Transparent Design:  Purpose

Creating a purpose statement is your opportunity to be explicit and clear about your rationale for asking students to complete an assignment.  It is the first step to gaining buy-in from students to not only complete an assignment, but to fully engage in what is being asked of them beyond receiving a grade.  Students’ own awareness of why they are being asked to engage with materials increases their learning because they have a better understanding of the outcomes and how it will apply to them beyond the classroom.  It takes what may seem like an arbitrary list of tasks and provides a cohesive goal or outcome to work toward.

What may seem obvious to you as an expert and an instructor, may not be as apparent to novices and learners.  Explicitly stating a rationale will bring clarity and strengthen a student’s understanding of how the material can be applied.

The authors of Transparent Design in Higher Education Teaching and Leadership describe an alternative benefit to creating a purpose statement which is to identify an opportunity to take a scaffolded approach to assignments.  It encourages instructors to take a deep dive not only into what they want students to learn by completing the assignment, but also what foundational skills and knowledge students will need to bring to the assignment to be successful.  Are you asking students to practice too many skills at once?

This consideration typically leads to smaller, scaffolded assignments geared to ensure the foundational skills are being met before tackling larger learning outcomes.  Students are given a clear pathway to learn, practice, and receive feedback on foundational knowledge before moving on to higher level concepts.  Together, smaller scaffolded assignments build on the overall purpose of engaging with the materials.

What is a purpose statement?

The purpose statement for an assignment details what we want learners to do or know as a result of the assignment.  It describes what skills will be practiced and what knowledge will be gained.  It should connect those skills to students’ lives beyond the context of the assignment to their future goals.  The statement should be written in language and terms that help students recognize how the assignment will benefit their learning.

When writing your purpose statement, consider the following questions:

• Why are we doing what we are doing?
• What skills will students be practicing?
• What knowledge will students gain?
• How will the knowledge and skills relate to their future goals?
• Do students have the foundational skills to complete what they are being asked to do?
• Would this assignment work better with a scaffolded, smaller assignment, approach?

Characteristics of a well written purpose statement:

• Can be closely related to learning outcomes, but are not learning outcomes.
• Should be written in student friendly language.
• Is different from the task, which describes the steps students will take to demonstrate their learning.
• Gives students an overview and explains how to engage or use the activity for their benefit.
• Lists skills and knowledge that benefits long term learning and goals.
• Positively impacts their future and ability to be successful in the workplace.

Tips for creating a purpose statement:

• Consider your learning outcomes. Purpose statements are often your philosophy and reasoning behind your task/activity/assignment.
• Use Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives for helpful student friendly language, such as understanding, applying, judging, evaluating, creating, etc.