higher psychology assignment examples

Higher Psychology - Assignment Guide

Written by Jonathan Firth, experienced Psychology teacher and author of the Leckie N5 & Higher textbook, this simple guide takes you through all of the steps of the SQA Higher Psychology Assignment, from planning to writing up.

The step-by-step approach will help you to choose your topic, identify all of the key information that you need, and write each section of the scientific report ready for submission to SQA.

As the Assignment is worth over 33% of the grade for the Higher, this guide will give a real boost to your chances of gaining an A.

Updated for new (2018 onwards) syllabus.

An expert written, 12-page guide to success at the SQA Higher Psychology assignment task.

Rosie Psychology: Your online tutor

How to demonstrate critical evaluation in your psychology assignments

Thinking critically about psychology research

Critical thinking is often taught in undergraduate psychology degrees, and is a key marking criteria for higher marks in many assignments. But getting your head around how to write critically can sometimes be difficult. It can take practice. The aim of this short blog is to provide an introduction to critical evaluation, and how to start including evidence of critical evaluation in your psychology assignments.

So what does “critical evaluation” really mean?

Broadly speaking, critical evaluation is the process of thinking and writing critically about the quality of the sources of evidence used to support or refute an argument. By “ evidence “, I mean the literature you cite (e.g., a journal article or book chapter). By “ quality   of the evidence “, I mean thinking about whether this topic has been tested is in a robust way. If the quality of the sources is poor, then this could suggest poor support for your argument, and vice versa. Even if the quality is poor, this is important to discuss in your assignments as evidence of critical thinking in this way!

In the rest of this blog, I outline a few different ways you can start to implement critical thinking into your work and reading of psychology. I talk about the quality of the evidence, a few pointers for critiquing the methods, theoretical and practical critical evaluation too. This is not an exhaustive list, but hopefully it’ll help you to start getting those higher-level marks in psychology. I also include an example write-up at the end to illustrate how to write all of this up!

The quality of the evidence

There are different types of study designs in psychology research, but some are of higher quality than others. The higher the quality of the evidence, the stronger the support for your argument the research offers, because the idea has been tested more rigorously. The pyramid image below can really help to explain what we mean by “quality of evidence”, by showing different study designs in the order of their quality. 

Not every area of psychology is going to be full of high quality studies, and even the strongest sources of evidence (i.e., systematic reviews and/or meta-analyses) can have limitations! Because no study is perfect, it can be a good habit to tell the reader, in your report, (i) what the  design  of the study is that you’re citing, AND, (ii)  how  this affects your argument. Doing so would be evidence of critical thought. (See an example write-up below for implementing this, but do not copy and paste it!) 

But first, what do I mean by “design”? The design of the study refers to  how  the study was carried out. There are sometimes broad categories of design that you’ll have heard of, like a ‘survey design’, ‘a review paper’, or an ‘experimental design’. Within these categories, though, there can be more specific types of design (e.g. a  cross-sectional  survey design, or a  longitudinal  survey design; a  randomised controlled  experiment or a  simple pre-post  experiment). Knowing these specific types of design is a good place to start when thinking about how to critique the evidence when citing your sources, and the image below can help with that. 

Image source: https://thelogicofscience.com/2016/01/12/the-hierarchy-of-evidence-is-the-studys-design-robust/

In summary, there are various types of designs in psychology research. To name a few from the image above, we have: a meta-analysis or a systematic review (a review paper that summarises the research that explores the same research question); a cross-sectional survey study (a questionnaire that people complete once – these are really common in psychology!). If you’re not familiar with these, I would  highly suggest  doing a bit of reading around these methods and some of their general limitations – you can then use these limitation points in your assignments! To help with this, you could do a Google Scholar search for ‘limitations of a cross-sectional study’, or ‘why are randomised control trials gold standard?’. You can use any published papers as further support as a limitation.

Methodological critical evaluation

• Internal validity: Are the findings or the measures used in the study reliable (e.g., have they been replicated by another study, and is the reliability high)? 
• External validity: Are there any biases in the study that might affect generalisability(e.g., gender bias, where one gender may be overrepresented for the population in the sample recruited)?  Lack of generalisability is a common limitation that undergraduates tend to use by default as a limitation in their reports. It’s a perfectly valid limitation, but it can usually be made much more impactful by explaining exactly  how  it’s a problem for the topic of study. In some cases, this limitation may not be all that warranted; for example, a female bias may be expected in a sample of psychology students, because undergraduate courses tend to be filled mostly with females! 
• What is the design of the study, and how it a good or bad quality design (randomised control trial, cross-sectional study)? 

