their questions. Then, make sure your office hours are at times and in locations your students can actually attend. 
• Concern for students’ learning. Students can tell the difference between a TA who considers TAing a waste of his or her time and a TA who enjoys teaching and interacting with students. 
• A good relationship with the professor. Maintain regular, positive interactions with the professor and provide feedback about how the course is going, from the students’ perspectives as well as your own. 
• A good relationship with your fellow course TAs. A strong teaching team is a boon to student learning and course management. Communicate with fellow TAs on a regular basis: review and confirm responsibilities, share insights from interacting with students, and resolve any issues (scheduling, grading, student concerns) without getting personal. Your behavior is a model for students and reflects on the course as a whole. 
• Organization. Anticipate ways that you can make the course run more smoothly for both the professor and the students. Look for ways to streamline, document, or improve course activities and teaching responsibilities. You can begin honing administrative skills (spreadsheets, assignment and attendance tracking, etc.) as a TA and these will benefit you enormously once you have your own class. 

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Gen ed writes, writing across the disciplines at harvard college, teaching the elements of writing assignments.

Overview: How Unpacking the Elements Translates into Lesson Planning

In Unpacking the Elements we try to break down prompts into the essential features common to nearly every assignment (writing or not), and in doing so the goal was primarily two-fold: to help instructors identify the role of each element in their own assignments and how clearly each element is communicated in their prompts; and to give students and instructors a shared, simple vocabulary for talking about the goals and expectations of assignments.  In this section, the goal is to move from designing effective prompts and sharing them with students to using prompts as a road map for teaching in the classroom. If you’ve done the assignment prompt decoder and thought about elements in a specific prompt, you were maybe left with a few questions. For example:  

• What does it look like to teach each element and give students practice with them?
• What is the best order to teach the elements in?
• How can I scaffold smaller exercises or give students feedback along the way?
• What’s the timing of all of this look like within the framework of a real term?

In the pages of this section we take up these questions, first laying out more generally how teaching through the elements looks in the classroom before taking a deeper dive into a handful of the more common—and increasingly complex—types of academic writing assignments. For each kind of assignment, you’ll find sample timelines and sequences, along with out-of-the-box activities and generalizable advice on teaching with writing (“tips” and “pitfalls to avoid”). 

The advice and examples in this section are meant to be flexible enough to adapt to a wide range of real-life teaching scenarios and pedagogical approaches, but they all reflect a handful of guiding principles about the interrelated ways that assignment prompts "work": they create the context for learning experiences by serving as a touchstone for student-teacher discussions about the specific goals and expectations of the learning experience at hand, and they help keep instructors and students alive to what those goals and expectations are—and how their time together is an ongoing, well-supported engagement with them.

Three Key Principles for Teaching Writing in the Classroom

Students should always be “writing the paper”.

If your lesson plan is drawn from the actual assignment students are working on at any point in the term (whether it’s a smaller “now” response paper or a smaller part of a “bigger” project due in six weeks), then nearly every homework assignment or in-class activity is writing the paper. The purpose of section will always be more clear if students recognize that every meeting is a chance to practice relevant skills or make progress on an assignment. And of course, that recognition is only possible if students understand what the goals of the assignment they're working on are, what skills are relevant to meeting those goals, and what kinds of steps reflect progress toward them. With that in mind, it’s helpful to start with the Assignment Decoder for Students . 

Prompts don’t (and shouldn’t be asked to) speak for themselves

The assignment prompt decoders linked throughout this site are meant to give course heads, TFs & TAs, and students a way of assessing how clearly a prompt is communicating its elements. For course heads and instructors, this might lead to a revision of the prompt or clarifications in class or meetings of the teaching team. For students, it might lead to questions in section, emails to an instructor, or asking a fellow student for input. Whatever doing the decoder leads to—and whether or not the decoder is used at all—it’s crucial to keep in mind that prompts don’t speak for themselves, no matter how clear they are: they’re a framework for, and hopefully an invitation to discussion about what it will look and feel like to do an assignment well. But what about a really clear prompt—doesn’t it save class time if students can just read it on their own? It’s a fair question, and the fair response is that we can’t know whether students have understood the really clear prompt unless we have a discussion with them about it. At that point, of course, we’re back to discussing the prompt, and the upside is this: spending class time working through prompts is actually a reliably efficient way to make subsequent classes more effective. 

You can’t do it all, and you don’t need to

If you and your students are on the same page about the goals and priorities of an assignment, then you’re freed up to engage in some backward design triage: How much time is there until the likely deadline? How many sections are there to work with? What are the essential elements that need teaching and practice? What’s a good place to start? When giving feedback, it’s almost as unhelpful to just write “A-” without comments as it is to fill the margins with comments or append a novella’s worth of reflection to the end of a student’s essay. In both cases, it’s unclear what the rubric for feedback is and how they reflect the priorities of this assignment. And the same goes for teaching this assignment: You should find the sequence of in-class activities and formative assessments that best balance what’s necessary for students to succeed with what’s possible given the time and bandwidth available to you and your students. The general advice and sample trajectories for assignments in this section are meant to make that balance feel both attainable and much more than “good enough”—it’s what great teachers aim for. 

• DIY Guides for Analytical Writing Assignments

• Types of Assignments
• Unpacking the Elements of Writing Prompts
• The Steps of Teaching the Most Common Types of Writing Assignments
• Giving Feedback to Students

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Assignments as a focus for what is important to learn

T ake a moment to reflect on your own experience of learning in a formal course. At what point in the process did you start asking questions about the way in which you would be assessed? When did you first sit down to read the assignment descriptions in your course outline, or ask your teacher what would be required of you in the assignments?   

If you are like most learners, this was probably something you did fairly early on in the course. And as a result, if you are like most learners, your understanding of what you would be assessed on, and how you would be assessed, probably helped you decide what to focus on as you progressed through the course. It probably also helped you decide what to ignore.

Assignments help learners to focus on the essential learning and not to get swamped by details. Being transparent about the exact requirements of assignments from the start of the course is an important way in which you can support your learners in managing their time.

Assignments are also an opportunity for the tutor to provide individual feedback to learners. Your feedback will help learners to gauge their progress throughout the course, and can play a critical role in either motivating or demotivating learners as they continue with their studies.

A third role that assignments can play is in helping you evaluate what is working on your course and what aspects need improvement. If large numbers of your learners struggle with a particular assignment, or a particular aspect of an assignment, that is possibly an indication that you need to revisit the relevant section of the course and build in more support for learners. It could also be an indication that the assignment itself needs to be revised.

Assignments as scaffolding

Assignments, more than any other component of an online course, create the scaffolding that enables learning to occur. (Have a look at the section on constructivism in Unit 3 if you need a brief reminder of the concept of scaffolding.)

A thoughtfully constructed assignment can take the learner on an exhilarating journey into unknown territory, all the while providing signposts and pit stops exactly where they are needed. At the end, the learner should be able to look back in pride and say, 'Wow! I did that!' Each successfully completed assignment should contribute to the learner’s growing sense of confidence in himself as a professional in the field in which he is studying. The assignments themselves acted as the scaffolding for the learning to occur.

Here are some ways in which you can create assignments as scaffolding:

If possible, try designing the whole course around a series of assignments, each one building on the last. If learners can see that Assignment 1 helps them to get to grips with the concepts that will be applied in Assignment 2, they are likely to put a great deal of effort into Assignment 1. (In this scenario, it is even more critical than ever to provide learners with prompt feedback on their assignments, so that they can clarify any misunderstandings before they embark on the next assignment.) 

Create staged assignments. Each stage has to be completed before the next one can be started, and there is some form of feedback – either from other learners, or from you – at the end of each stage to help learners judge their own progress towards the expected outcomes. 

Build in a requirement that learners have to collaborate on some part of the assignment. This is surprisingly easy to do using online communication tools, such as discussion forums and wikis. These tools allow learners to participate at times that suit them over an extended period, and provide a permanent record, for the learners and for you, of the communication, for later reference. This idea is elaborated on in the next section.

H ow do you approach assignments in the distance course(s) you teach? Do you use any of the approaches described above – i.e. a series of assignments all building on one another; staged assignments; and/or a requirement of collaboration on some part of the assignment? If so, can you give examples of how your assignments provide scaffolding for learners in your particular discipline?

Perhaps you're a tutor on a course where someone else designs the assignments. But nevertheless, which of the suggestions given above could you use to support the learners to complete their assignments well?

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Teaching Resources

Using Roles in Group Work

Resource overview.

How using roles can improve group work in your class

While collaborative learning through group work has been proven to have the potential to produce stronger academic achievement than other kinds of learning environments (Johnson, Johnson, & Smith, 2006), it can be challenging to implement successfully because many students come to college without the tools they need to automatically succeed in collaborative learning contexts. One way of providing supportive structures to students in a collaborative learning environment is through assigning roles within group work.

Potential Benefits of Using Assigned Roles in Group Work

Assigning group roles can be a beneficial strategy for successful group work design for a number of reasons:

• Group roles offer an opportunity for high quality, focused interactions between group participants. Participants are more likely to stay on task and pay closer attention to the task at hand when their roles in the collaboration are clear and distinct.
• Group roles provide all students with a clear avenue for participation. Students are less likely to feel left out or unengaged when they have a particular duty that they are responsible for completing. Along the same lines, assigning group roles reduces the likelihood of one individual completing the task for the whole group, or “taking over,” to the detriment of others’ learning.
• Group roles encourage individual accountability. Group members are more likely to hold each other accountable for not completing work if a particular task is assigned to them.
• Group roles allow students to strengthen their communicative skills, especially in areas that they are less confident in volunteering for.
• Group roles can help disrupt stereotypical and gendered role assignments, which can be common in group learning. For example, Hirshfield and Chachra (2015) found that in first-year engineering courses, female students tended to undertake less technical roles and more communicative roles than their male colleagues. By assigning roles during group work, and by asking students to alternate these roles at different points in the semester, students can work past gendered assumptions about themselves and their groupmates.

POGIL: A Model for Role Assignments in Collaborative Learning

One small group learning methodology where the use of group roles is well-defined and researched is the  Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL) method . The POGIL method calls for groups of three or four students who work in a team on process-oriented guided inquiry activities in which students construct their knowledge through interactions with others. Traditional POGIL roles for group members are provided below (POGIL, 2016).

• Manager  or  Facilitator : Manages the group by helping to ensure that the group stays on task, is focused, and that there is room for everyone in the conversation.
• Recorder : Keeps a record of those who were in the group, and the roles that they play in the group. The recorder also records critical points from the small group’s discussion along with findings or answers.
• Spokesperson  or  Presenter : Presents the group’s ideas to the rest of the class. The Spokesperson should rely on the recorder’s notes to guide their report.
• Reflector  or  Strategy Analyst : Observes team dynamics and guides the consensus-building process (helps group members come to a common conclusion).

Other Highly Adaptable Roles to Consider

You can adapt roles for different kinds of group tasks. While the POGIL model is a useful place to start, you may find that the tasks associated with your discipline require other kinds of roles for effective group learning. Adding to or reframing POGIL roles can be beneficial in these contexts. Below are some suggestions for additional roles that might be valuable to a variety of learning situations.

• Encourager : Encourages group members to continue to think through their approaches and ideas. The Encourager uses probing questions to help facilitate deeper thinking, and group-wide consideration of ideas.
• Questioner : Pushes back when the team comes to consensus too quickly, without considering a number of options or points of view. The questioner makes sure that the group hears varied points of view, and that the group is not avoiding potentially rich areas of disagreement.
• Checker : Checks over work in problem-solving contexts before the group members finalize their answers.

Strategies for Effective Facilitation of Group Roles

The following suggestions are strategies for effective facilitation of group roles. These strategies are helpful in a wide variety of group work situations, but are essential for group work that will last beyond a single class period, or constitute a significant portion of student grades.

• Be transparent about why you are assigning group roles. This kind of transparency can increase student buy-in by helping them recognize the value in establishing group roles
• Provide students with  a list of roles and brief definitions for each role  at the beginning of the group work activity. Make it clear which tasks are associated with which roles.
• Alternatively, you may find it helpful, especially in advanced-level classes, to encourage students to develop their own roles in groups based on the tasks that they feel will be critical to the group’s success. This strategy provides the students with a larger level of autonomy in their learning, while also encouraging them to use proven structures that will help them be successful.
• Roles can be assigned randomly through a variety of strategies, from who has the next birthday to color-coded post-it notes, or  a place card  that points out roles based on where everyone is sitting.
• Circulate early in the class period to be sure that everyone has been assigned a role, and that everyone is clear about what their responsibilities include.
• Be willing to reinforce the given roles throughout the activity. For roles to work, students have to feel as though they will be held accountable for fulfilling those roles. Therefore, it is critical for you to step in if you see someone taking over someone else’s role or not fulfilling their assigned role. Often gentle reminders about who is supposed to be doing what can be useful interventions. For example, if someone is talking over everyone and not listening to their other groupmates, you might say something like “Remember, as a spokesperson, your job is to represent the ideas of everyone in the group.”
• Talk with students individually if their speech or conduct could be silencing, denigrating, or excluding others. Remember: your silence on this issue may be read as endorsement.
• Changing things up regularly is imperative. If you use group roles frequently, mixing up roles throughout the semester can help students develop communication skills in a variety of areas rather than relying on a single personal strength.
• If this is a long-term group assignment, be sure to provide structures for individual feedback for the instructor and other group member on group dynamics. This could be a formal or informal check in, but it’s critical for students to have a space to voice concerns related to group dynamics—especially if this assignment counts for a large portion of their final grade. This feedback might be provided through an anonymous survey in paper form or through a web-based tool like Qualtrics or a Google form. These check-ins can reduce student anxiety about the potential for uneven group participation.

Overall, using assigned roles in group work provides students with a supportive structure that promotes meaningful collaborative learning. While group learning can be challenging to implement effectively, using roles can mitigate some of the challenges associated with learning in groups, while offering students the opportunity to develop a variety of communication skills that will be critical to their success in college and their future careers.

Burke, Alison. (2011). Group work: How to use groups effectively.  The Journal of Effective Teaching , 11(2), 87-95.

Beebe, S.A., & Masterson, J.T. (2003).  Communicating in small groups . Boston, MA: Pearson Education.

Cheng, W. Y., Lam, S. F., & Chan, C. Y. (2008). When high achievers and low achievers work in the same group: The roles of group heterogeneity and processes in project‐based learning.  British Journal of Educational Psychology ,  78 (2), 205-221.

Eberlein, T., Kampmeier, J., Minderhout, V., Moog, R.S., Platt, T., Varma-Nelson, P., White, H.B. (2008). Pedagogies of engagement in science: A comparison of PBL, POGIL and PLTL.  Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education, 36 (4), 262-73.

