Purpose & task
What am I doing? Why am I doing it? What must I create, solve, explain, demonstrate, perform, submit, or decide?
Instructional Design + Practice
Clear, Transparent Assignments
Make expectations visible without lowering the standard. Students should spend their effort on the learning—not on guessing what the assignment means.
Student perspective
Seven questions students should be able to answer.
Logistics & support
Where and how do I complete it? When is it due or expected? What tools or resources do I need? Who can help me?
Quality & next step
What does successful work look like? What should I check before submitting or performing? Where will feedback appear?
Quick check
Look for avoidable ambiguity.
Task
Replace vague directions with the actual student action and required product or performance.
Criteria
Make quality visible before students begin through appropriate criteria, examples, rubrics, checklists, specifications, or demonstrations.
Logistics
Resolve conflicting dates, locations, submission routes, access requirements, group expectations, and safety requirements.
Preserve rigor
Clear does not mean easy.
Do not over-explain decisions students are intentionally expected to make. Keep the complexity in the analysis, problem-solving, judgment, creativity, clinical reasoning, troubleshooting, or performance students are meant to practice.
Building it in Canvas?
Use Canvas Launchpad for assignment settings, dates, submission types, module placement, publication, and Student View. Use Rubrics Made Easy for Canvas rubric workflow.