Theoretical critical evaluation

• Do the findings in the literature support the relevant psychological theories?
• Have the findings been replicated in another study? (If so, say so and add a reference!)

Practical critical evaluation

• In the real world, how easy would it be to implement these findings?
• Have these findings been implemented? (If so, you could find out if this has been done well!)

Summary points

In summary, there are various types of designs in psychology research. To name a few from the image above, we have: a meta-analysis or a systematic review (a review paper that summarises the research that explores the same research question); a cross-sectional survey study (a questionnaire that people complete once – these are really common in psychology!). If you’re not familiar with these, I would highly suggest doing a bit of reading around these methods and some of their general limitations – you can then use these limitation points in your assignments! To help with this, I would do a Google Scholar search for ‘limitations of a cross-sectional study’, or ‘why are randomised control trials gold standard?’. You can use these papers as further support as a limitation.

You don’t have to use all of these points in your writing, these are just examples of how you can demonstrate critical thinking in your work. Try to use at least a couple in any assignment. Here is an example of how to write these up:

An example write-up

“Depression and anxiety are generally associated with each other (see the meta-analysis by [reference here]). For example, one of these studies was a cross-sectional study [reference here] with 500 undergraduate psychology students. The researchers found that depression and anxiety (measured using the DASS-21 measure) were correlated at  r  = .76, indicating a strong effect. However, this one study is limited in that it used a cross-sectional design, which do not tell us whether depression causes anxiety or whether anxiety causes depression; it just tells us that they are correlated. It’s also limited in that the participants are not a clinical sample, which does not tell us about whether these are clinically co-morbid constructs. Finally, a strength of this study is that it used the DASS-21 which is generally found to be a reliable measure. Future studies would therefore benefit from using a longitudinal design to gain an idea as to how these variables are causally related to one another, and use more clinical samples to understand the implications for clinical practice. Overall, however, the research generally suggests that depression and anxiety are associated. That there is a meta-analysis on this topic [reference here], showing that there is lots of evidence, suggests that this finding is generally well-accepted.”

• Notice how I first found a review paper on the topic to broadly tell the reader how much evidence there is in the first place. I set the scene of the paragraph with the first sentence, and then the last sentence I brought it back, rounding the paragraph off. 
• Notice how I then described one study from this paper in more detail. Specifically, I mentioned the participants, the design of the study and the measure the researchers used to assess these variables. Critically, I then described  how  each of these pieces of the method are disadvantages/strengths of the study. Sometimes, it’s enough to just say “the study was limited in that it was a cross-sectional study”, but it can really show that you are thinking critically, if you also add “… because it does not tell us….”. 
• Notice how I added a statistic there to further illustrate my point (in this case, it was the correlation coefficient), showing that I didn’t just read the abstract of the paper. Doing this for the effect sizes in a study can also help demonstrate to a reader that you understand statistics (a higher-level marking criteria). 

Are these points you can include in your own work?

Thanks for reading,

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Higher Psychology (Course Code: C863 76)

Scqf level 6 (24 scqf credit points).

Why study Psychology?

Psychology is the scientific study of the human mind and behaviour. Psychology is a research-based subject, and provides the opportunity to conduct practical research. This includes working with human participants in accordance with ethical standards.

This course develops your ability to analyse psychological explanations for individual and social behaviour. You will learn about some of the ways that thoughts and emotions can affect how we feel and behave.

Knowledge of human behaviour is a useful subject for your personal development as well as being relevant to many career paths, including education, medicine and law.

Career Pathways

To see what career areas this subject could lead to and the routes to get there, download and view these career pathways:

• Administration and Management
• Arts, Social Sciences and Languages
• Communications and Media
• Health and Medicine
• Social, Caring and Advisory Services

What do I need to get in?

Entry is at the discretion of the school or college, but you would normally be expected to have achieved:

• National 5 Biology
• National 5 Psychology

What will I study?

The course consists of  three  areas of study.

Individual behaviour

• analyse individual behaviour, investigate topics and learn how these topics can be explained using psychological theories and research evidence
• evaluate and apply theories to show an understanding of individual human behaviour.