Hale, D., & Mullen, L. G. (2009). Designing process-oriented guided-inquiry activities: A new innovation for marketing classes.  Marketing Education Review ,  19 (1), 73-80.

Hirshfield, L., & Chachra, D. (2015). Task choice, group dynamics and learning goals: Understanding student activities in teams.  2015 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference: Launching a New Vision in Engineering Education Proceedings, FIE 2015 , 1-5.

Johnson, C. (2011). Activities using process‐oriented guided inquiry learning (POGIL) in the foreign language classroom.  Die Unterrichtspraxis/Teaching German ,  44 (1), 30-38.

Johnson, D. W., Johnson, R. T., and Smith, K.A. (2006).  Active learning: Cooperation in the university classroom . Edina, MN: Interaction.

Moog, R.S. (2014). Process oriented guided inquiry learning. In M.A. McDaniel, R. F. Frey, S.M. Fitzpatrick, & Roediger, H.L. (Eds.).  Integrating cognitive science with innovative teaching in STEM disciplines  (147-166). St. Louis: Washington University in St. Louis Libraries.

The POGIL Project. (2017). https://pogil.org/

Springer, L., Stanne, M.E., & Donovan, S.S. (1999). Effects of small-group learning on undergraduates in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology: A meta-analysis.  Review of Educational Research, 96 (1), 21-51.

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A survey conducted by the Associated Press has revealed that around 58% of parents feel that their child has been given the right amount of assignments. Educators are thrilled that the majority has supported the thought of allocating assignments, and they think that it is just right.

However, the question arises when students question the importance of giving assignments for better growth. Studies have shown that students often get unsuccessful in understanding the importance of assignments.

What key purpose does an assignment have? They often question how an assignment could be beneficial. Let us explain why a teacher thinks it is best to allot assignments. The essential functions of assigning tasks or giving assignments come from many intentions. 

What is the Importance of Assignment- For Students 

The importance of the assignment is not a new concept. The principle of allocating assignments stems from students’ learning process. It helps teachers to evaluate the student’s understanding of the subject. Assignments develop different practical skills and increase their knowledge base significantly. As per educational experts, mastering a topic is not an impossible task to achieve if they learn and develop these skills.  

Cognitive enhancement 

While doing assignments, students learn how to conduct research on subjects and comprise the data for using the information in the given tasks. Working on your assignment helps you learn diverse subjects, compare facts, and understand related concepts. It assists your brain in processing information and memorizing the required one. This exercise enhances your brain activity and directly impacts cognitive growth. 

Ensured knowledge gain   

When your teacher gives you an assignment, they intend to let you know the importance of the assignment. Working on it helps students to develop their thoughts on particular subjects. The idea supports students to get deep insights and also enriches their learning. Continuous learning opens up the window for knowledge on diverse topics. The learning horizon expanded, and students gained expertise in subjects over time.      

Improve students’ writing pattern 

Experts have revealed in a study that most students find it challenging to complete assignments as they are not good at writing. With proper assistance or teacher guidance, students can practice writing repetitively.

It encourages them to try their hands at different writing styles, and gradually they will improve their own writing pattern and increase their writing speed. It contributes to their writing improvement and makes it certain that students get a confidence boost. 

Increased focus on studies 

When your teachers allocate a task to complete assignments, it is somehow linked to your academic growth, especially for the university and grad school students. Therefore, it demands ultimate concentration to establish your insights regarding the topics of your assignments.

This process assists you in achieving good growth in your academic career and aids students in learning concepts quickly with better focus. It ensures that you stay focused while doing work and deliver better results.         

Build planning & organization tactics

Planning and task organization are as necessary as writing the assignment. As per educational experts, when you work on assignments, you start planning to structurize the content and what type of information you will use and then organize your workflow accordingly. This process supports you in building your skill to plan things beforehand and organize them to get them done without hassles.   

Adopt advanced research technique

Assignments expand the horizon of research skills among students. Learners explore different topics, gather diverse knowledge on different aspects of a particular topic, and use useful information on their tasks. Students adopt advanced research techniques to search for relevant information from diversified sources and identify correct facts and stats through these steps.  

Augmenting reasoning & analytical skills 

Crafting an assignment has one more sign that we overlook. Experts have enough proof that doing an assignment augments students’ reasoning abilities. They started thinking logically and used their analytical skills while writing their assignments. It offers clarity of the assignment subject, and they gradually develop their own perspective about the subject and offer that through assignments.     

Boost your time management skills 

Time management is one of the key skills that develop through assignments. It makes them disciplined and conscious of the value of time during their study years. However, students often delay as they get enough time. Set deadlines help students manage their time. Therefore, students understand that they need to invest their time wisely and also it’s necessary to complete assignments on time or before the deadline.  

What is the Importance of Assignment- Other Functions From Teacher’s Perspective: 

Develop an understanding between teacher and students  .

Teachers ensure that students get clear instructions from their end through the assignment as it is necessary. They also get a glimpse of how much students have understood the subject. The clarity regarding the topic ensures that whether students have mastered the topic or need further clarification to eliminate doubts and confusion. It creates an understanding between the teaching faculty and learners. 

Clarity- what is the reason for choosing the assignment 

The Reason for the assignment allocated to students should be clear. The transparency of why teachers have assigned the task enables learners to understand why it is essential for their knowledge growth. With understanding, the students try to fulfill the objective. Overall, it fuels their thoughts that successfully evoke their insights. 

Building a strong relationship- Showing how to complete tasks 

When a teacher shows students how to complete tasks, it builds a strong student-teacher relationship. Firstly, students understand the teacher’s perspective and why they are entrusted with assignments. Secondly, it also encourages them to handle problems intelligently. This single activity also offers them the right direction in completing their tasks within the shortest period without sacrificing quality. 

Get a view of what students have understood and their perspective 

Assigning a task brings forth the students’ understanding of a particular subject. Moreover, when they attempt an assignment, it reflects their perspective on the specific subject. The process is related to the integration of appreciative learning principles. In this principle, teachers see how students interpret the subject. Students master the subject effectively, whereas teachers find the evaluation process relatively easy when done correctly. 

Chance to clear doubts or confusion regarding the assignment  

Mastering a subject needs practice and deep understanding from a teacher’s perspective. It could be possible only if students dedicate their time to assignments. While doing assignments, students could face conceptual difficulties, or some parts could confuse them. Through the task, teachers can clear their doubts and confusion and ensure that they fully understand what they are learning.   

Offering individualistic provisions to complete an assignment 

Students are divergent, and their thoughts are diverse in intelligence, temperaments, and aptitudes. Their differences reflect in their assignments and the insight they present. This process gives them a fair understanding of students’ future and their scope to grow. It also helps teachers to understand their differences and recognize their individualistic approaches.  

Conclusion:

You have already become acquainted with the factors that translate what is the importance of assignments in academics. It plays a vital role in increasing the students’ growth multifold. 

TutorBin is one of the best assignment help for students. Our experts connect students to improve their learning opportunities. Therefore, it creates scopes of effective education for all, irrespective of location, race, and education system. We have a strong team of tutors, and our team offers diverse services, including lab work, project reports, writing services, and presentations.

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101 Essential Teaching Skills

Teaching skills refer to the specific abilities educators need to effectively support learning.

These skills take time to learn – and, in reality, we never stop developing them. Expect your teaching skills to develop throughout your career.

Teachers require a broad spectrum of hard and soft skills to ensure their students’ academic success and personal growth. They loosely fit into three categories:

• Pedagogy : Being able to effectively convey, facilitate, and support subject-specific knowledge formation.
• Classroom management: Maintaining discipline and creating an environment conducive to learning.
• Assessment: Regular, effective, and reliable evaluation of students’ progression and understanding.

In the 21st Century, we’re increasingly understanding that teaching skills need to be culturally responsive, differentiated for students’ needs, and focused on facilitation over dictation.

Let’s explore some of these skills.

Teaching Skills

1. Subject Expertise All teachers need to be knowledgeable about the subject being taught. This will ensure accuracy and clarity. Even elementary school teachers need excellent spelling, math, grammar, etc. Physics professors, on the other hand, would obviously need to be experts in high-level physics.

Read Also: Best Resume Skills for a Teacher

2. Lesson Planning This is a hard skill for teaching, and involves creating structured and effective plans for teaching that align with learning objectives and build upon content learned in prior lessons.

3. Classroom Management Classroom management is an umbrella term which refers to the ability to establish and maintain order in the classroom. This is one of the most difficult of skills, especially for new teachers, who need to learn to control tone of voice, composure, and stature required to manage a class. Effective classroom management promotes an environment conducive to learning.

4. Explicit Instruction This refers to conveying information clearly and understandably to ensure student comprehension. Even in inquiry lessons, explicit instruction is necessary toward the beginning of the lesson (especially when giving instructions on safety!)

5. Open-Ended Questioning Techniques Open-ended questioning refers to asking questions that can’t be answered with a yes/no answer, which generally helps to stimulate thinking, gauge understanding, and promote discussion.

6. Active Listening Active listening involves not just listening to someone, but being a participant in the conversation. This may include giving body-language feedback that shows you’re listening and asking prudent questions to elicit information.

7. Differentiation Differentiation involves adjusting teaching methods, content, and assessment methods based on student needs and the dynamics of the classroom. For example, some students may find it easier to learn visually than verbally, so the teacher will need to differentiate content to help suit that student’s learning style preference. See my full guide on differentiation for more information on the four types of differentiation.

8. Constructive Feedback Teachers need to be able to give feedback in ways that are encouraging and supportige, and that stimulate further learning. We call this ‘constructive feedback’, which goes beyond mere positive feedback or negative feedback.

9. Empathy Teachers need to be understanding and sensitive to students’ emotions, challenges, and diverse backgrounds, in order to understand how to best holistically support a student and create conditions for learning.

10. Assessment Design Creating assessments is harder than it looks. You need to create fair and meaningful tests and quizzes that effectively gauge student understanding, don’t confuse students, and that encourage students to demonstrate their depth of knowledge on the topic.

11. Formative Assessment Formative assessment refers to the practice of assessing students during the learning cycle (not just at the end – which would be summative assessment ). When we engage in formative assessment, we can adjust and pivot mid-lesson (or mid-unit of work) in order to better support students’ learning and cover weaknesses or blindspots in students’ knowledge prior to the final assessment.

12. Media Literacy Media literacy refers to the ability of a teacher to assess media (such as books and other teaching materials) to tell if it’s reliable, trustworthy, and suitable for students.

13. Digital Competency In the 21st Century, we need to incorporate digital tools and platforms into our lessons to enhance teaching and learning experiences . For this, teachers need basic digital literacy skills .

14. Time Management Teachers learn very quickly that they need to be very good at managing their time. On a day-to-day level, we need to be able to fit-in time for lesson planning, and always turn up to the classroom on time so students are always supervised. On a bigger picture level, we need to pace our instruction so we cover the ‘crowded curriculum’ by year’s end.

15. Relationship Building The better your relationship with students, the more likely students will trust you, follow your instructions, and allow your help to support their academic and personal growth.

16. Peer Collaboration Teaching is a collaborative profession. Working cooperatively with fellow teachers to share resources, ideas, and best practices is good for students, so it’s good for teachers, too!

17. Continuous Learning As with many professions these days, teachers need to pursue professional development (aka lifelong learning ) and stay updated with modern teaching techniques and subject knowledge.

18. Reflective Practice This refers to regularly analyzing one’s teaching methods and making improvements based on these reflections. Models like Kolb’s reflective learning cycle are useful here. See my full reflective teaching guide .

19. Cultural Awareness Teachers need to be able to recognize and respect the diverse cultures and backgrounds of students. Culturally sensitive teaching requires teachers to be inclusive of the cultures of their students and aware of the unique cultural needs of each individual student. See my guide on cultural competence .

20. Inclusive Teaching Inclusive teaching refers to ensuring that all students, regardless of ability or background, have equal learning opportunities. This is particularly important for neurodivergent children, such as children with autism.

21. Conflict Resolution Teachers need to surprisingly often address and resolve disagreements or issues in the classroom in order to create a productive learning environment.

22. Creativity Teachers need to be creative in how they teach, especially if their first attempt at teaching didn’t achieve the results they wanted! Creative teachers incorporate novel and imaginative teaching methods to engage and motivate their students.

23. Multimodal Teaching Multimodality refers to the use of various modes of instruction, such as visual, auditory, and kinesthetic, to cater to diverse learners and varied learning preferences.

24. Literacy Skills When I first started teaching, I was very conscious of the fact that I needed perfect literacy skills – especially when sending letters home to parents. Imagine writing a letter home about the literacy initiatives you have in the classroom … only to realize you made a spelling mistake on that letter!

25. Numeracy Skills Similarly, teachers need fundamental literacy skills, not only for grading students’ exams, but also to help students to develop strong mathematical understanding and competence. This is, of course, of paramount importance to math and science teachers.

26. Group Facilitation Teachers need to be able to manage and direct group activities and discussions effectively. Here, they need facilitation skills , which can include ensuring all students can have a say, all students are heard, and decorum is respects.

27. High Expectations Setting high expectations is of paramount importance for teachers. I’ve found that students rise or fall to the expectations you set.

28. Leadership Skills In the classroom, leadership extends beyond commanding authority. Teachers lead by serving as role models , guiding students through the learning process, and inspiring their self-confidence. Great teachers foster an environment of mutual respect and cultivate students’ own leadership skills.

29. Teamwork Teaching isn’t a solitary endeavor. Whether collaborating with fellow teachers for curriculum planning, working with teaching assistants, or guiding students through group projects, strong teamwork skills promote effective communication, shared responsibility, and ultimately, better educational outcomes.

30. Multi-Tasking From delivering lessons to maintaining discipline, managing classroom equipment, and answering spontaneous queries, teaching involves handling numerous tasks simultaneously. Successful teachers are able to prioritize and balance these tasks efficiently while maintaining the flow of the lesson.

31. Goal Setting Effective teaching requires setting clear, realistic, and measurable goals . This provides a roadmap for the education process and allows both the teacher and students to track progress. At its best, goal setting also encourages students to take ownership of their learning and strive for personal achievement.

32. Professionalism : Teachers are role models both inside and outside the classroom. Displaying professionalism involves adhering to ethical standards, respecting boundaries, maintaining confidentiality, and presenting oneself appropriately. It sets the standard for student behavior and establishes a respectful learning environment.

33. Change Management In the dynamic environment of a classroom, change is inevitable. Whether it’s curriculum updates, new teaching methods, or adjusting lesson plans on the fly to meet unforeseen challenges, teachers need to manage change effectively and with minimal disruption to learning.

