Transparent Expectations

Course Planning

Successful course planning includes clearly articulated learning outcomes and alignment of all course components (outcomes, content, assessments, activities, and resources). The workload is appropriate for the assigned credit hours and clearly communicated to students. Instruction is flexible, with faculty providing accommodations to support student success, and ongoing student feedback is actively collected and used to enhance the learning experience.

Recommendation 1.3: Transparent Expectations

Explain the purpose of the work you are asking students to do, what exactly students need to do, and the criteria for success.

Background Information

What is this?

Transparent expectations reflect why students are doing activities, what students need to do, and how students will be assessed/graded.

Why is this important?

Communicating your expectations is critical for students to make connections to the course and student learning outcomes, and for their success in the course.

How to implement

Examples include using the Purpose-Task-Criteria headings within assignment descriptions and including rubrics, especially for larger assignments/assessments.

Synopsis from Self-Review

Calibrating and communicating the purpose of tasks to their learning, what is expected, and how they will be assessed and graded helps students channel their time and intellectual effort towards what is most critical.

How to Put into Practice

Transparency about expectations goes a long way toward cultivating the shared understanding and trust that fuels a learning-focused course environment. Communicating expectations for individual activities helps students connect their learning to the Course Learning Outcomes and thereby focus on the core purpose of that activity.

Structure for Setting Transparent Expectations

  • The TILT (Transparency in Teaching and Learning) framework provides a simple structure for communicating expectations on learning activities. Many examples for implementation within courses can be found on the TILT website.
  • The main components of TILT are:
    1. Purpose: Why are students doing this task? What knowledge or skills will they gain? How does this connect to course goals or their real-world learning?
    2. Task: What, exactly, do students need to do? What steps should they follow?
    3. Criteria for Success: How will students know if they’re doing it well? What does successful work look like?

Strategies for Implementing Transparent Expectations

  • The UWSP Course Template includes example layouts for assignments and discussion boards that include the components of the TILT framework and promote transparency in expectations.
  • Start with major assignments: Use the Purpose–Task–Criteria model to write clearer instructions and align assessments with learning outcomes.
  • Incorporate rubrics: Rubrics are one of the easiest and most impactful ways to embed transparency into your course. You can start by inputting the criteria of your major assignments into Copilot and asking it to create a rubric for you based on the number of points and the major requirements of the assignment.
  • Apply it to weekly activities: Even small in-class tasks or discussions benefit from a short explanation of why they matter and what good participation looks like.
  • Check for alignment: Make sure learning activities and assessments lead students toward your course learning outcomes.
  • Encourage student reflection: Ask students to briefly explain how they approached an assignment or what they learned from the feedback. This supports metacognition and deeper learning.

Additional Resources