5 Tips for Giving Online Assignment Instructions Effectively
Let’s face it, as teachers, there are times when our students fail to follow what we intended them to follow and we ended up feeling frustrated or angry. If the majority of the students are doing it wrongly, something might be wrong in the way the instructions are given. Here are 5 useful tips for you to consider in improving your instructions for online assignments.
Tip 1: Supplement with Verbal Instructions
When you first distribute the task or assignment, students usually do not have sufficient time to think about it and will not immediately ask questions. More questions will arise when they start working on the tasks given or when they read more resources. This is when they will start asking you via email or chat apps. To kind of buffer this situation, you might want to produce a short video explaining the task to supplement your written instructions.
In the video, you can raise important questions for them to think of when doing the tasks. Verbal explanations supplement your written instructions as students will feel like you’re guiding them “virtually” as they do the task, it helps to simulate cognitive apprenticeship through scaffolding as well. You can also use voice notes or audio file (but make sure it’s recorded nicely and not in a rush). But remember, do not “remove” the written instructions altogether. Videos and audios are meant to supplement.
Tip 2: Relook and Revise Your Instructions
Sometimes we get too carried away and produce instructions that are not suitable to our target audience. From confusing sentences to the use of jargons, this could affect comprehension. For example, if you are teaching first-year students, you might want to consider whether they are aware of certain technical terms before putting them in the instructions. Yes, they can check on their own, but sometimes certain terms can be interpreted differently. So if you would like them to focus on specific ones, then you can offer the operational definition in the instruction itself. For example:
In this task, we will refer to “culture” based on the definition given by Edward S. Casey (1986).“The word culture goes back to Latin colere, ‘to inhabit, care for, till, worship’ and cultus, ‘A cult, especially a religious one.’ To be cultural, to have a culture, is to inhabit a place sufficiently intensely to cultivate it — to be responsible for it, to respond to it, to attend to it caringly.”
You can also itemize the assignment requirements listed either in bulleted points or in a clear table format. For example:
- 500 words minimum, 1000 words maximum
- At least 5 sources
- References and citations must be in APA Referencing style
- Submit to eLEAP by Friday, 2 July, 2021 at 5:00 p.m.
Besides, the instructions should be in “Do” statements. Do not overwhelm students with “Don’ts”. When there are just too many “Don’ts”, it gives an impression that you are constantly looking for opportunities to punish or penalise them. Having a checklist of what they need to do also assists students to monitor their progress.
You may want to read Thwaite et al. (2021)’s study on grammatical issues in assignment prompts.
Tip 3: Make Use of Visuals
Apart from videos, using visuals like flow charts and infographics would help too as visuals tend to reduce cognitive load. You can treat each task like a challenge card where instructions are given on each card. Sometimes, instead of writing long instructions, putting them in visual forms would improve comprehension and also spark creativity. Students tend to react to the stimulus they received. Creative instructions normally encourage them to be more expressive and increase their motivation to complete the task.
You can make use of tools such as Canva, PowerPoint or Blendspace to list out things that they need to do in the visual format.
Tip 4: Make Use of Collaborative Tools
For projects or group assignments, it would be good to use collaborative tools such as Google Docs, Padlet or Google Slides. All members will work on the same platform and you can be added as well. From here, you can monitor their progress and check if they are doing it correctly.
Collaborative tools are also effective in eradicating the problem of “free riding” as those who did not contribute can be flagged earlier. Then, you could do necessary interventions to assist the “free riders” or the “weaker ones” as they could be facing some problems that are not visible to you.
Tip 5: Include Examples
In some cases, if you would have a specific expectation of what students need to produce, providing examples or a model would be good. While some may think this is like spoon-feeding, in actual fact, it serves as a scaffolding for students who need more assistance. It help students to reduce their anxiety of “guessing what you really want” as well.
Extra Tips
- End with positivity — End the instruction with a positive note like “Have fun with this assignment and be creative” or “This essay is going to be a great way to check your understanding of chapter 1!”. This extra bit of encouragement is beneficial especially during online learning.
- Include “life lines” or “help buttons” in which students can reach out to you if they need help on certain accessibility issues. This is crucial when you need them to use certain software, equipment, or even writing styles that they are not familiar with. Life lines can be in the form of tutorial videos or remedial sessions or even short 1-to-1 coaching.
- Observe how students react to your instructions. As teachers, sometimes we unconsciously use words or expressions that may not be pleasant to students. By observing their reactions and feedbacks(e.g. recorded video of your online class), you can take note of things to be improved. Be open to comments and not defensive, after all, we want students to give their best.
I also covered these tips in one of the my videos. Feel free to check it out.
Useful Readings
Collins, A., Brown, J. S., & Holum, A. (1991). Cognitive apprenticeship: Making thinking visible. American educator, 15(3), 6–11. https://www.aft.org/ae/winter1991/collins_brown_holum
Liefooghe, B., Braem, S., & Meiran, N. (2018). The implications and applications of learning via instructions. Acta Psychologica, 184. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2017.09.015
Thwaite, A., Budgen, F., Hunter, J., & Singh, K. (2021). What is complexity? Grammatical issues in assignment prompts. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 52. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2021.100998
Tabbers, H. K., Martens, R. L., & Van Merriënboer, J. J. (2004). Multimedia instructions and cognitive load theory: Effects of modality and cueing. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 74(1), 71–81. https://doi.org/10.1348/000709904322848824