34. Quick Thinking Teachers often find themselves in unpredictable situations requiring immediate problem-solving. From diffusing tense situations to improvising when a lesson doesn’t go as planned, quick thinking ensures that obstacles are swiftly navigated and learning continues unhindered.

35. Nonverbal Communication Much of communication in a classroom happens without words. Eye contact, body language, gestures, and even silence can speak volumes. Skilled teachers use nonverbal cues to understand student needs, maintain discipline, and create an environment of mutual respect.

36. Compassion A compassionate teacher understands their students’ challenges and responds with empathy. They create a caring, inclusive environment that recognizes and respects each learner’s individual circumstances and fosters emotional health alongside academic achievement .

37. Real-world Application Increasingly, educators have become aware of the importance of relating subject matter to real-world situations and examples. This can help engage students and show them why they should care about what they’re learning.

38. Self-regulation Another key soft skill, self-regulation refers to the practice of being able to manage your own behaviors and actions. In particular, teachers need to be able to self-regulate their moods (you need to be encouraging and supportive at all times!) and self-regulate their work time so they get the work done on time (i.e. avoid procrastinating) .

39. Research and Evidence-Based Practice Modern teaching requires the ability to research and apply evidence-based strategies in the classroom. It means not just relying on intuition or tradition, but grounding decisions in reputable studies and proven methodologies.

40. Communication Skills It’s crucial for teachers to articulate ideas clearly, both orally and in writing. Whether it’s explaining complex topics, interacting with parents, or providing instructions, effective communication ensures understanding and minimizes misconceptions.

41. Patience Every student learns at their own pace, and sometimes a topic needs revisiting multiple times. Patience is the key to providing a supportive and stress-free learning environment where students feel comfortable asking questions.

42. Adaptability The best-laid plans can often go awry. Whether it’s a technological glitch, unexpected disruptions, or a teaching method that’s not working, teachers need the ability to adapt on the fly and steer the ship in the right direction.

43. Motivation Skills Inspiring students to want to learn is as important as the curriculum itself. Teachers should be equipped with strategies to motivate even the most disinterested or struggling student. Ideally, they should promote a growth mindset in their students.

44. Self-care With the emotional and physical demands of the profession, teachers must recognize the importance of self-care to avoid burnout. This includes seeking support, setting boundaries, and ensuring personal well-being.

45. Feedback Reception Just as they give feedback, teachers should be open to receiving feedback, whether from peers, superiors, or even students. Constructive criticism helps refine teaching methods and adapt to the ever-evolving classroom environment.

46. Counseling Skills While not replacing professional counselors, teachers often act as first-line listeners for students dealing with personal challenges. Recognizing signs of distress and providing basic counseling or referrals is key.

47. Use of EdTech Tools Beyond basic digital competency, there’s a need to understand and incorporate the latest educational technology tools that enhance learning experiences and make teaching more efficient.

48. Critical Thinking Teachers should foster an environment where students analyze and challenge information rather than just accept it. By encouraging inquiry and exploration, they promote deeper understanding and independent thought.

49. Diversity and Equity Training In modern classrooms, understanding and valuing diverse perspectives is essential. Continuous training ensures teachers’ practices are inclusive and respectful of all students’ backgrounds.

50. Emotional Intelligence A teacher’s ability to recognize and respond to their own and students’ emotions greatly influences classroom dynamics. High emotional intelligence ensures conflicts are navigated effectively and students feel supported.

51. Community Involvement Classrooms benefit from strong ties to the broader community, including parents and local organizations. Engaging with these groups enriches the learning experience and provides additional resources for students.

52. Professional Ethics Teachers hold a position of trust and must act with integrity and fairness at all times. Upholding ethical standards ensures the well-being of students and maintains the profession’s reputation.

53. Collaborative Learning Techniques Collaborative learning promotes peer interaction and diverse perspectives in problem-solving. Teachers must be adept at facilitating constructive and positive group dynamics and ensuring productive group work.

54. Attention to Detail As a teacher, precision is vital . Even the smallest error in question framing or explanation can cause confusion for students. Therefore, teachers must be meticulous in their preparation, delivery, and assessment processes.

55. Delegation Skills There are often tasks that can be assigned to students, which not only reduces the teacher’s load but also fosters responsibility among students. Proper delegation fosters a sense of ownership and develops leadership skills in students.

56. Sense of Humor Though seriousness can often be paramount in education, a sense of humour can do wonders in creating a relaxed and enjoyable learning environment. It can help to diffuse tension, put students at ease, and make learning fun.

57. Organization Skills Maintaining order in the chaos of a buzzing classroom requires exceptional organizational skills. This extends from physical materials to lesson structuring and time management. It ensures smooth transitions, minimizes wasted time, and intensifies the focus on learning.

58. Mentoring Abilities Over and beyond teaching, educators often take on the role of mentors. They guide students in their academic and personal growth, provide counsel, inspire confidence, and help students make significant life decisions like career choices.

59. Resilience The teaching profession is filled with challenges and setbacks. Teachers often deal with adversities ranging from unruly students to changes in curriculum or school policy. Being resilient enables teachers to bounce back and persist in their mission of effective education delivery.

60. Embracing Change Education is constantly evolving – a teacher is expected to stay in sync with these changes and adapt. This can include changes in curriculum, pedagogy, or technological advancements in education.

61. Interpersonal Skills Building constructive relationships with students, parents, and colleagues requires strong interpersonal skills. Teachers need to be able to connect on a personal level while retaining their authority and respect.

62. Work-Life Balance Teachers often take their work home – gradings, lesson planning, and more. They must strive for a good work-life balance to prevent burnout, maintaining efficiency at work while also fulfilling their personal life responsibilities.

63. Self-motivation A high level of self-motivation is essential in the teaching profession – teachers are expected to be continuous learners themselves. Upgrading skills, staying current with the latest in education, and being passionate about their profession are some areas where self-motivation plays a crucial role.

64. Growth Mindset Teaching requires a flexible mindset – open to change, innovation, and continuous improvement. By consistently working on professional and personal growth , teachers serve as role models for their students, encouraging a love for learning.

65. Bias-Free Attitude A teacher’s classroom should be a safe space for every student, irrespective of their race, gender, religious beliefs, or background. A bias-free attitude promotes equality, inclusivity, and respect amongst students.

66. Respect for Privacy Teachers often become privy to sensitive information about students. Respecting and maintaining students’ privacy is essential in building trust and ensuring students feel secure.

67. Problem-solving Skills Teachers routinely face challenges that require quick and effective problem-solving. Sometimes, it’s a behaviour issue; other times, it might be a teaching strategy that’s not working. Knowing how to tackle these challenges ensures the learning process isn’t disrupted.

68. Endurance The demands of teaching require a high level of physical and mental endurance. From managing classroom dynamics to marking assignments, teachers must maintain their endurance to keep delivering high-quality education.

69. Learner-Centered Approach Teachers must always keep the focus on the learners and the learning process. This requires understanding what motivates each individual, what their prior knowledge is, and what their learning style is. The lesson content and delivery are then tailored to meet these specific learning needs.

70. Learning Environment Design Crucial to facilitating effective learning is the creation of a conducive learning environment. Teachers should be skilled in arranging classrooms to stimulate optimum learning, considering factors such as seating arrangements , lighting, resources, and the use of technology.

71. Integrative Teaching Teachers should aim to draw connections between different disciplines or subject areas. This skill allows learners to see how the breadth of their curriculum content is interconnected, promoting wider understanding and real-world application.

72. Active Learning Strategies Encouraging students to participate actively in their learning is critical in creating engaging educational environments. Teachers skilled in facilitating student participation, discussion, and hands-on activities enable more meaningful and lasting learning.

73. Peer Assessment Peer assessment is a useful tool in the learning process. Teachers need the skills to effectively organize and guide students in evaluating each others’ work. This approach enhances students’ critical thinking and provides different perspectives on one’s work.

74. Scaffolding Scaffolding refers to the instructional technique of providing successively changing supports to facilitate the learning process. Teachers move the learning forward incrementally, according to a student’s current level of understanding, ability, and their zones of proximal development – where the student needs a little support to excel.

75. Use of Authentic Materials Authentic materials are items from the real world used in the classroom to teach specific aspects. Teachers need the skills to select, modify, and effectively use these materials to make learning more relevant.

76. Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK This is a teacher’s application of their understanding of how learning processes affect the specific context of what they’re teaching. A teacher with robust PCK addresses students’ misconceptions, understands potential learning difficulties, and creates lesson plans accordingly.

77. Gamification Incorporating game elements into learning can boost student motivation and engagement. Teachers need to know how to introduce and handle these elements effectively, ensuring that they also contribute to the learning objectives.

78. Flipped Classroom Model In this teaching model, the traditional classroom structure is flipped, meaning instructional content is accessed at home and classroom time is spent on interactive and higher-order thinking activities. Controlling the flipped classroom environment requires adept skills in planning, organization, and facilitation.

79. Understanding of Learning Theories Knowledge of various cognitive and learning theories helps teachers appreciate differences in how students acquire knowledge. They need skills in applying these theories to guide their instructional strategies , ensuring all students’ learning methods are catered for.

80. Project-Based Learning This pedagogical method engages students in learning by involving them in projects that require problem-solving, decision-making, investigative skills, and reflection. Teachers must understand how to implement this strategy to facilitate deeper understanding and real-world application of knowledge.

81. Concept Mapping This teaching strategy involves creating visual representations of knowledge, like diagrams or mind maps, to help students understand and remember ideas. Teachers need to know how to develop and utilize these to facilitate complex learning.

82. Cooperative Learning This involves organizing students into small groups, where they work together towards learning goals. Teachers need skills to manage these groups effectively, creating cooperative interdependence and promoting respectful dialogue.

83. Building Learning Communities Working to create an environment where all students feel valued and connected aids in better learning. Skilled teachers will foster a sense of community within their classrooms, increasing students’ engagement and motivation.

84. Modeling Teachers should be proficient in illustrating processes or behaviors that students can emulate. This could range from a math problem-solving procedure to demonstrating active listening while interacting with students.

85. Cognitive Load Management Teachers should design their lessons keeping in mind the cognitive load – the amount of mental effort required to process new information. It’s necessary to balance the challenge and complexity of learning tasks to avoid overwhelming students.

86. Backward Design This approach starts planning with the end in mind – the learning objectives or desired outcomes. Skilled teachers know how to reverse-engineer their teaching strategies to successfully lead students towards these goals.

87. Checking for Understanding It’s essential to consistently check for students’ understanding during teaching. Skilled teachers find ways to prompt responses that can indicate or provide insight into the depth of students’ comprehension.

88. Narrative Teaching Engaging students through stories or narratives can make even complex or dry topics interesting. Teachers should know how to weave learning objectives into well-crafted narratives to engage and retain their students’ attention.

89. Perseverance Teaching involves unexpected challenges and setbacks. A persevering teacher remains steadfast in their commitment to their students’ learning, trying new strategies when old ones fail, and relentlessly striving for every student’s success.

90. Self-Control With the diverse behaviors and emotions a classroom can stir, a teacher must exemplify self-control. By remaining composed and patient even in high-tension situations, they maintain a calm, respectful, and stable learning environment.

91. Initiative A teacher’s initiative can lead to innovative teaching methods, proactive problem-solving, and continued professional growth. Whether in anticipating challenges or capitalizing on learning opportunities, initiative demonstrates a teacher’s commitment to delivering the best educational experience.

92. Stress Management Teaching, with its multifaceted demands, can often be stressful. Skilled teachers employ effective stress management tactics, ensuring their own well-being and maintaining a positive, relaxed ambiance conducive to learning.

93. Networking Teachers need to establish strong connections with parents, other teachers, and education professionals. Networking broadens their resource pool, provides valuable insights from peers, and opens up opportunities for collaborative projects enhancing the learning experience.

94. Persuasion Whether it’s encouraging a hesitant student to participate or gaining parental support for a school event, a teacher often needs persuasive abilities. Persuasion in education is rooted in building trust, offering logical arguments, and understanding the other person’s perspective.

95. Coachability Teachers, as lifelong learners themselves, benefit from being receptive to mentorship and feedback. Their coachability drives constant improvement in their teaching techniques and adaptation to evolving pedagogical trends and needs.

96. Tolerance In the diverse and inclusive classroom of today, teachers must show tolerance for individual differences. They accept and respect varied backgrounds, beliefs, and abilities, fostering a sense of belonging and mutual respect amongst students.

97. Diplomacy Diplomacy in a teaching context is the ability to handle situations with sensitivity and fairness. From mediating student disputes to liaising with parents, diplomatic navigation upholds feelings of respect and understanding.

98. Sincerity Sincerity builds trust, a crucial element in the student-teacher relationship. A sincere teacher shows genuine interest in their students and their learning, instills persistence in their students, and cultivates an environment of honesty and integrity.

99. Caring Manifesting in understanding, encouragement, and support, a caring teacher creates a safe, nurturing environment. This warmth and compassion can boost student self-esteem, engagement, and academic achievement.

100. Intuition While teaching is significantly grounded in theory and proven strategies, intuition plays a key role in making on-the-spot decisions that can benefit the learning process. A teacher’s intuition can guide in gauging a student’s understanding or predicting potential issues before they emerge.

101. Altruism The role of a teacher often extends beyond instruction to instances where they help their students without any expectation of return. This altruistic nature of teachers is what forms lasting impacts on students’ lives and fosters a caring community within the school.

Equipped with these teaching skills, educators can create a conducive, effective, and engaging learning environment for their students. Remember, each skill enhances a different facet of the educational experience.

And our skill development as teachers doesn’t ever stop – it’s a lifelong process. We need to constantly refine our teaching skills and teaching philosophy , be flexible to the evolving demands of the profession and the diverse needs of learners. The journey to becoming a better educator is an unending one – but undoubtedly, a fulfilling and impactful path in life.

Chris Drew (PhD)

Dr. Chris Drew is the founder of the Helpful Professor. He holds a PhD in education and has published over 20 articles in scholarly journals. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education. [Image Descriptor: Photo of Chris]

• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 5 Top Tips for Succeeding at University
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 50 Durable Goods Examples
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 100 Consumer Goods Examples
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 30 Globalization Pros and Cons

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Clinical teaching practices of nurse educators: An integrative literature review

Sybil n. gcawu.

1 Department of Nursing Science, Faculty of Health Sciences, Nelson Mandela University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa

Dalena van Rooyen

2 Faculty of Health Sciences, Nelson Mandela University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa

Associated Data

Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analysed in this study.