Social behaviour

• analyse how interaction with others shapes social behaviour
• investigate psychological explanations for social behaviour
• use research evidence to analyse how the thoughts, feelings and behaviours of individuals are influenced by their social environment
• apply psychological knowledge and understanding to explain examples of everyday social behaviour.
• understand and apply the research process and research methods used in psychology
• develop the skills required to conduct and evaluate psychological research.
• develop numerical skills and an understanding of psychological terminology.

How will I be assessed?

The course assessment has two components totalling 120 marks :

• Component 1: question paper – worth 60 marks (scaled up to 80 marks for the 2022-23 session) (consisting of section 1 - Individual behaviour and section 2 - Social behaviour)
• Component 2: assignment – worth 40 marks.

For the assignment component, you will research a topic you have studied and produce a psychological report.

Both the question paper and the assignment are set and externally marked by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA).

The grade awarded is based on the total marks achieved across course assessment.

The course assessment is graded A-D.

Study Materials

• SQA Past Papers Psychology Higher
• SQA Understanding Standards Psychology

What can I go on to next?

If you complete the course successfully, it may lead to:

• other qualifications in Psychology, social sciences, social studies or related areas.

Further study, training or employment in:

Which jobs are related to this subject?

• Psychology - Related Careers

Where can my parents find out more?

Your school will give your parents an Options or Choices information booklet, which has detailed information on the curriculum and the individual subjects or courses you can study. It will also invite them along to a Parents’ Information Evening.

They can also read the information leaflet(s):

Nationals in a Nutshell - Psychology (Higher)

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Assignments

The assignments in this course are openly licensed, and are available as-is, or can be modified to suit your students’ needs. Selected answer keys are available to faculty who adopt Waymaker, OHM, or Candela courses with paid support from Lumen Learning. This approach helps us protect the academic integrity of these materials by ensuring they are shared only with authorized and institution-affiliated faculty and staff.

If you import this course into your learning management system (Blackboard, Canvas, etc.), the assignments will automatically be loaded into the assignment tool, where they may be adjusted, or edited there. Assignments also come with rubrics and pre-assigned point values that may easily be edited or removed.

The assignments for Introductory Psychology are ideas and suggestions to use as you see appropriate. Some are larger assignments spanning several weeks, while others are smaller, less-time consuming tasks. You can view them below or throughout the course.

You can view them below or throughout the course.

CC licensed content, Original

• Assignments with Solutions. Provided by : Lumen Learning. License : CC BY: Attribution

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General Psychology Copyright © by OpenStax and Lumen Learning is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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• TILT Higher Ed Examples and Resources

The following resources from the Transparency in Learning and Teaching project (TILT Higher Ed) can help faculty, educational developers and administrators to apply the Transparency Framework (of purpose/task/criteria) in contexts including assignments, curricula, assessment and strategic initiatives, all toward the goal of enhancing student success equitably. If you have developed TILT-focused tools or publications you would like to share, please contact [email protected]

