This is a collection of curated materials and resources from the project Transparency in Learning and Teaching (TILT). The materials are presented to help educators make their assignments more transparent and easily understood by students. The collection also provides research-based material on the transparency learning framework that is geared towards course developers and administrators. It includes some materials submitted to MERLOT individually as well as other resources.
Type of Material:
Collection
Recommended Uses:
self-paced, team, and individual professional development
Technical Requirements:
The site is compatible with Chrome, Firefox, and Safari.
Ability to view and listen to video clips
Ability to open and view pdf files
Identify Major Learning Goals:
Through this professional-development collection, teachers should be able to:
assess learning frameworks used in currently designed assignments;
devise assignments that help students better connect to the learning material;
develop equitable learning frameworks for first-generation students; and
stimulate good-quality of in-class discussions.
The collection also provides research-based material on the transparency learning framework that is geared towards course developers and administrators.
Target Student Population:
College General Ed, College Lower Division, College Upper Division, Graduate School, Professional
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:
Basic computer skills. Although not required, having an understanding of teaching and learning approaches will help
Content Quality
Rating:
Strengths:
The TILT site is rich in content that provides an introduction to transparency in learning and teaching, a reference list of publications that talk about transparent instruction, several example assignments that model transparency in varying ways, tools for revising/creating your own transparent assignments, tools for gathering feedback on your draft assignments, and workshop videos and slides for faculty, for faculty developers, and for institutional leaders.
This site presents educationally significant concepts, models, and skills for understanding transparency in learning and teaching. The content is presented in a way that permits instructors from across disciplines to use the materials they need and/or want to use. Although not the main intention of this project, content material in developing transparency assignments for people with disabilities is not currently explored or included.
Concerns:
Nuanced materials or suggestions for students with disabilities were not explored or presented.
Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool
Rating:
Strengths:
Seasoned and and first-year teachers can use the resources in this learning object either to initially create assignments or easily adapt or modify existing ones. Although specific disciplines are used as examples, the material is transferrable enough that it can be applied to any discipline to help students understand the learning objectives (LOs) and how the assigned tasks map back to the LOs and any soft skills associated with the assignment.
These materials improve the teachers' abilities to learn and teach their specific content in a more transparent manner. The materials can be implemented across disciplines. The materials would also serve as an excellent resource for professional development situations addressing transparency in teaching and learning.
Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty
Rating:
Strengths:
The site has a vertical, scrolling set-up for finding the materials in the collection. The materials are systematically organized from introductory, to references, to examples, to tools, and then videos and slides. Each section is clearly labeled. These sections are presented in list format and the title cof the site, clearly indicates these are examples and resources. When clicking on several of the resource links, users are taken to the primary sources on the Internet. Therefore, they will need to use the back button on their browser to return to this site.
Concerns:
Linking the material to a new page would make using the resource more convenient, but a savvy computer user should be able to find his or her place back to the content collection.
Creative Commons:
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