Clinical teaching practice of nurse educators is important in the development of clinical competence of undergraduate nursing students, but it is often not done according to best practice standards. This study aimed to summarise the best clinical teaching practices of nurse educators teaching undergraduate nursing programmes. An integrative literature review was conducted according to Whittemore and Knafl’s adapted stages. A systematic search of electronic databases, including EBSCOhost and ScienceDirect, for applicable papers from January 2001 to June 2021, was followed by a manual search. The review resulted in selection of 67 papers, and critical appraisal had been completed by two independent reviewers using relevant critical appraisal tools. Papers that were selected revealed six main themes, with sub-themes, outlining best practices for clinical teaching, namely: (1) planning for clinical teaching practice: self-preparation and planning for clinical placement; (2) facilitation of students’ clinical learning: orientation of students, planning for clinical teaching and the clinical teaching process; (3) evaluation of students’ clinical skills: reflection by the nursing student and feedback; (4) modelling professional clinical teaching practice: emotional intelligence, self-evaluation, role modelling and continuous professional development; (5) work-based assessment in the clinical environment: clinical assessment process and clinical assessment tools and (6) clinical teaching in the simulation laboratory. The six identified best practices could assist nurse educators to provide comprehensive clinical teaching.

Contribution

The review’s results can be used in the development of a best practice guideline for clinical teaching. This guideline will aid nurse educators in achieving best clinical teaching practices.

Introduction

Clinical education of undergraduate nurses remains an integral part of the nursing curriculum and forms the foundation for bridging the theory-practice gap (Wells & McLoughlin 2014 ). Therefore, the nursing curriculum needs to be aligned to the clinical setting to ensure that graduates are equipped to face the challenges of complex and dynamic healthcare delivery system (Bvumbwe 2016 ). Literature suggests that the process of clinical teaching begins with identification of the goals and outcomes for clinical learning, and proceeds through planning clinical learning activities, guiding students, assessing the learner and evaluating clinical learning and performance (Gaberson, Oermann & Shellenbarger 2017 ).

The clinical teaching role of the nurse educator encompasses guidance, support, stimulation and facilitation of learning in the range of practice settings, which include hospitals, clinics and other primary healthcare sites (World Health Organisation 2016 ). In the process, undergraduate nursing students get the opportunity to practise nursing care, acquire the necessary competencies, internalise professional values and develop their interpersonal skills (Gaberson et al. 2017 ).

One of the responsibilities of the nurse educator is to convey theoretical knowledge to the nursing students in clinical practice, thus ensuring integration of theory and practice. Although some reviews have been conducted regarding teaching strategies or clinical teaching practices of nurse educators, these reviews focussed on classroom teaching of theory (Breytenbach, Ten Ham-Baloyi & Jordan 2017 ) or the use of research by nurse educators in clinical teaching (Milner, Estabrooks & Myrick 2006 ). Summarising literature regarding clinical teaching practices of nurse educators would assist (novice) nurse educators to identify relevant clinical teaching practices and to set a foundation for standardisation and professionalism in clinical teaching practices to achieve the best possible learning outcomes for undergraduate nursing students (Gaberson et al. 2017 ). Furthermore, according to the authors’ knowledge, no integrative literature review has been published, summarising the clinical teaching practices of nurse educators, teaching undergraduate nursing programmes, indicating a need for such a review to be conducted.

The integrative literature review was conducted in five stages, adapted from Whittemore and Knafl ( 2005 ). These were: Stage 1: Problem identification; Stage 2: Literature search; Stage 3: Data evaluation; Stage 4: Data analysis and Stage 5: Presentation.

The review question derived from the identified problem was formulated as follows: What are the clinical teaching practices of nurse educators teaching undergraduate nursing programmes?

Literature search

The literature search was conducted by the first author under the supervision of the second author. The university librarian assisted with the search strategy, including the identification of sources of literature and key words, as described in the following subsection.

Sources of literature

The EBSCOhost search engine was used to search for literature from the following databases: Cumulative Index for Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL); Education Resources Information Centre (ERIC); Medical Literature Analysis & Retrieval System Online (MEDLINE); E-Journals; Health Sources: Nursing/Academic edition; Master File Premier; Teacher Reference Centre as well as ScienceDirect. Subsequently, a manual search of grey literature (unpublished papers) using Google Scholar and Google Search engines, as well as citation searching through reference lists, was conducted.

The following key words were used to search for literature from databases: clinical teaching practice* AND clinical educat* OR nurse educ* OR clinical teach* OR mentor* OR preceptor* AND undergraduate* .

Inclusion and exclusion criteria

Both research papers and non-research papers, such as opinion papers, and clinical practice guidelines reporting on the clinical teaching practices of nurse educators, including clinical teachers, mentors, preceptors and clinical educators, teaching undergraduate nursing programmes were included. Inclusion was limited to papers in English as this was the language the researcher was proficient in and dated between January 2001 and June 2021 to obtain sufficient evidence.

Papers that were included related to aspects of clinical teaching, namely: planning for clinical teaching practice, facilitation of nursing students’ clinical learning, evaluation of students’ clinical skills assessment, modelling professional clinical teaching, work-based assessment in the clinical environment and clinical teaching in the simulation laboratory.

The following papers were excluded: papers which were not relevant to the research study, such as those pertaining to clinical teaching practices by non-nursing educators (e.g. medical, dental and other non-nursing educators), teaching of theory, clinical teaching in postgraduate programmes and other health programmes, duplicated papers, papers written in other languages and those possibly relevant papers that could not be obtained.

Documenting the search and selection process

After titles and abstracts were read and selected for inclusion, based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria by both authors independently, full-texts were obtained for possible relevant literature. Full-texts were read and selected based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The search and selection process is reflected in Figure 1 .

PRISMA: Search and selection process.

As reflected in Figure 1 , the search through electronic databases yielded 286 papers – 250 through the databases and 36 papers through the manual search using citation searching. After manually removing 28 duplicate papers which had the same titles and/or abstracts, 258 records were scrutinised for relevance by titles and abstracts. Seventy-three records were excluded and 185 full-texts were sought for retrieval. Although interlibrary loan was used to retrieve as many full-texts as possible, a total of 14 papers could not be obtained as these papers were not accessible without payment because of non-subscription of the universities to the respective journals they were published in, resulting in 171 full-texts being read. A total of 100 papers did not meet the inclusion criteria and, after critical appraisal, four papers were excluded, leaving 67 papers to be included for data extraction and synthesis.

Data evaluation

Various critical appraisal tools were used to assess the rigour of the papers extracted in view of the heterogeneity thereof. These tools included Johns Hopkins’ tools for mixed methods and literature reviews; the Joanna Briggs Institute for interpretive studies; the Assessment of Multiple Systematic Reviews (AMSTAR) tool and Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) for integrative review, qualitative and quantitative studies. The non-research papers were assessed using the Joanna Briggs Institute for the Narrative, Opinion and Text Assessment critical appraisal tool (NOTARI), and the guideline was assessed using the Rapid Best Practice Guideline appraisal tool from Melnyk and Fineout-Overholt ( 2011 :518).

The methodological quality of all the papers extracted was assessed using the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF 2012 ) Guide to clinical preventive services grade rating. This guide was selected in view of its ability to incorporate all levels of evidence from heterogeneous papers into a usable grade rating.

In order to enhance rigour of the integrative literature review process, the critical appraisal of data was performed by the first author and an independent reviewer. Research papers were included if they were considered to be of good or medium rigour according to the various quality appraisal instruments. Research papers generally had to comply with more than half of the following criteria: the aim is clearly stated, the research design is appropriate; sampling, data collection and data analysis are clearly described; findings, recommendations and limitations were clearly stated and ethical issues were considered. Similarly, non-research papers were included if they complied with more than half of the following criteria: whether the opinion of the author(s) was based on scientific evidence or evidence was based on the opinions of more than one individual, who are preferably experts on the topic; the conclusions and recommendations are provided, including potential biases and whether results can be applied and are relevant to clinical practice. The two reviewers discussed this process, and, when consensus was reached, the final selection of papers was made. Four of the 71 papers that were appraised were excluded owing to weak methodological rigour. A total of 67 papers were included for data extraction.

Data analysis

Data analysis included the data extraction and synthesis. Data (including the reference, aim, method as well as findings relevant to the topic of each paper) were extracted by the first author from the 67 papers using the data extraction tool adapted from Russell ( 2005 ), in alignment with the review question. Extracted data were synthesised, using thematic analysis. Thematic results are presented in narrative form in the following section.

Ethical considerations

This review was part of a doctoral study (ethics number: H15-HEA-NUR-008) that formulated the best practice guideline for clinical teaching at a public college of nursing. Consent to conduct the research was not obtained as this study had human participants.

Sixty-seven ( n = 67) papers were included. Of these, one was Randomised Control Trial, thirteen (13) were non-experimental interpretive studies, five (5) were literature reviews, thirty-two (32) were single descriptive or qualitative studies and fifteen (15) were non-research opinion papers of experts and reports of expert committees.

Papers reported research conducted in Canada ( n = 11), the United States of America ( n = 10), Australia ( n = 9), the United Kingdom ( n = 8), Ireland ( n = 7), Iran ( n = 5), Sweden ( n = 4), Brazil ( n = 2) and South Africa ( n = 2). One paper was included from each of the following countries: Belgium, Finland, Israel, Japan, Malawi, Pakistan, Palestine, Scotland and Turkey. Based on the thematic analysis of the extracted data, six themes emerged from the data, namely: planning for clinical teaching practice; facilitation of students’ clinical placements; evaluation of students’ clinical skills; modelling professional clinical teaching; work-based assessment in the clinical environment and clinical teaching in the simulation laboratory. The results of thematic analysis are discussed in the following subsection.

Theme One: Planning for clinical teaching practice

Adequate planning for clinical teaching, as mentioned by four papers (Lichtman et al. 2003 ; Luhanga 2018 ; Parkinson 2016 ; RNAO 2016 ) should cover aspects of self-preparation by the nurse educator and planning for placement of nursing students to the clinical sites.

The expectation in terms of self-preparation is for the nurse educator to be competent in terms of clinical teaching, and knowledgeable in terms of the clinical environment, prior to conducting clinical teaching (Parkinson 2016 :9). In order to gain the required competencies, nurse educators should receive adequate preparation and support through professional development (Lichtman et al. 2003 ). This should be in the form of workshops focusing on teaching and assessment practices, preparation of teaching material and assessment of students (Luhanga 2018 :135; RNAO 2016 :26).

Planning for placement of nursing students to the clinical sites is vital as this is where undergraduate nursing students acquire the knowledge and skills that enable them to be competent nurses (RNAO 2016 :26). The role of the nurse educator is to assess suitability of clinical placements, as determined by availability of learning opportunities. This is in response to the fact that provision of high-quality clinical supervision is the responsibility of the nurse educator (RNAO 2016 :25).

Theme Two: Facilitation of nursing students’ clinical placements

In order for facilitation of nursing students’ clinical placements to be effective, as identified in 34 papers (Adibelli & Boyaci 2018 ; Akram, Mohamad & Akram 2018 ; Ajani & Moez 2011 ; Barrett 2007 ; Bentley & Pegram 2003 ; Brown et al. 2005 ; Butler et al. 2011 ; Cangelosi, Crocker & Sorrell 2009 ; Carlson, Wann-Hansson & Pilhammar 2009 ; Carlson, Pilhammar & Wann-Hansson 2010 ; Duffy 2009 ; Ehrenberg & Haggblom 2007 ; Farzi, Shahriari & Farzi 2018 ; Foley, Myrick & Yonge 2012 ; Frazer et al. 2014 ; Henderson et al. 2006 ; Hendricks et al. 2013 ; Hossein et al. 2010 ; Huybrecht et al. 2011 ; Kpodo 2015 ; Lambert & Glacken 2005 ; Lee, Cholowski & Williams 2002 ; Leonard, McCutcheon & Rogers 2016 ; Luhanga et al. 2010 ; Luhanga, Yonge & Myrick 2008 ; Matthew-Maich et al. 2015 ; McSharry et al. 2010 ; Msiska, Munkhondya & Chilemba 2014 ; Öhrling & Hallberg 2001 ; Paton 2005 , 2007 ; Price et al. 2011 ; Raisler, O’Grady & Lori 2003 ; RNAO 2016 ; Udlis 2008 ), nurse educators should incorporate orientation of nursing students to clinical practice, planning for clinical teaching and the clinical teaching process, respectively.

Orientation of nursing students to clinical practice is vital in ensuring that they become informed about the nature of clinical practice. The orientation meeting between the nurse educator and nursing students at the beginning of the teaching programme, before clinical placement, should inform the students about the clinical practice requirements, practical skills to be practised and assessment methods (Farzi et al. 2018 ). This meeting should inform the student about what to expect at a particular placement and the clinical activities that are within their scope of practice and level of education (RNAO 2016 :28).

Planning for clinical teaching implies that a well-coordinated programme of clinical placements should be prepared that takes into consideration correlation of theory to practice. This programme should encompass pre-contact preparation of the necessary documents – for example, copies of programme learning objectives, clinical assessment forms and feedback tools to be used in clinical teaching of nursing students (Kpodo 2015 :79; Matthew-Maich et al. 2015 :45). Of importance is recognition of previous experiences and learning needs of nursing students, finding out about their learning capabilities and making available appropriate learning resources (Hossein et al. 2010 :8; RNAO 2016 :28), which could include technology that facilitates clinical teaching and learning (Adibelli & Boyaci 2018 :734).

Three aspects of the clinical teaching process were identified in this review – namely, maintenance of clinical credibility; bridging the theory-practice gap and use of an appropriate clinical teaching model.

Firstly, nurse educators should maintain their clinical credibility by being clinically current, and by making time to learn techniques for sharing knowledge, coaching and supporting others in their learning. Clinical currency, as evidenced by the recency of clinical experience is viewed as being clinical credibility (McSharry et al. 2010 :190; Msiska et al. 2014 :844). Furthermore, a clinically credible nurse educator ensures that the knowledge received by nursing students is applicable to clinical practice (Leonard et al. 2016 :15).

Secondly, nurse educators involved in clinical teaching of nursing students should assist in bridging the theory-practice gap by providing clinical education to nursing students that enhances their application of theory in the conduct of their clinical practice, thus building the knowledge, skills and attitudes essential for professional practice (Ajani & Moez 2011 :3927; Akram et al. 2018 :876; Barrett 2007 :367; Bentley & Pegram 2003 ; Ehrenberg & Haggblom 2007 :67; Leonard et al. 2016 :2). However, the theory-practice gap is viewed as posing a challenge in the light of the multifaceted role of nurse educators and multiplicity of clinical teaching styles used in clinical teaching (Matthew-Maich et al. 2015 :50).