Introduction to Transparency in Learning and Teaching

• Transparency and Problem-centered Learning (7-minute overview)
• Transparent Instruction and Its Impact on Learning, University of Tokyo TV (45 minutes)
• Transparency Framework for academic work
• Unwritten Rules for College Success, 39 second video
• Transparency Framework 1) Purpose, 44 second video
• Transparency Framework 2) Task, 25 second video
• Transparency Framework 3) Criteria, 24 second video
• Nave, Lillian. " Transparent Design with Mary-Ann Winkelmes. " Think UDL, Episode 76, 9 December 2021
• Christopher, K. (2018). "What are we doing and why? Transparent assignment design benefits students and faculty alike." The Flourishing academic: A Blog for teacher-scholars. Duquesne University Center for Teaching Excellence, April 16, 2018.
• Willingham-McLain, L. (2017). Just a TAD: Transparent assignment design. The Flourishing academic: A Blog for teacher-scholars. Duquesne University Center for Teaching Excellence. December 8, 2017.
• Cepek, R. (2017). Parallelograms and poetry: Helping first generation students connect. The Flourishing academic: A Blog for teacher-scholars. Duquesne University Center for Teaching Excellence. October 5, 2017.
• Yong, Darryl. "How Transparency Improves Learning." Teaching Tidbits (Mathematical Association of America blog), October 24, 2017.
• Nichols, Karen. "Remember 'Transparency' in Your Instructional Continuity Preparations." >CAT FooD, August 18, 2017.
• Mulnix, Amy B. "The Power of Transparency in Your Teaching." Faculty Focus: Higher Ed Teaching Strategies, November 6, 2016.
• Gambill, Sandy. "Transparent Assignments." Inclusive Teaching, November 30, 2016.
• Volk, Steven. Revealing the Secret Handshakes: The Rules of Clear Assignment Design." Article of the Week: Teaching and Learning at Oberlin College, September 27, 2015.
• Mary-Ann Winkelmes: "Transparency in Teaching and Learning interview,Smart Talks", Project Information Literacy
• “Small Teaching Changes, Big Learning Benefits” video interview with Mary-Ann Winkelmes, ACUE Community ‘Q’ Blog, Expert Series, December 2016.
• Great Conversations: Mary-Ann Winkelmes video interview at Indiana University (6 min:47 sec - 10 min: 25 sec)
• Faculty at 7 institutions reflect on their use of transparent assignment design (as part of an AAC&U project funded by TG Philanthropy) in the "Transparency and Problem-Centered Learning" issue of Peer Review, (Winter/Spring 2016) vol.18, no. 1/2.
• Faculty at University of Nevada, Las Vegas reflect on their use of transparently designed assignments in “Benefits (some unexpected) of Transparently Designed Assignments.” National Teaching and Learning Forum 24, 4 (May 2015), pages 4-6.
• Faculty at Texas Tech University discuss the design process and impacts of transparent assignments in their courses: Transparent Assignment Design at Texas Tech: A Panel Discussion, 13 th Annual Advancing Teaching and Learning Conference, Texas Tech University, March 3, 2017.
• Fukuda, D. 2018. Promote active learning in group projects through the use of the transparent assignment framework. In Chen, B., deNoyelles, A., & Thompson, K. (Eds.), Teaching Online Pedagogical Repository . Orlando, FL: University of Central Florida Center for Distributed Learning. Retrieved March 4, 2020.
• Turlington, Anita; Shimkus, Jim. (2017). "TILTing the Writing Across the Curriculum Program at UNG."
• Ou, J. (2018, June), Board 75 : Work in Progress: A Study of Transparent Assignments and Their Impact on Students in an Introductory Circuit Course Paper presented at 2018 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Salt Lake City, Utah.
• Kane, J. & Mushtare, R. (Hosts). (2023 May) , Transparency in Learning and Teaching (episode 290). [Audio podcast episode]. In Tea for Teaching. https://teaforteaching.com/290-transparency-in-learning-and-teaching/
• Bruff, D. (Host). (January 2023), Transparent Teaching with Mary-Ann Winkelmes (Episode 5). [Audio podcast episode]. In Intentional Teaching

Example A: Sociology

Example B: Science 101

Example C: Psychology

Example D: Communications

Authors of Examples A-D describe the outcomes of their assignment revisions

Example E: Biology

Discussion Questions (about Examples A-E)

Example F: Library research Assignment

Example G: Criminal Justice In-Class activity

Example H: Criminal Justice Assignment

Example I: Political Science Assignment

Example J: Criteria for Math Writing

Example K - Environmental History

Example L - Calculus

Example M - Algebra

Example N - Finance

• Transparent Assignment Template for instructors
• Checklist for Designing Transparent Assignments
• Measuring Transparency: A Learning-focused Assignment Rubric (Palmer, M., Gravett, E., LaFleur, J.)
• Assignment Cues to use when designing an assignment (adapted from Bloom’s Taxonomy) for faculty
• Transparent Equitable Learning Readiness Assessment for Teachers
• Transparent Assignment Template for students (to help students learn to parse assignments; also to frame a conversation to gather feedback from your students about how to make assignments’ more transparent and relevant for them)
• Transparent Assignment Template for students (to help students learn to parse assignments; also to frame a conversation to gather feedback from your students about how to make assignments more transparent and relevant for them)
• Transparent Equitable Learning Framework for Students (to frame a conversation with students about how to make the purposes, tasks and criteria for class activities transparent and relevant for them)
• TILT and Align Your Assessment
• TILT Strategic Planning Worksheet
• Transparent Equitable Collaboration Framework for Staff
• Unwritten Rules: Transparent Assignment Framework for Students
• Transparent Equitable Learning Framework for Students

Workshop Videos and Slides

For faculty.

