Two-stage Assignments - Two-stage Written Essay (Individual)

The following examples describe two-stage written assignments, which usually incorporate a draft submission before the submission of the final essay.

Example 1:

Description: Essay submission with two deadlines – one deadline is for draft submission, which is voluntary, and the other deadline is for submission of final essay

What teacher does (and when)

•	Gives feedback and critique to the students who submit the draft

Teacher’s comments

•	The teacher thought submitting the draft could help the students to learn from the feedback, but it might take quite a bit of research time for marking the drafts;
•	However, the teacher thought finished product was improved and so might take less time to mark final paper.

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Example 2:

Description: Submit reflective writing twice to give a chance for students to improve in the final writing submission

What teacher does (and when)-

•	To get an idea of students’ learning progress, for example how well the students responded to the course topic in the assessment;
•	Allocates 20%-30% of final grade to the first piece of work; and
•	Gives written and oral feedback to the first piece of work

What students do (and when)

•	Submit the first piece of reflective writing between week four and week six of the semester

Teacher’s comments

•	The teacher said he was harsher for the first piece of writing because he wanted to identify the weak students and help them to get a better grade at the end
•	The teacher said 50% of students asked for tutorials or one-to-one discussion with him after the submission of the first piece of writing
•	The teacher found that weak students who did not perform well in the first piece of writing could make improvements in their final paper