The included papers highlight four clinical teaching models which can be used in clinical teaching. The first, the traditional facilitation model aimed to utilise a nurse educator in clinical teaching in view of both academic and clinical expertise (dual role). However, the sharing of responsibilities by these nurse educators, coupled with a heavy workload, limited the effectiveness of the clinical teaching role (Leonard et al. 2016 :5). The second clinical teaching model, the preceptorship model, requires that the student is assigned to a registered nurse on a one-to-one basis. This is aimed at developing the professional knowledge and skills of nursing students in clinical practice, preparing them for their role-transitioning from student to graduate nurses through role modelling and feedback (Brown et al. 2005 :84; Butler et al. 2011 :298; Carlson et al. 2009 , 2010 ; Duffy 2009 :166; Foley et al. 2012 :1; Frazer et al. 2014 ; Henderson et al. 2006 ; Price et al. 2011 :780; Udlis 2008 :20). The third model, the mentorship model, involves a qualified nurse being used to supervise nursing students on a one-to one basis to teach nursing students to expand their (practical) skills, overcome obstacles and build on their strengths to make positive choices and develop their practical skill so that they could become knowledgeable and well-rounded professionals. However, the workloads of and support required by mentor nurses should be carefully considered so that they may perform their mentoring function competently (Cangelosi et al. 2009 :367; Huybrecht et al. 2011 :274; Leonard et al. 2016 :4; Luhanga, et al. 2008 :227, 2010 :1; Öhrling & Hallberg 2001 :530; Paton 2005 , 2007 ; Raisler et al. 2003 :398). The fourth clinical teaching model evident in the literature is that of an established dedicated education unit seeking to provide a positive clinical education environment for nursing students, facilitators and educational staff (Lambert & Glacken 2005 :664; Lee et al. 2002 :412).

The nurse educator to student ratio is viewed as vital in clinical teaching of nursing students. These ratios, as they relate to the clinical supervision models, are, for example, as follows: preceptor and mentorship model, 1:1, whilst the facilitation model has a ratio of 1:6 to 1:8 (Hendricks et al. 2013 ).

Theme Three: Evaluation of students’ clinical skills

Evaluation of students’ clinical skills, mentioned by five papers, encompasses reflection by the nursing student on the clinical learning experiences, and feedback given by the nurse educator on the level of clinical competence of the nursing student.

Undergraduate nursing students are expected to reflect on practice events and skills that they encounter during their learning process in clinical settings. By reflecting on their own learning, students begin to identify the strengths and weaknesses in their work. Reflection has been found to facilitate development of autonomy, open mindedness, critical thinking and sensitivity in nursing students (Da Silva & Almeida de Figueiredo 2017 :4118; Frazer et al. 2014 :4; Scully 2011 :93).

Feedback is a two-way process in which the nurse educator shares with the student information based on observation, with the aim of enabling the student to reach the defined goal and of informing the student about areas of improvement in clinical practice (McCarthy & Murphy 2008 :301). Feedback needs to be constructive, unbiased and timely, to provide direction that would increase motivation, confidence, self-esteem, cognitive skills and behaviours and to make reference to course learning outcomes (McCarthy & Murphy 2008 :301). It is important for nurse educators to model the behaviour they wish to see in students when giving feedback (McCarthy & Murphy 2008 :301; Phillips et al. 2017 :205).

Theme Four: Modelling professional clinical practice

The aspects covered under the theme of modelling professional clinical practice, as identified in 12 papers, are: emotional intelligence, self-evaluation, role modelling and continuous professional development.

Emotional intelligence is the ability of nurse educators to control their own emotions whilst influencing the other person – for example, the student – to act in an acceptable manner (Allen, Ploeg & Kaasalainen 2012 :231). Two complementary models of emotional intelligence are in existence, namely, trait and ability models, both of which enable nurse educators to demonstrate their own level of maturity. The trait model enables the nurse educator to contain self in a stressful clinical environment, whereas the ability model is used to assess and solve emotional problems on the part of nursing students (Allen et al. 2012 :231).

Self-evaluation covers self-reflection ((in)formal self-assessment) by nurse educators of knowledge, skills and performance (Lichtman et al. 2003 :455; Little & Milliken 2007 ; Parkinson 2016 :9; Phillips & Vintern 2010 :226; Schub & Heering 2016 :3). Peer evaluation entails a formal or informal evaluation of the performance of the nurse educator conducted by a peer of equal status or a senior, such as, for example, head of department (Landers 2015 :13; Parkinson 2016 :9; Schub & Heering 2016 :2). Student evaluation refers to reliable feedback about the quality of clinical teaching students received at various levels of their education programme. This requires creativity on the part of nurse educators in obtaining feedback from nursing students (Parkinson 2016 :9) with a view to improving the practice of nursing students.

Role modelling professional behaviour is essential in clinical teaching to help professional development of students. Students evaluate role modelling of clinical teachers according to the quality of clinical teaching they receive from them, and their attitude towards the students. It is crucial for nurse educators to understand the characteristics of their students so as to be able to adapt their teaching strategies accordingly (Canadian Nurses Association 2005 ; Hart 2017 :256).

Continuous professional development: an inherent part of the nurse educator role is to be up-to-date with nursing developments as these are a crucial component of clinical teaching (Leonard et al. 2016 :149). Effectively structured professional development for nurse educators includes providing update sessions, resource and education packages and interactive workshops (Esmaeili et al. 2014 ; RNAO 2016 :27).

Theme Five: Work-based assessment in the clinical environment

Work-based assessment of competence of nursing students is crucial in maintaining professional standards, as identified in six papers. This includes the assessment process as well as clinical assessment tools. Areas of improvement in the performance of nursing students are identified during this process (Schub & Heering 2016 :2).

Problems identified by Rafiee et al. ( 2014 :44) with regard to the assessment process include lack of assessment instruments to do formative assessment, resulting in inability to conduct appropriate formative assessment; clinical assessments not performed in a timely manner by nurse educators and assessment practices not standardised both at national and international level. Helminen et al. ( 2016 ) reported that assessment practices vary at different nursing education institutions. Rafiee et al. ( 2014 :45) assert that there is a need to upgrade the current clinical assessment forms, and nurse educators should improve their knowledge about what is entailed in a complete and comprehensive clinical assessment.

Helminen et al. ( 2016 :309) state that the clinical assessment process entails formative assessment (relating to ongoing process, which lasts throughout clinical education) and summative assessment (which can be used both at the end of every nursing student’s clinical practice period and at the end of the programme of studies, before graduating).

Various authors refer to the clinical assessment tools that have been used in nursing over the years. These include: the portfolio (a collection of evidence by the individual being assessed to demonstrate acquisition and maintenance of skills, knowledge and attitudes); direct observation (a visual assessment conducted by the nurse educator as the student performs specific tasks, using a checklist); Objective Structured Clinical Examination (participation in a series of structured activities that test knowledge and skill in a variety of clinical areas, allowing participants to practise skills in a controlled setting); interviews (an interpersonal process that enables students to demonstrate their ability to integrate their knowledge, skills and attitudes to preceptors); reflective journal (which is student-centred and promotes the students’ critical thinking and analytical abilities, thus contributing to their development as professionals) and rating scale (a valid and reliable tool that is most useful for summative evaluation of student performance) (Kpodo 2015 :80; Marchigiano, Eduljee & Harvey 2011 :143; Nulty et al. 2011 :145; Schub & Heering 2016 :4;).

Theme Six: Clinical teaching in the simulation laboratory

Clinical teaching in the simulation laboratory was supported by eight papers. Simulation is a technique that can be used to replace real experiences with guided experiences that replicate substantial aspects of the real world in a fully interactive manner. Simulation has been used primarily in undergraduate nursing programmes to teach nursing skills in view of its safety and ability to afford nursing students the opportunity to practise skills until they achieve competency level. Simulation complements traditional education with actual patients and enables nursing students to learn in ways that eliminate risks to patients, thus providing them with opportunities to develop and explore problem-solving skills, clinical skills and critical thinking skills (Berragan 2014 :1143; Cant & Cooper 2010 :3; Khalaila 2014 :253; McCaughey & Trayner 2010 :827; Mills et al. 2014 :12; Ribeiro et al. 2018 :451; Sanford 2010 :1006; Secomb, McKenna & Smith 2012 :3475).

The six themes that emerged from this integrative review reflected that clinical teaching is a process, including various aspects.

By examining the first theme – planning for clinical teaching practice – it was found that the nurse educator should prioritise self-preparation and planning for clinical placement. Self-preparation is about identifying own knowledge gaps and engaging in in-service education on a continuous basis. The areas that should be strengthened are clinical teaching and assessment methods, leadership and reflective thinking (Duffy & Watson 2001 :551; Kpodo 2015 :79). Planning also includes the assessment that has to be made by nurse educators with regard to the suitability of clinical sites. This should enable nurse educators to monitor the downgrading and upgrading of clinical sites that is often done by health authorities, especially in view of the fact that lack of suitable clinical placement sites leads to competition for clinical placement areas, and to ensure that students receive clinical learning experiences that are aligned to their theoretical learning (Muthathi, Thurling & Armstrong 2017 :6).

The second theme – facilitation of nursing students’ clinical placements – focused on implementation of the clinical teaching process. This theme was supported by the majority of papers reviewed. A well-structured clinical teaching programme was found to be necessary. A well-structured clinical programme would be evident in the resources provided to nursing students to utilise during their clinical exposure (Luhanga 2018 :132). Furthermore, the clinical sites should be given the necessary communication that informs them about the clinical learning experiences and clinical hours required by nursing students (Kpodo 2015 :78; Taniyama, Kai & Takahashi 2012 ).

The situation in the clinical sites should be monitored on a continuous basis in order to enhance the quality of clinical education (Farzi et al. 2018 ), given that nursing students should be placed at clinical sites where their learning needs will be met (Muthathi et al. 2017 :2). Facilitation of nursing students’ clinical placements also includes establishment of clinical credibility and ensuring bridging of the theory-practice gap (Dadgaran, Parvizy & Peyrovi 2012 ; Muthathi et al. 2017 :7; Shoghi et al. 2019 :1).

Nurse educators must play a supportive role and be actively involved in clinical teaching in order to be familiar with what is happening in the clinical setting. They should be able to implement appropriate clinical teaching models in order for students to receive clinical teaching that is relevant and aligned with their learning objectives and level of teaching received (Leonard et al. 2016 :150; Meskell, Murphy & Shaw 2009 :784; Muthathi et al. 2017 :6).

The traditional facilitation model as one of the four clinical teaching models highlighted in the included papers is often regarded as the ‘gold’ standard (Luhanga 2018 :125). However, for this model to be effectively implemented, increasing the number of nurse educators with relevant education in clinical practice and expertise may be required (Bvumbwe & Mtshali 2018 :9).

The third theme – evaluation of students’ clinical assessment skills – related to the interaction between the nurse educator and nursing student, with the focus on reflection by the student and feedback by the nurse educator. This was confirmed by Karimi et al. ( 2017 :5195) who found that reflection on, for example, clinical skills enables nursing students to share their own strengths and weaknesses with the nurse educator, thus increasing the quality of care provided by nursing students to patients. With regard to feedback, the absence of feedback confirms lack of support and clinical supervision in clinical practice. Feedback should be timely, constructive and done in a respectful manner (Kamphinda &Chilemba 2019 :7; Kok & Chabeli 2002 :35; Montes, Rodrigues & Azevedo 2019 :667).

The fourth theme – modelling professional clinical practice – highlights the four characteristics of professional clinical practice that are interconnected. These are emotional intelligence, self-evaluation, role modelling and continuous professional development. Emotional intelligence enables the clinical teacher to pursue self-evaluation (Muthathi et al. 2017 :7).

The process of role modelling attracts mutual interaction of clinical educators and nursing students. It enhances humanistic and professional growth. Humanistic growth is ensured through intellectual, spiritual and emotional development. A competent clinical teacher utilises role modelling to council, guide and promote students’ competency (Nouri et al. 2014 ). Role modelling and continuous professional development go hand in hand, as continuous professional development needs to happen in an ever-changing clinical environment for the nurse educator to demonstrate (role-modelling) the correct practices to the students (Muthathi et al. 2017 :7).

The fifth theme – work-based assessment in the clinical environment – highlights the importance of clinical assessment in development of nursing students as competent professional nurses. Work-based assessment is an integral part of clinical teaching. It provides the students with an opportunity to develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills whilst taking care of patients. Hence, it is referred to as an authentic assessment (Almalkawi 2019 ). The extent of readiness of nursing students for any type of assessment should be promoted, and appropriate tools should be used for each assessment (Almalkawi 2019 :246; EdCan National Education Framework Cancer Nursing 2008 ).

The sixth theme – c linical teaching in the simulation laboratory – highlights the fact that simulation-based learning is vital for undergraduate nursing education, particularly in a context fuelled by the shortage of clinical faculty and diminishing the number of clinical sites (Aebersold 2018 ). Simulation-based learning provides undergraduate nursing students with an opportunity to practise responding to rare emergency situations and authentic life situations in a safe environment. It affords the students a level of competence through the immediate feedback they receive through debriefing and the opportunity for repetitive practice (Aebersold 2018 ; Dreifuerst 2009 :109; Kim, Park & Shin 2016 ). A nurse educator should be trained to use simulation (such as computerised low/medium/high fidelity mannequins, role-play, standardised or simulated patients and virtual simulations) in clinical teaching (Powell, Scrooby & Van Graan 2020 ).

The weakness of an integrative literature review is that both research, such as randomised controlled trials, quantitative, qualitative, mixed methods as well as non-research papers, such as editorials and opinion papers, are included. Non-research papers are often regarded a lower level of evidence according to various hierarchies of evidence (Murad et al. 2016 ). This review found a variety of levels of evidence on the topic. However, more high-level evidence studies (such as randomised controlled trials) need to be done on the clinical teaching practices of nurse educators as only one randomised controlled trial was identified. Furthermore, there is a need for studies to be conducted in resource-constrained settings in developing countries as the majority of papers were from developed countries, such as Canada, Australia and the United States of America.

This review aimed to summarise the best clinical teaching practices of nurse educators, teaching undergraduate nursing programmes. The evidence obtained from this review points to the existence of various practices with regard to clinical teaching. More clinical trials need to be conducted on clinical teaching practices and in resource-constrained settings.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Ms Bavuma, the faculty librarian, who assisted with the search strategy.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no financial or personal relationships that may have inappropriately influenced them in writing this article.

Authors’ contributions

S.N.G. conducted research, wrote the manuscript and D.R.M.v.R. supervised and reviewed the manuscript.

Funding information

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

Data availability

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any affiliated agency of the authors.