• Transparent Assignments Promote Equitable Opportunities for Students’ Success videorecording (University of Nevada, Las Vegas, April 29, 2016).
• Transparent Assignment Design faculty workshop videorecording (“Using Transparent Assignments to Increase Students' Success,” Mary-Ann Winkelmes, keynote workshop, 13th Annual Advancing Teaching and Learning Conference, Texas Tech University, March 3, 2017).
• Part 1) Research findings
• Part 2) Example Assignments
• Part 3) Peer feedback on your own assignments

FOR FACULTY DEVELOPERS

• Faculty workshop slides, Indianapolis Assessment Conference
• TILT Workshop Slides and Notes for Facilitators
• Train the Trainers webinar recording
• NILOA Charrette and Feedback with TILT
• TILT Course Sequencing Worksheet

FOR INSTITUTIONAL LEADERS

• Transparency and Equity webinar recording (hosted by AAC&U, NILOA, TILT)

For institutions, results can include increased retention and completion rates. For participating instructors, individualized reports identify small teaching adjustments best suited to improving students’ learning for the specific population of students in their courses. Ongoing analysis explores teaching/learning adjustments that improve learning outcomes, specific to discipline, class size, level of expertise, and student demographics.

A national study by the Association of American Colleges and Universities, funded by TG Philanthropy, demonstrated that transparency around academic work enhances students’ success at statistically significant levels, with even greater benefits for historically underserved students (with a medium-to-large sized magnitude of effect) [Winkelmes et al., Peer Review 2016]. Students who receive transparent instruction about the purposes, tasks and criteria for their academic work report gains in three areas that are important predictors of students’ success:

• academic confidence,
• sense of belonging, and
• mastery of the skills that employers value most when hiring.

Important studies have already connected academic confidence and sense of belonging with students’ greater persistence and higher grades [Walton and Cohen, Science 2011; Aronson, Fried, Good, 2002, Brady, Cohen, et al., Science Advances 2020. ]

