Two-stage Assignments - Two-stage Projects (Individual/Group)

The following examples show how two-stage individual/group projects enable the teacher to review students' learning progress and provide feedback to performance before submitting the final product.

Example 1:

Description: One continuous group project with two submissions in a class of 20 – progress report and final report

What teacher does (and when) –

•	Gives feedback to students’ progress reports to let them know about their progress, constraints, weaknesses, potential pitfalls;
•	Allocates a high percentage of final mark to the group project as an incentive to give to the students

What student do (and when) –

•	Submit progress report;
•	Review feedback;
•	Incorporate the feedback of the progress reports into the final report

Teacher's comments –

•	The teacher thought she was more willing to give student comments on their progress reports because she was more confident that the feedback would be acted upon as an 'echo' at the end; and
•	The teacher thought the students would have an incentive to come to her because they wanted to get a good grade in the course.

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Example 2:

Description: Individual project ‘Design of a Bridge’ - the project aim is to design a prestressed concrete bridge to support a certain weight. The project comprises successively a single-page statement of intention, a short critique and a final report.

What teacher does (and when) –

•	Gives a minimal mark to the single-page statement of intention as an incentive to give to the students;
•	Gives students verbal and written feedback on the single-page statement of intention; and
•	Spends one hour during the class for commenting on the initial report

What students do (and when) –

•	Have a single-page statement of intention to incorporate in the initial report

Teacher’s comments –

•	The teacher said he was able to see the students using the feedback on the initial report to improve their final performance

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Example 3:

Description: Group project, which comprises a project proposal and a final report

What teacher does (and when) –

•	Gives feedback to the one-page proposal to make sure what students are thinking is more or less 'doable' and possible for implementation

What students do (and when) –

•	Have to submit the one-page proposal within 4 weeks

Teacher’s comments –

•	The teacher described the idea of the one-page proposal as the process of going through idea generation prior to implementing students’ ideas