How to cite this article: Gcawu S.N. & Van Rooyen, D. (R.M.)., 2022, ‘Clinical teaching practices of nurse educators: An integrative literature review, Health SA Gesondheid 27(0), a1728. https://doi.org/10.4102/hsag.v27i0.1728

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The Role of Research in Teaching: A Comparison of Teachers from Research Universities and those from Universities of Applied Sciences

• Published: 15 July 2014
• Volume 28 , pages 535–554, ( 2015 )

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• Yanjuan Hu 1 ,
• Roeland van der Rijst 1 ,
• Klaas van Veen 2 &
• Nico Verloop 1  

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We explored how the institutional and individual backgrounds of university teachers influence their beliefs about what the role of research in university teaching should be and their perceptions of how they have managed to incorporate research into their actual teaching. A total of 132 teachers from research universities (RU) and universities of applied sciences (UAS) participated in our survey study. Teachers from both institutions highly value the role of research in teaching. The teachers from the RU were more positive about the incorporation of research into their teaching than the teachers from the UAS. To explain these differences, the institutional and individual backgrounds of the teachers were investigated in terms of: perceived research support and the institutional research culture, time spent doing research, educational background and research experience. Research support and research culture were found to be particularly and highly relevant for the teachers at the UAS. The teachers with higher educational backgrounds and more research experience — at the RU — were more positive about incorporating research into their actual teaching. We conclude that both institutional and individual backgrounds play a significant role in the incorporation of research into university teaching, particularly in the case of universities of applied sciences.

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Hu, Y., van der Rijst, R., van Veen, K. et al. The Role of Research in Teaching: A Comparison of Teachers from Research Universities and those from Universities of Applied Sciences. High Educ Policy 28 , 535–554 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1057/hep.2014.19

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Chemistry Education Research and Practice

Examining the role of assignment design and peer review on student responses and revisions to an organic chemistry writing-to-learn assignment.

* Corresponding authors

a Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI 53211, USA

b Department of Chemistry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA E-mail: [email protected]

Research on student learning in organic chemistry indicates that students tend to focus on surface level features of molecules with less consideration of implicit properties when engaging in mechanistic reasoning. Writing-to-learn (WTL) is one approach for supporting students’ mechanistic reasoning. A variation of WTL incorporates peer review and revision to provide opportunities for students to interact with and learn from their peers, as well as revisit and reflect on their own knowledge and reasoning. However, research indicates that the rhetorical features included in WTL assignments may influence the language students use in their responses. This study utilizes machine learning to characterize the mechanistic features present in second-semester undergraduate organic chemistry students’ responses to two versions of a WTL assignment with different rhetorical features. Furthermore, we examine the role of peer review on the mechanistic reasoning captured in students’ revised drafts. Our analysis indicates that students include both surface level and implicit features of mechanistic reasoning in their drafts and in the feedback to their peers, with slight differences depending on the rhetorical features present in the assignment. However, students’ revisions appeared to be primarily connected to the peer review process via the presence of surface features in the drafts students read (as opposed to the feedback received). These findings indicate that further scaffolding focused on how to utilize information gained from the peer review process ( i.e. , both feedback received and drafts read) and emphasizing implicit properties could help support the utility of WTL for developing students’ mechanistic reasoning in organic chemistry.

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AI Chatbots to Reshape Education and Parental Roles

A s students return to school, parents often find themselves in the role of homework helpers. However, a new ally has emerged in this educational journey: AI chatbots equipped with artificial intelligence. In the realm of education, AI chatbots have become invaluable tools for both students and parents. These AI-powered assistants, including well-known ones like ChatGPT, offer unprecedented support in various educational tasks. To ensure your child’s academic success, it’s crucial to understand how AI chatbots work and their potential benefits.

AI chatbots like ChatGPT have gained immense popularity, and your child might already be familiar with them. These chatbots raise intriguing questions about their role in education. Can a machine complete homework assignments? It’s a tempting proposition for tech-savvy students.

The integration of AI in schools

Many schools are adopting AI chatbots as part of their teaching methods. It’s natural for parents to wonder if these AI tools could hinder the development of critical thinking, creativity, and moral understanding in their children. The Globe and Mail, a Canadian newspaper, delves into the concerns and insights of parents, family coaches, and media experts on this matter.

The rapid advancement of chatbots and AI-driven writing tools has left parents feeling anxious about the implications for their children’s education. To address these concerns, experts recommend open communication with children regarding their schoolwork and the responsible use of technology. Understanding the purpose and consequences of using AI tools is essential.

Many schools are developing policies around AI tool usage and distributing them to parents. It’s crucial for parents to acquaint themselves with these policies, which cover AI, writing tools, and other academic aids. Being informed allows parents to support their children’s education effectively.

Insights from child psychologists

Linda Pagani, a child psychologist, emphasizes the importance of parents understanding AI tools alongside their children. This collaborative approach helps children comprehend the utility, pitfalls, and ethical considerations of AI chatbots. Creating a conducive homework environment, such as a common area in the home, can also promote a strong work ethic.

One major concern with AI tools is the potential for cheating. Matthew Johnson, a media literacy expert, advises parents and teachers to emphasize the value of learning as an ongoing process rather than focusing solely on final grades. Encouraging self-expression, exploring museums, and cultivating interests can complement traditional education.

Open dialogues on sensitive topics

AI chatbots can sometimes provide inaccurate or harmful information. Therefore, open discussions with children are essential, ensuring they know they can seek help when faced with challenges. Building a child’s self-esteem and self-reliance is equally important. The pressure to be ultra-efficient should come later, after fundamental skills, faculties, and values have been nurtured.

Leveraging AI chatbots for positive learning

Parents can harness the power of AI chatbots to enhance their children’s education in several ways:

1. Research assistance

Utilize AI chatbots like Bing AI and Google’s Bard integrated into search engines to help with research and information gathering. These tools can complement traditional research methods and teach children about discerning information sources.

2. Clarifying Assignment Instructions

AI chatbots can explain assignment instructions and unfamiliar terms, fostering self-reliance in children as they learn to seek answers independently.

 3. Generating Practice Questions and Quizzes

Use AI chatbots to create practice questions and quizzes on specific topics. Reviewing answers together promotes independent learning while providing support.

4. Encouraging Exploration

Ask AI chatbots to suggest additional resources, such as books or websites, to expand a child’s understanding of a topic. This instills curiosity and the importance of exploring multiple sources.

Top AI Chatbots for Educational Support

Several AI chatbots cater to various educational needs:

1. ChatGPT: Developed by OpenAI, ChatGPT generates high-quality text and is a versatile educational companion.

2. Bard (Google): Google’s Bard offers similar capabilities to ChatGPT and can assist with a wide range of tasks.

3 . Bing AI (Microsoft): Bing AI incorporates ChatGPT’s technology and is a useful tool for research and information retrieval.

4. Claude (Anthropic): In beta testing, Claude focuses on creating helpful, honest, and harmless AI models.

As AI continues to reshape the educational landscape, parents play a pivotal role in guiding their children’s interaction with AI chatbots. By fostering open dialogues, nurturing critical thinking, and leveraging AI chatbots as educational aids, parents can ensure that their children benefit from technology while developing essential skills and values for the future. AI chatbots are not foes but allies in the quest for knowledge and learning.

• Open access
• Published: 13 December 2023

Attributes of errors, facilitators, and barriers related to rate control of IV medications: a scoping review

• Jeongok Park   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-4978-817X 1 ,
• Sang Bin You   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-1424-4140 2 ,
• Gi Wook Ryu   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-4533-7788 3 &
• Youngkyung Kim   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-3696-5416 4  

Systematic Reviews volume  12 , Article number:  230 ( 2023 ) Cite this article

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Intravenous (IV) medication is commonly administered and closely associated with patient safety. Although nurses dedicate considerable time and effort to rate the control of IV medications, many medication errors have been linked to the wrong rate of IV medication. Further, there is a lack of comprehensive studies examining the literature on rate control of IV medications. This study aimed to identify the attributes of errors, facilitators, and barriers related to rate control of IV medications by summarizing and synthesizing the existing literature.

This scoping review was conducted using the framework proposed by Arksey and O’Malley and PRISMA-ScR. Overall, four databases—PubMed, Web of Science, EMBASE, and CINAHL—were employed to search for studies published in English before January 2023. We also manually searched reference lists, related journals, and Google Scholar.

A total of 1211 studies were retrieved from the database searches and 23 studies were identified from manual searches, after which 22 studies were selected for the analysis. Among the nine project or experiment studies, two interventions were effective in decreasing errors related to rate control of IV medications. One of them was prospective, continuous incident reporting followed by prevention strategies, and the other encompassed six interventions to mitigate interruptions in medication verification and administration. Facilitators and barriers related to rate control of IV medications were classified as human, design, and system-related contributing factors. The sub-categories of human factors were classified as knowledge deficit, performance deficit, and incorrect dosage or infusion rate. The sub-category of design factor was device. The system-related contributing factors were classified as frequent interruptions and distractions, training, assignment or placement of healthcare providers (HCPs) or inexperienced personnel, policies and procedures, and communication systems between HCPs.

Conclusions

Further research is needed to develop effective interventions to improve IV rate control. Considering the rapid growth of technology in medical settings, interventions and policy changes regarding education and the work environment are necessary. Additionally, each key group such as HCPs, healthcare administrators, and engineers specializing in IV medication infusion devices should perform its role and cooperate for appropriate IV rate control within a structured system.

Peer Review reports

Medication errors are closely associated with patient safety and the quality of care [ 1 , 2 ]. In particular, medication errors, which denote a clinical issue of global importance for patient safety, negatively affect patient morbidity and mortality and lead to delays in discharge [ 3 , 4 ]. The National Health Service in the UK estimates that 237 million medication errors occur each year, of which 66 million cause clinically significant harm [ 5 ]. The US Food and Drug Administration reported that they received more than 100,000 reports each year associated with suspected medication errors [ 6 ]. Additionally, it was estimated that 40,000–98,000 deaths per year in the USA could be attributed to errors by healthcare providers (HCPs) [ 7 ]. Previous studies have revealed that medication errors account for 6–12% of hospital admissions [ 8 ].

Intravenous (IV) medication is a common treatment in hospitalized patient care [ 9 ]. It is used in wards, intensive care units (ICUs), emergency rooms, and outpatient clinics in hospitals [ 9 , 10 ]. As direct HCPs, nurses are integral in patient safety during the IV medication process which could result in unintended errors or violations of recommendations [ 3 ]. As many drugs injected via the IV route include high-risk drugs, such as chemotherapy agents, insulin, and opioids [ 10 ], inappropriate dose administration could lead to adverse events (AEs), such as death and life-threatening events [ 11 , 12 ].

IV medication process is a complex and multistage process. There are 12 stages in the IV medication process, which can be classified as follows: (1) obtain the drug for administration, (2) obtain the diluent, (3) reconstitute the drug in the diluent, (4) take the drug at the patient’s bedside, (5) check for the patient’s allergies, (6) check the route of drug administration, (7) check the drug dose, (8) check the patency of the cannula, (9) expel the air from the syringe, (10) administer the drug, (11) flush the cannula, and (12) sign the prescription chart [ 13 ]. IV medication errors can occur at any of these stages. It is imperative to administer the drug at the correct time and rate during the IV medication process [ 13 ]. The National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention (NCC MERP) defined an error in IV medication rates as “too fast or too slow rate than that intended” [ 14 ]. Maintaining the correct rate of IV medication is essential for enhancing the effectiveness of IV therapy and reducing AEs [ 9 ].

Infusion pumps are devices designed to improve the accuracy of IV infusions, with drug flow, volume, and timing programmed by HCPs [ 15 ]. A smart pump is an infusion pump with a software package containing a drug library. During programming, the smart pump software warns users about entering drug parameters that deviate from the recommended parameters, such as the type, dose, and dosage unit of the drug [ 15 ]. In the absence of a device for administering IV medication, such as an infusion pump or smart pump, the IV rate is usually controlled by counting the number of fluid drops falling into the drip chamber [ 9 ].

According to the previous study, applying an incorrect rate was the most prevalent IV medication error, accounting for 536 of 925 (57.9%) total IV medication errors [ 16 ]. Although rate control of IV medications is critical to patient safety and quality care, few studies review and map the relevant literature on rate control of IV medications. Therefore, this study aimed to identify the attributes of errors, facilitators, and barriers related to rate control of IV medications by summarizing the existing literature.

The specific research questions of this study are as follows:

What are the general characteristics of the studies related to rate control of IV medications?

What are the attributes of errors associated with rate control of IV medications?

What are the facilitators and barriers to rate control of IV medications?

This scoping review followed the framework suggested by Arksey and O’Malley [ 17 ] and developed by Levac et al. [ 18 ] and Peters et al. [ 19 ]. Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) developed in 2020 by the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) were used to ensure reliability in the reporting of methodology (Additional file 1 ) [ 19 ].

Search strategy

According to the JBI Manuals for Evidence Synthesis, a three-step search strategy was adopted [ 19 ]. First, a preliminary search in PubMed was conducted based on the title, abstract, keywords, and index terms of articles to develop our search strategy. In the preliminary search, we used keywords such as “patients,” “nurse,” “IV therapy,” “monitoring,” “rate,” and “medication error.” The search results indicated that studies on medical devices and system-related factors were excluded. Therefore, we decided to exclude the keywords “patients” and “nurse” and focus on “IV therapy,” “monitoring,” “rate,” and “medication error” to comprehensively include studies on factors associated with rate control of infusion medications. Secondly, we used all identified keywords and index terms across all included databases following consultations with a research librarian at Yonsei University Medical Library to elaborate our search strategy. Four databases—PubMed, CINAHL, EMBASE, and Web of Science—were searched using the keywords, index terms, and a comprehensive list of keyword variations to identify relevant studies published before January 2023. The details of the search strategy are described in Additional file 2 . All database search results were exported into Endnote version 20. Finally, we manually searched the reference lists of the included articles identified from the database search. Furthermore, we manually searched two journals related to medication errors and patient safety, and Google Scholar to comprehensively identify the relevant literature. When performing a search on Google Scholar, keywords such as “medication,” “rate,” “IV therapy,” “intravenous administration,” and “medication error” were appropriately combined using search modifiers.

Eligibility criteria

Inclusion criteria were established according to the participants, concept, and context (PCC) framework recommended by the JBI manuals for scoping reviews [ 19 ]. The participants include patients receiving IV therapy, HCPs involved in administering IV medications, and experts from non-healthcare fields related to rate control of IV medications. The concepts were facilitators and barriers to rate control of IV medications, and the contexts were the environments or situations in which errors in rate control of IV medications occurred. While screening the literature identified by the three-step search based on the inclusion criteria, we refined the exclusion criteria through discussion among researchers. The exclusion criteria were as follows: (1) not available in English, (2) not an original article, (3) studies of medication errors in general, (4) not accessible, or (5) prescription error.