• To bring a Transparency Project workshop to your institution, please contact Mary-Ann Winkelmes at [email protected]
• Frequently asked questions
• Transparent Methods: Examples
• Winkelmes, M. (2023). Introduction to Transparency in Learning and Teaching. Perspectives In Learning, 20 (1). Retrieved from  https://csuepress.columbusstate.edu/pil/vol20/iss1/2
• Brown, J., et al. (2023). Perspectives in Learning: TILT Special Issue, 20 (1). Retrieved from https://csuepress.columbusstate.edu/pil/vol20/iss1/
• Winkelmes, M. (2022). “Assessment in Class Meetings: Transparency Reduces Systemic Inequities.” In Henning, G. W., Jankowski, N. A., Montenegro, E., Baker, G. R., & Lundquist, A. E. (Eds.). (2022). Reframing Assessment to Center Equity: Theories, Models, and Practices. Stylus Publishing, LLC.
• Howard, Tiffiany, Mary-Ann Winkelmes, and Marya Shegog. “ Transparency Teaching in the Virtual Classroom: Assessing the Opportunities and Challenges of Integrating Transparency Teaching Methods with Online Learning.” Journal of Political Science Education, June 2019.
• Palmer, M. S., Gravett, E. O., & LaFleur, J. (2018). Measuring transparency: A learning‐focused assignment rubric . To Improve the Academy, 37(2), 173-187. doi:10.1002/tia2.20083
• Winkelmes, M., Allison Boye and Suzanne Tapp, ed.s. (2019). Transparent Design in Higher Education Teaching and Leadership. Stylus Publishing.
• Humphreys, K., Winkelmes, M.A., Gianoutsos, D., Mendenhall, A., Fields, L.A., Farrar, E., Bowles-Terry, M., Juneau-Butler, G., Sully, G., Gittens, S. Cheek, D. (forthcoming 2018). Campus-wide Collaboration on Transparency in Faculty Development at a Minority-Serving Research University. In Winkelmes, Boye, Tapp, (Eds.), Transparent Design in Higher Education Teaching and Leadership.
• Copeland, D.E., Winkelmes, M., & Gunawan, K. (2018). Helping students by using transparent writing assignments. In T.L. Kuther (Ed.), Integrating Writing into the College Classroom: Strategies for Promoting Student Skills, 26-37. Retrieved from the Society for the Teaching of Psychology website.
• Winkelmes, Mary-Ann, Matthew Bernacki, Jeffrey Butler, Michelle Zochowski, Jennifer Golanics, and Kathryn Harriss Weavil. "A Teaching Intervention that Increases Underserved College Students’ Success."Peer Review (Winter/Spring 2016).
• Transparency and Problem-Centered Learning. (Winter/Spring 2016) Peer Review vol.18, no. 1/2.b
• Winkelmes, Mary-Ann. Small Teaching Changes, Big Learning Benefits.” ACUE Community ‘Q’ Blog, December, 2016.
• Winkelmes, Mary-Ann. “Helping Faculty Use Assessment Data to Provide More Equitable Learning Experiences.” NILOA Guest Viewpoints. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois and Indiana University, National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment, March 17, 2016.
• Gianoutsos, Daniel, and Mary-Ann Winkelmes.“Navigating with Transparency: Enhancing Underserved Student Success through Transparent Learning and Teaching in the Classroom and Beyond.” Proceedings of the Pennsylvania Association of Developmental Educators (Spring 2016).
• Sodoma, Brian.“The End of Busy Work.” UNLV Magazine 24,1 (Spring 2016): 16-19.
• Cook, Lisa and Daniel Fusch. One Easy Way Faculty Can Improve Student Success." Academic Impressions (March 10, 2016).
• Head, Alison and Kirsten Hosteller. "Mary-Ann Winkelmes: Transparency in Teaching and Learning," Project Information Literacy, Smart Talk Interview, no. 25. Creative Commons License 3.0 : 2 September 2015.
• Winkelmes, Mary-Ann, et al. David E. Copeland, Ed Jorgensen, Alison Sloat, Anna Smedley, Peter Pizor, Katharine Johnson, and Sharon Jalene. “Benefits (some unexpected) of Transparent Assignment Design.” National Teaching and Learning Forum, 24, 4 (May 2015), 4-6.
• Winkelmes, Mary-Ann. “Equity of Access and Equity of Experience in Higher Education.” National Teaching and Learning Forum, 24, 2 (February 2015), 1-4.
• Cohen, Dov, Emily Kim, Jacinth Tan, Mary-Ann Winkelmes, “A Note-Restructuring Intervention Increases Students’ Exam Scores.” College Teaching vol. 61, no. 3 (2013): 95-99.
• Winkelmes, Mary-Ann."Transparency in Teaching: Faculty Share Data and Improve Students' Learning.” Liberal Education Association of American Colleges and Universities (Spring 2013).
• Winkelmes, Mary-Ann. “Transparency in Learning and Teaching: Faculty and students benefit directly from a shared focus on learning and teaching processes.” NEA Higher Education Advocate (January 2013): 6 - 9.
• Bhavsar, Victoria Mundy. (2020). A Transparent Assignment to Encourage Reading for a Flipped Course, College Teaching, 68:1, 33-44, DOI: 10.1080/87567555.2019.1696740
• Bowles-Terry, Melissa, John C. Watts, Pat Hawthorne, and Patricia Iannuzzi. “ Collaborating with Teaching Faculty on Transparent Assignment Design .” In Creative Instructional Design: Practical Applications for Librarians, edited by Brandon K. West, Kimberly D. Hoffman, and Michelle Costello, 291–311. Atlanta: American Library Association, 2017.
• Leuzinger, Ryne and Grallo, Jacqui, “ Reaching First- Generation and Underrepresented Students through Transparent Assignment Design .” (2019). Library Faculty Publications and Presentations. 11. https://digitalcommons.csumb.edu/lib_fac/11
• Fuchs, Beth, “ Pointing a Telescope Toward the Night Sky: Transparency and Intentionality as Teaching Techniques ” (2018). Library Presentations. 188. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/libraries_present/188
• Ferarri, Franca; Salis, Andreas; Stroumbakis, Kostas; Traver, Amy; and Zhelecheva, Tanya, “ Transparent Problem-Based Learning Across the Disciplines in the Community College Context: Issues and Impacts ” (2015).NERA Conference Proceedings 2015. 9. https://opencommons.uconn.edu/nera-2015/9
• Milman, Natalie B. Tips for Success: The Online Instructor's (Short) Guide to Making Assignment Descriptions More Transparent . Distance Learning. Greenwich  Vol. 15, Iss. 4,  (2018): 65-67. 3

Offer research-based explanations about concepts or tasks that students often struggle to master in your discipline [See examples below including Bloom, Bransford, Gregorc, Light, Perry.]