Study selection

Once duplicates were automatically removed through Endnote, two independent researchers assessed the eligibility of all articles by screening the titles and abstracts based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Studies identified via database searches were screened by GWR and YK and studies identified via other methods were screened by SBY and YK. Full-text articles were obtained either when the studies met the inclusion criteria or when more information was needed to assess eligibility and the researchers independently reviewed the full-text articles. In case of any disagreement in the study selection process, a consensus was reached through discussion among three researchers (GWR, SBY, and YK) and a senior researcher (JP).

Data extraction

Through consensus among the researchers, a form for data extraction was developed to extract appropriate information following the JBI manuals for scoping reviews [ 19 ]. The following data were collected from each study: author information, publication year, country, study design, study period, aims, participants or events (defined as the occurrences related to patient care focused on in the study), contexts, methods, errors related to the control of IV medications (observed results or intervention outcomes), error severity, facilitators, and barriers according to the NCC MERP criteria. Three researchers (GWR SBY, and YK) independently conducted data charting and completed the data extraction form through discussion.

Data synthesis

The general characteristics of included studies such as publication year, country, study design, and study period were analyzed using descriptive statistics to identify trends or patterns. The aims, participants, events, contexts, and methods of the included studies were classified into several categories through a research meeting including a senior researcher (JP) to summarize and analyze the characteristics of the included studies comprehensively. Attributes of errors associated with rate control of IV medications were analyzed and organized through consensus among researchers based on extracted data. Facilitators and barriers to rate control of IV medications were independently classified according to NCC MERP criteria by three researchers (GWR, SBY, and YK) and iteratively modified. Discrepancies were resolved by discussion and re-reading the articles, with the final decision made in consultation with the senior researcher (JP).

A total of 1211 studies were selected through a database search. After reviewing the titles and abstracts of the studies, 42 studies were considered for a detailed assessment by the three researchers. In particular, 2 were not available in English, 3 were not original articles, 24 were studies of medication error in general without details on rate control of IV medications, 2 were regarding prescription errors, and 1 was not accessible. Finally, 10 studies were identified through a database search. Additionally, 23 studies were identified from a manual search. Among the 23, 5 were not original articles, and 6 were studies on medication error in general. Finally, 12 studies were identified via other methods. Hence, 22 studies were included in the data analysis (Fig.  1 , Additional file 3 ).

PRISMA flow chart for literature selection

Characteristics of the studies

General characteristics.

Table 1 presents the general characteristics of the included studies. Two of the included studies had a publication year before 2000 [ 20 , 21 ], and more than half of the studies ( n  = 15) were published in 2010 and later. A majority of the included studies were conducted in Western countries ( n  = 15) [ 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 ], four were conducted in Asia [ 20 , 37 , 38 , 39 ], two were conducted in Australia [ 21 , 40 ], and one was conducted in Egypt [ 2 ]. In terms of the study design, most studies were project studies ( n  = 7) [ 22 , 24 , 27 , 28 , 30 , 34 , 39 ] or prospective observational studies ( n  = 5) [ 2 , 20 , 29 , 32 , 40 ], followed by retrospective studies ( n  = 3) [ 21 , 25 , 35 ], qualitative or mixed-methods studies ( n  = 3) [ 23 , 26 , 33 ], and descriptive cross-sectional studies ( n  = 2) [ 36 , 38 ]. Additionally, there was one controlled pre-posttest study [ 37 ] and one simulation laboratory experiment study [ 31 ]. The study period also varied greatly from 2 days [ 32 ] to 6 years [ 25 ].

The aims of the included studies were divided into two main categories. First, 13 studies identified the current status, causes, and factors influencing errors that could occur in healthcare settings [ 2 , 20 , 21 , 23 , 25 , 26 , 29 , 32 , 33 , 35 , 36 , 38 , 40 ]. Among these, three studies were on errors that may occur in specific healthcare procedures, such as anesthesia [ 20 ], vascular access [ 21 ], and pediatric chemotherapy [ 25 ]. Additionally, three studies explored possible errors associated with specific settings and medications, such as an obstetric emergency ward [ 2 ], cardiac critical care units [ 38 ], and high-alert medications [ 36 ], and three studies investigated the errors associated with the overall IV medication preparation or administration [ 23 , 33 , 40 ]. Moreover, three studies aimed at identifying potential problems associated with the use of IV medication infusion devices [ 26 , 32 , 35 ], and one study was about errors in medication preparation and administration that could occur in a setting using a specific system connected to electronic medical records [ 29 ]. Second, nine studies described the procedure of developing interventions or identified the effect of interventions [ 22 , 24 , 27 , 28 , 30 , 31 , 34 , 37 , 39 ].

Participants and events

Participants in the 22 studies included HCPs such as nurses, doctors, pharmacists, and patients. Notably, four of these studies were only for nurses [ 31 , 37 , 38 , 40 ] and there was also one study involving only pharmacists [ 36 ]. Furthermore, there were five studies wherein people from various departments or roles participated [ 23 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 39 ]. There were three studies wherein the patients were participants, and two studies included both patients and medical staff [ 29 , 33 ].

Among the included studies, nine studies focused on errors in IV medication preparation and administration as events [ 23 , 26 , 30 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 37 , 38 , 40 ] and five studies focused on the administration process only [ 30 , 32 , 34 , 37 , 40 ]. Four studies focused on problems in the administration of all types of drugs including errors associated with rate control of IV medications [ 2 , 22 , 28 , 29 ]. Additionally, four studies focused on events that occurred with IV medication infusion devices [ 24 , 27 , 35 , 39 ], two studies explored the events that occurred during chemotherapy [ 22 , 25 ], and some analyzed events with problems in vascular access [ 21 ], iatrogenic events among neonates [ 28 ], and critical events in anesthesia cases [ 20 ].

Contexts and methods

The contexts can be largely divided into healthcare settings, including hospitals and laboratory settings. Three hospital-based studies were conducted in the entire hospital [ 20 , 22 , 24 ], eight studies were conducted at several hospitals, and the number of hospitals involved varied from 2 to 132 [ 23 , 26 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 38 , 40 ]. Furthermore, four studies were conducted in different departments within one hospital [ 29 , 30 , 37 , 39 ], three studies were conducted in only one department [ 2 , 27 , 28 ], two studies considered other healthcare settings and were not limited to hospitals [ 21 , 25 ], and one study was conducted in a simulation laboratory setting that enabled a realistic simulation of an ambulatory chemotherapy unit [ 31 ].

Specifically, seven out of the nine studies developed or implemented interventions based on interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary collaboration [ 22 , 24 , 28 , 30 , 34 , 37 , 39 ]. Two studies developed and identified the effectiveness of interventions that created an environment for nurses to improve performance and correct errors associated with medication administration [ 31 , 39 ], and two intervention studies were on error reporting methods or observation tools and the processes of addressing reported errors [ 28 , 30 ]. There were also a study on a pharmacist-led educational program for nurses [ 37 ], a comprehensive intervention from drug prescription to administration to reduce chemotherapy-related medication errors [ 22 ], infusion safety intervention bundles [ 34 ], the implementation of a smart IV pump equipped with failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) [ 24 ], and a smart system to prevent pump programming errors [ 27 ].

Data collection methods were classified as a review of reported incidents [ 20 , 21 , 22 , 25 , 35 ], a review of medical charts [ 26 ], observations [ 23 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 37 , 40 ], follow-up on every pump alert [ 27 ], and self-reporting questionnaires or surveys [ 36 , 38 ]. Some studies utilized retrospective reviews of reported incidents and self-report questionnaires [ 39 ]. Also, in the study by Kandil et al., observation, nursing records review, and medical charts review were all used [ 2 ].

Attributes of errors associated with rate control of IV medications

Table 2 presents the attributes of errors related to rate control of IV medications in observed results or intervention outcomes, and error severity. Notably, 6 of 13 studies presenting observed results reported errors related to IV medication infusion devices among the rate control errors [ 20 , 25 , 32 , 33 , 35 , 36 ]. Additionally, four studies reported errors in bolus dose administration or IV push and flushing lines among IV rate errors [ 2 , 23 , 36 , 40 ]. Among the 13, nine studies reported error severity, and among these, three studies used NCC MERP ratings [ 25 , 32 , 33 ]. In four studies, error severity was reported by describing several cases in detail [ 2 , 21 , 23 , 25 ], and two studies reported no injuries or damages due to errors [ 26 , 29 ]. Among the nine studies that developed interventions and identified their effectiveness, four presented the frequency of incorrect rate errors as an outcome variable [ 28 , 30 , 34 , 37 ]. Moreover, two studies suggested compliance rates for intervention as outcome variables [ 24 , 31 ].

Among the nine project or experiment studies, three showed a decrease in error rate as a result of the intervention [ 28 , 31 , 34 ]. Three studies developed interventions to reduce rate errors but did not report the frequency or incidence of rate errors [ 22 , 24 , 27 ]. A study reported the frequency of rate errors only after the intervention; the effect of the intervention could not be identified [ 30 ]. Also, three studies showed the severity of errors related to rate control of IV medications [ 24 , 30 , 34 ], two used NCC MERP severity ratings [ 30 , 34 ], and one reported that all errors caused by smart IV pumps equipped with FMEA resulted in either temporary harm or no harm [ 24 ].

Facilitators and barriers to rate control of IV medications

Table 3 presents the facilitators and barriers related to rate control of IV medications according to the NCC MERP taxonomy based on the 22 included studies. Sub-categories of human factors were classified as knowledge deficit, performance deficit, miscalculation of dosage or infusion rate, and stress. The sub-category of design factor was device. System-related contributing factors were classified as frequent interruptions and distractions, inadequate training, poor assignment or placement of HCPs or inexperienced personnel, policies and procedures, and communication systems between HCPs [ 14 ].

Human factors

Among the barriers extracted from the 22 studies, 11 factors belonged to the “knowledge deficit,” “performance deficit,” “miscalculation of dosage or infusion rate,” and “stress (high-volume workload)” in this category. Half of these factors are related to the “performance deficit.” Barriers identified in two or more studies were tubing misplacement [ 24 , 35 ] and non-compliance with protocols and guidelines [ 2 , 25 ], all of which belonged to the “performance deficit.” Additionally, the high workload and environmental characteristics of the ICU, which corresponded to the “stress,” were also identified as barriers to rate control of IV medications [ 23 , 37 ].

Most factors in this category were related to IV medication infusion devices such as infusion pumps and smart pumps. In the study by Lyons et al., the use of devices, such as patient-controlled analgesia pumps and syringe drivers, was a facilitator of rate control of IV medications [ 33 ]. In addition to the use of these devices, the expansion of capabilities [ 26 ], monitoring programming [ 27 ], and standardization [ 22 ] were also facilitators. Unexpected equipment faults, a barrier, were identified in five studies [ 2 , 20 , 25 , 35 , 38 ]. Moreover, the complex design of the equipment [ 23 , 24 ] and incomplete drug libraries in smart pumps [ 33 , 35 ] were identified in two studies each. Factors such as the misassembly of an unfamiliar infusion pump [ 21 ] and smart pumps not connected to electronic systems [ 30 ] were also barriers.

Contributing factors (system related)

The factors belonging to the “frequent interruptions and distractions” in this category were all barriers. Specifically, running multiple infusions at once [ 24 , 27 ], air-in-line alarms, or cleaning air [ 24 ] were identified as barriers. Among the facilitators of the “training,” there were education and training on the use of smart IV pumps [ 24 ] and chemotherapy errors [ 22 ]. There are two factors in the “assignment or placement of a HCP or inexperienced personnel,” where ward-based pharmacists were facilitators [ 36 ], but nurses with less than 6 years of experience were barriers [ 40 ]. The sub-category with the most factors was “policies and procedures,” where the facilitators extracted in the four studies were double-checks through the process [ 22 , 24 , 28 , 36 ]. Among the barriers, two were related to keep-the-vein-open, which was identified in three studies [ 30 , 32 , 33 ]. The lack of automated infusion pumps [ 2 ], the absence of culture for use [ 32 , 33 ], and problems in the drug prescription process [ 33 ] were also identified as barriers. Communication with physicians in instances of doubt identified was the only identified facilitator in the “communication systems between HCPs” [ 28 ].

Resolutions for the barriers to rate control of IV medications

Table 4 presents the resolutions for the barriers to rate control of IV medications in the included studies. The suggested resolutions primarily belonged to the “contributing factors (system-related)” category. Resolutions in the “human factors” category were mainly related to the knowledge and performance of individual healthcare providers, and there were no studies proposing resolutions specifically addressing stress (high-volume workload), which is one of the barriers. Resolutions in the “design” category focused on the development [ 26 , 30 ], appropriate use [ 24 , 33 ], evaluation [ 26 ], improvement [ 24 , 26 , 30 ], and supply [ 23 ] of infusion pumps or smart pumps. Resolutions addressing aspects within the “contributing factors (system-related)” category can be classified into six main areas: interdisciplinary or inter-institution collaboration [ 23 , 25 , 28 , 30 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 ], training [ 24 , 37 , 40 ], implementation of policies or procedures [ 29 , 31 , 34 , 35 , 37 , 39 ], system improvement [ 25 , 30 , 32 ], creating a patient safety culture [ 25 , 37 , 38 ], and staffing [ 2 , 38 ].

This scoping review provides the most recent evidence on the attributes of errors, facilitators, and barriers related to rate control of IV medications. The major findings of this study were as follows: (1) there were a few intervention studies that were effective in decreasing the errors related to rate control of IV medications; (2) there was limited research focusing on the errors associated with IV medication infusion devices; (3) a few studies have systematically evaluated and analyzed the severity of errors associated with rate control of IV medications; and (4) the facilitators and barriers related to rate control of IV medications were identified by NCC MERP taxonomy as three categories (human factors, design, and system-related contributing factors).

Among the nine project or experiment studies, only two interventions showed statistically significant effectiveness for IV rate control [ 28 , 31 ]. Six studies did not report the specific statistical significance of the intervention [ 22 , 24 , 27 , 30 , 37 , 39 ], and one study found that the developed intervention had no statistically significant effect [ 34 ]. In another study, administration errors, including rate errors, increased in the experimental group and decreased in the control group [ 37 ]. IV rate control is a major process in medication administration that is comprehensively related to environmental and personal factors [ 3 , 41 ]. According to previous studies, interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary cooperation is associated with the improvement in patient safety and decreased medical errors [ 42 , 43 , 44 ]. Seven of the included studies were also project or experiment studies that developed interventions based on an interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary approach [ 22 , 24 , 28 , 30 , 34 , 37 , 39 ]. Additionally, an effective intervention was developed by a multidisciplinary care quality improvement team [ 28 ]. Therefore, it is crucial to develop effective interventions based on an interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary approach to establish practice guidelines with a high level of evidence related to IV rate control.

Of the 22 included studies, three identified potential problems associated with the use of IV medication infusion devices [ 26 , 32 , 35 ], and four described the application of interventions or explored the effects of the intervention developed to reduce errors that occur when using IV medication infusion devices [ 24 , 27 , 34 , 39 ]. IV medication infusion devices, such as infusion pumps and smart pumps, are widely used in healthcare environments and allow more rigorous control in the process of administering medications that are continuously infused [ 45 ]. Smart pumps are recognized as useful devices for providing safe and effective nursing care [ 15 ]. However, the use of IV medication infusion devices requires an approach different from traditional rate monitoring by counting the number of fluid drops falling into the drip chamber [ 9 ]. However, there exist many problems, such as bypassing the drug library, device maintenance, malfunction, tubing/connection, and programming in the use of IV medication infusion devices [ 32 , 35 ]. None of the four studies that described the application of interventions or explored the effects of the intervention demonstrated statistically significant effects. All four studies had no control group [ 24 , 27 , 34 , 39 ] and two studies had only post-test designs [ 24 , 27 ]. Therefore, further research needs to be conducted to analyze errors in rate control related to IV medication infusion devices and develop effective interventions.

A few studies have systematically evaluated and analyzed the severity of errors associated with rate control of IV medications. Among the 12 studies that reported the severity of errors associated with rate control of IV medications, five studies used NCC MERP, an internationally validated and reliable tool for assessing error severity, and one study used the Severity Assessment Code (SAC) developed by the New South Wales Health Department. Six studies did not use tools to assess error severity. The term “error severity” means the degree of potential or actual harm to patients [ 46 ]. Evaluating the severity of medication errors is a vital point in improving patient safety throughout the medication administration process. This evaluation allows for distinguishing errors based on their severity to establish the development of risk mitigation strategies focused on addressing errors with the great potential to harm patients [ 47 , 48 ]. Specifically, errors associated with rate control of IV medications were categorized as A to E on the NCC MERP and to groups 3 and 4 on the SAC. Additionally, errors associated with rate control of IV medications caused direct physical damage [ 2 , 21 ] and necessitated additional medication to prevent side effects or toxicity [ 23 ]. Therefore, as errors in rate control of IV medications are likely to cause actual or potential harm to the patient, research systematically evaluating and analyzing error severity should be conducted to provide the basis for developing effective risk reduction strategies in the rate control of IV medications.

Facilitators and barriers were identified as human, design, and system-related contributing factors. Among the human factors, “performance deficit” included failure to check equipment properly, tubing misplacement, inadequate monitoring, non-compliance with protocols and guidelines, and human handling errors with smart pumps. Nurses play a major role in drug administration; thus, their monitoring and practices related to IV medication infusion devices can influence patient health outcomes [ 3 , 49 ]. A major reason for the lack of monitoring was overwork, which was related to the complex working environment, work pressure, and high workload [ 3 , 11 , 49 ]. Moreover, two of the included studies identified high workload as a barrier to rate control of IV medications [ 23 , 37 ]. Therefore, to foster adequate monitoring of rate control of IV medications, a systematic approach to alleviating the complex working environment and work pressure should be considered.

Most facilitators and barriers in the devices category were related to IV medication infusion devices. In particular, expanding pump capabilities [ 26 ], monitoring pump programming [ 27 ], standardization [ 22 ], and using a pump [ 33 ] can facilitate rate control of IV medications. However, unexpected equipment faults are significant barriers, as identified in five studies among the included studies [ 2 , 20 , 25 , 35 , 38 ]. Moreover, the design [ 23 , 24 ], user-friendliness [ 21 ], connectivity to electronic systems [ 30 ], and completeness of drug libraries [ 33 , 35 ] are factors that can affect rate control of IV medications. Therefore, it is important to improve, monitor, and manage IV medication infusion devices so that they do not become barriers. Moreover, because rate errors caused by other factors can be prevented by devices, active utilization and systematic management of devices at the system level are required.

Although there are many benefits of infusion and smart pumps for reducing errors in rate control of IV medications, they cannot be used in all hospitals because of the limitation of medical resources. The standard infusion set, which is a device for controlling the rate of IV medication by a controller [ 9 ], is widely used in outpatient as well as inpatient settings [ 32 ]. Devices for monitoring the IV infusion rate, such as FIVA™ (FIVAMed Inc, Halifax, Canada) and DripAssist (Shift Labs Inc, Seattle, USA), which can continuously monitor flow rate and volume with any gravity drip set, have been commercialized [ 33 ]. However, they have not been widely used in hospitals. Therefore, developing novel IV infusion rate monitoring devices that are simple to use, can be used remotely, and are affordable for developing and underdeveloped countries can help nurses to reduce their workloads in monitoring IV infusion rates and thus maintain patient safety.

Most facilitators and barriers were system-related contributing factors, most of which belonged to the “policies and procedures.” In four studies, the absence of hospital policies or culture related to rate control of IV medications was identified as a barrier [ 2 , 30 , 32 , 33 ]. Medication errors related to incorrect rate control are problems that should be approached from macroscopic levels, such as via institutional policies and safety cultures. Therefore, large-scale research including more diverse departments and institutions needs to be conducted.

The second most common categories in system-related contributing factors were “frequent interruptions and distractions” and “training.” Although nurses experienced frequent interruptions and distributions during work, only one of the included studies was on interventions that were developed to create an environment with reduced interruptions [ 31 ]. Additionally, four studies found that education for nurses who are directly associated with medication administration is mandatory [ 22 , 23 , 24 , 36 ]. Therefore, education and a work environment for safety culture should be created to improve IV rate control.

Based on resolutions for barriers to rate control of IV medications, key groups relevant to rate control of IV medications include HCPs, healthcare administrators, and engineers specializing in IV medication infusion devices. HCPs directly involved in the preparation and administration of IV medications need to enhance their knowledge of drugs, raise awareness for the importance of rate control of IV medications, and improve performance related to IV infusion device monitoring. Engineers specializing in IV medication infusion devices should develop these devices by integrating various information technologies used in clinical settings. Additionally, they should identify issues related to these devices and continuously enhance both software and hardware. Healthcare administrators play a crucial role in establishing and leading interdisciplinary or inter-institution collaborations. They should foster leadership, build a patient safety culture within the organization, and implement training, interventions, and policies for correct rate control of IV medications. Decreasing medication errors, including errors in IV rate control, is closely linked to the various key groups [ 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 ], and multidisciplinary collaboration is emphasized for quality care [ 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 ]. Therefore, each key group should perform its role and cooperate for appropriate IV rate control within a structured system.

This review has some limitations that should be considered. As there was no randomized controlled trial in this review, the causal relationship between wrong rate errors and their facilitators or barriers could not be determined. Moreover, only limited literature may have been included in this review because we included literature published in English and excluded gray literature. Since we did not evaluate the quality of the study, there may be a risk of bias in data collection and analysis. Despite these limitations, this study provides a meaningful assessment of published studies related to rate control of IV medications. This contribution will provide an important basis for new patient safety considerations in IV medication administration when determining future policies and device development.

The findings of this review suggest that further research is needed to be conducted to develop effective interventions to improve the practice of IV rate control. Moreover, given the rapid growth of technology in medical settings, research on IV medication infusion devices should be conducted. Additionally, to establish effective risk reduction strategies, it is necessary to systematically evaluate and analyze the severity of errors related to the rate control of IV medications. Several facilitators and barriers to rate control of IV medications were identified in this review to ensure patient safety and quality care, interventions and policy changes related to education and the work environment are required. Additionally, the development of a device capable of monitoring the flow of IV medication is necessary. This review will be useful for HCPs, hospital administrators, and engineers specializing in IV medication infusion devices to minimize errors in rate control of IV medications and improve patient safety.

Availability of data and materials

The corresponding author can provide the datasets that were utilized and/or examined during the present study upon reasonable request.

Abbreviations

Adverse event

Healthcare provider

Intensive care unit

Intravenous

Joanna Briggs Institute

The National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention

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L Naseralallah D Stewart M Price V Paudyal 2023 Prevalence, contributing factors, and interventions to reduce medication errors in outpatient and ambulatory settings: a systematic review Int J Clin Pharm https://doi.org/10.1007/s11096-023-01626-5

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This research was supported by the Korea Medical Device Development Fund grant funded by the Korea government (the Ministry of Science and ICT, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the Ministry of Health & Welfare, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety) (Project Number: RS-2020-KD000077) and Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (No. 2020R1A6A1A03041989). This work also supported by the Brain Korea 21 FOUR Project funded by National Research Foundation (NRF) of Korea, Yonsei University College of Nursing.

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Jeongok Park

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Sang Bin You

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Youngkyung Kim

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Conceptualization: JP; study design: JP; data collection: GWR, YK, SBY; data analysis: JP, GWR, YK, SBY; administration: JP; funding acquisition: JP; writing—original draft: JP, GWR, YK; writing—review and editing: JP, YK.

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Park, J., You, S.B., Ryu, G.W. et al. Attributes of errors, facilitators, and barriers related to rate control of IV medications: a scoping review. Syst Rev 12 , 230 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13643-023-02386-z

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Nevada Today

Leading the charge in organ donation awareness with unr med's soda chapter, unr med student helps fellow future doctors by promoting organ donation education, debunking myths and advocating for empathy.

Skotti Torrence, a second-year medical student, leads the Student Organ Donation Advocates (SODA) chapter on the UNR Med campus.

About 100 University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine (UNR Med) medical and physician assistant students listened quietly while Starla Cassani told them about the hours after her 14-month-old son, Colby, drowned in 1993.

During the tragic and painful time while their son was being kept alive by machines, Starla and her husband, Dr. John Cassani, waited in the hospital following their son’s accident. They needed compassion, and they needed answers. With a career’s worth of experience in family medicine, the couple understood the importance of organ donation. However, a cold, brash surgeon nearly convinced them not to sign off on the procedure that could help Colby save other people’s lives, even as he lost his own.

Luckily, another doctor compassionately explained the process and helped the parents come to terms with the choice to donate Colby’s organs. Doctors immediately found a child, Brayden, who needed a new heart and presented as a match. About three years later, the Cassani’s met Brayden, happy and healthy, on the tarmac of the Denver airport. John and Starla pressed a stethoscope against Brayden’s chest and cried with joy as they heard their son’s heart saving another life with every beat. The family still keeps in touch with the now 31-year-old Brayden .

During the program, UNR Med students cried with the family and smiled at their success as Starla and other speakers shared their stories about organ donation and empathy. The Cassani family and other guests stayed long after their presentations to talk with students and answer their tough questions.

Through the Colby Foundation and the Cassani Lecture, Colby has likely saved countless other lives as a result of the foundation the Cassani’s started in his name, which promotes organ donation education to medical students nationwide, like Skotti Torrence, a second-year student at UNR Med.

“It’s hard to listen to someone talk about the death of their 14-month-old, but then you get to hear the story about how they came to terms with that and got to hear their son’s heart beating again,” Torrence said.

The presentations help educate medical students and impress upon them the importance of understanding the organ donation process and seeing the people it affects, said Torrence who founded the first medical school chapter of the Student Organ Donation Advocates (SODA) at UNR Med as a first-year medical student.

“We bring organ recipients and family members of organ donors to share their stories with the medical students to help them better empathize with their future patients and develop a greater understanding of what those patients are going through,” she said.

Evolving into the new role

Organ donation is a topic Torrence has invested in with her whole heart. Before her first year of medical school, she also introduced SODA to the University campus as an undergrad in 2018.

SODA nationally started in 2014 when another student at Washington University in St. Louis experienced the power of organ and tissue donation first-hand as a recipient. Much of the organization's work revolves around education and myth-busting in coordination with other local and national organizations to register students as organ donors.

As an undergraduate, Torrence focused primarily on educating undergrad students and the public about organ donation and boosting registrations along with the national chapter. One of the more pervasive myths that Torrence hears is that doctors or EMTs won’t try to save organ donors because they want to harvest their organs. This is patently untrue. Other myths revolve around the age and health of a donor or recipient. Many of these myths, though wrong, scare people into avoiding registration.

Now, as a medical student, she focuses on helping future doctors who will one day find themselves in a waiting room with people who, like the Cassani’s, need empathy and education in the face of a heartbreaking situation.

This mission is not how the traditional SODA chapter is set up, but Torrence said the national board was impressed with her approach and gave it their blessing. Her audience changed from 20,000 undergraduate students to 250 students who know all about human anatomy and need less convincing to sign up to become a donor and get informed.

“I feel like we should get more information on organ donation in general, what the process is, what’s the process for getting an organ, who is and isn’t qualified to give,” Torrence said.

The chapter’s new goal is to create well-rounded physicians who, no matter their specialty, can have difficult conversations with patients. Hospitals often employ organ procurement specialists who walk patient’s families through the process. Still, Torrence said patients and their families should also be able to ask their doctors for that information.

“As a patient, it’s hard to think about the fact that there are different types of doctors, and some have a narrow field, and some have a broad field,” she said. “Whether it’s a surgery that goes wrong or a patient who goes into the emergency department, it’s important to have those discussions and share that knowledge when making end-of-life plans.”

Teaching empathy to future doctors

Since UNR Med’s first class in 1974, the school has focused on training students to consider mental health. Torrence’s work with SODA continues that legacy by introducing students to complex topics around life, death, grief and acceptance.

“How many surgeons think to ask how your mental health is doing since you got this new heart?” Torrence asks rhetorically. “Someone doing well physically may not be doing well mentally, especially knowing their survival means someone else’s death. It’s important to see the human-to-human interaction. We’re all people and people taking care of people.”

In addition to ongoing medical education, the UNR Med SODA chapter works with other national and local organizations to enhance programming and help complete their mission. Torrence works to register people for the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) and Sierra Nevada Donor Awareness Donor Walk, among other programs that help raise funds and awareness for lifesaving organ and tissue donation.

“Every year, we bring in more students who want to get involved,” she said. “It’s all a trickle-down effect. Every person who knows a little more can spread factual information and help snuff out the myths. People aren’t going to trust something they don’t understand.”

While she finishes her degree, Torrence can continue to serve each new year of cohorts. Once she transitions to third year, she will happily pass the work on to another student to take on the chapter.

“It’s truly rewarding to have an impact in this way and to hand this off someday,” she said.

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