• Ryjova, Yana. What is the Transparency in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education Project (TILT Higher Ed)? Interview with Dr. Mary-Ann Winkelmes." Hixson-Lied Success Scholar Newsletter. Las Vegas: University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Academic Success Center, March 2016.
• Sodoma, Brian. Forget the What: It's the How and Why That Matters." UNLV News Center, January 21, 2016.
• Summers, Keyonna. “Newsmakers 2015: People.” UNLV News Center, January 7, 2016.
• Berrett, Dan. “The Unwritten Rules of College.” Chronicle of Higher Education, September 21, 2015.
• Adolfo Guzman-Lopez, “Researchers say as college demographics change, so must teaching.” 89.3 KPCC Southern California Public Radio. March 13, 2015.
• “Transparency and Problem-Centered Learning.” Association of American Colleges and Universities website, retrieved November 5, 2014.
• “Mary-Ann Winkelmes and UNLV's Transparency in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Project.” Accomplishments, UNLV News Center, September 2014.
• “New Project Will Engage Minority-Serving Institutions to Research Effect of Faculty Intentionality in Problem-Centered Educational Practices on the Success of Students Who Have Historically Been Underserved in Higher Education.” Association of American Colleges & Universities press release, August 4, 2014.
• “UNLV Partners with AAC&U to Lead National Project to Improve Under-Represented Students’ Success.” UNLV Research and Economic Development press release. August 7, 2014.
• Mellon grant in partnership with Berea College (2017-2021)
• Robert J. Menges Award for Outstanding Research in Educational Development, 2012, from Professional Organizational Development Network in Higher Education
• TG Philanthropy grant in partnership with Association of American Colleges and Universities(2014-2016)

University of Illinois

• Application to Institutional Review Board, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• Exempt Research Application
• University of Illinois Institutional Review Board Certification of principal investigator
• Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) Certification of principal investigator
• Approvals from Institutional Review Board, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign:
• November 18, 2009
• May 5, 2010
• November 8, 2010
• December 9, 2011
• November 19, 2012
• February 12, 2013

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

• Approvals from Institutional Review Board, University of Nevada, Las Vegas:
• August 23, 2013 Application for Exempt Status and Approval
• November 2014 Modification request, Updated exempt application, Approval
• September 2015 Modification Request and October 13, 2015 Approval
• December 2015 Modification Request and Approval
• July 12 2016 Modification Request and Approval
• July 28, 2016 Modification Request and Approval
• July 28, 2016 Continuing Review Approval
• August 2016 Modification Request and September 1, 2016 Approval
• October 27, 2016 Modification Request and Approval
• March 20, 2017 Modification Request and Approval
• September 2017 Modification Request and Approval
• October 2017 Modification Request and Approval
• February 2018 Modification Request and Approval
• October 2018 Modification Request and Approval
• Principal Investigator's 2013-2018 Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) Certification
• Principal Investigator's 2018-2023 Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) Certification

Brandeis University

• March 28, 2019 Application for Exempt Status and Approval
• April 18, 2019 Modification Request and Approval
• May 6 2022 Mod and Approval
• Exempt determination through Jun 30 2030

Additional Materials to Support Assignment Design

Organizing Assignment-Design Work on Your Campus: A Tool Kit of Resources and Materials.

A Library of DQP Assignments: Building Capacity for a New Model of Assessment

AAC&U VALUE Rubrics (Valid Assessment of Learning in Undergraduate Education)

Decoding Assignments

Please send to [email protected] any additional materials and resources that you develop and would like to share.

Mary-Ann Winkelmes, Ph.D.

Principal Investigator and Founder, TILT Higher Ed

Copyright © 2009-2023 M.A. Winkelmes. TILT Higher Ed © 2009-2023 by Mary-Ann Winkelmes and materials on this website are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) except where otherwise noted. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

2009-2023 M.A. Winkelmes

TILT Higher Ed © 2009-2023 by Mary-Ann Winkelmes and materials on this website are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) except where otherwise noted. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/