What are the best ways to design authentic and meaningful learning tasks for your learners?

For younger learners the authenticity of a learning task comes down to the relationship and rapport you’ve built with the students and the learning environment you’ve created for your learners. When you know your students really well, you can create meaningful learning experiences by incorporating their interests, values and perspectives into the learning process.

In my experience authenticity is not only real life spreadsheets, presentations and projects but also you must base these firmly in interest areas if your audience. Examples would include a volunteer hours tracking spreadsheet, a database or presentation of colleges,and scholarships that apply to that student, a database if baseball card collection that updates current pricing when connected online, anything with stats.

For high school students, authenticity starts with the teacher themselves. Don't lie to your students. They've experienced much of the real world, so treat them with respect. They're not stupid. Teacher relationships and rapport are key to building trust, and with trust in teachers comes trust in lessons. You're more than a teacher -- you're a mentor. Learn their stories, interests, and lives. They'll reward you for it. Relay the value of your lessons to the lives and interests of students. If you make your lessons fun, relaxed, and engaging, you won't need to establish a cell phone rule. Your students will be engaged, and that engagement will be authentic.

And authenticity can't (or shouldn't) be faked. It is also about being honest and true to oneself. It isn't always saying what will please others. But it should be clear to the receiver/assessor/audience, that it comes with a sense of sincerity, and that it matters.

An authentic task will be very specific and related to the teachers' goals and their knowledge about the strong/weak points of every student in their class. Making authentic tasks is important because teachers would make further efforts to understand their students' educational needs.

One of the most effective ways to design authentic and meaningful learning tasks is to incorporate real-world scenarios that are highly relevant to your learners. This approach bridges the gap between theory and practice, making the lessons more memorable and applicable. Additionally, seeking feedback from your learners is crucial. Ask them if they found the tasks relatable and meaningful. Use their input to tweak your lessons before implementing them again, ensuring a more engaging and impactful learning experience.

There is a practice that has been helpful to me in creating learning objectives, and that is to always keep it as short and succinct as possible. The aim of laying objectives on the table is not only to inform the learners what they are about to learn, but to also ensure they can remember it. Your learners should be able to read it out in such a way that they understand and own their learning. Also, what I have found helpful is to ensure there are not more than two learning objectives. Three or more objectives may not speak specificity. The title already is specific enough, and it will be counterproductive to have more than three objectives in it. If you find yourself giving three objectives or more, then it is time to take another look.

Backwards planning - starting with the learning goal. And making this clear to the learners - this is why we're doing this ... Not so we all reach the 'right answer', but through the learning and discovery process, this is how we all gain.

Tweaking and innovate the age appropriate curriculum enables children to embark on a captivating of exploration and discovery. As an unwavering belief, teachers hold a pivotal role in providing essential guidance and support throughout activities. By taking a step back after offering direction, children are given the freedom to independently engage with the material, fostering vital problem-solving abilities and a sense of autonomy. This thoughtful balance nurtures a safe and supportive learning environment, empowering young learners to thrive and flourish.

You should design learning task with the learning objective in mind and how the task will be assessed. The key with teaching and learning is assessment and feedback.

It is important to use multiple learning modalities to ensure meeting the needs of all learners. Variety in task format creates novelty which can increase engagement and lead to more meaningful and authentic learning experiences.

UDL - Universal Design for Learning - provides a framework to ensure all learners can access and participate in meaningful and challenging learning opportunities. By providing multiple means of engagement, representation, action and expression (udlguidelines.cast.org) all students have a choice of entry, learning and performance to demonstrate achievement of the learning goals. Task formats can then be flexible according to student needs, interests and strengths.

Scaffolding is differentiating teaching to model strategies to support students to apply their learning. It is especially supports Multilingual students and struggling students when the the lesson plan is designed in phases to move from scaffolding to independence as in model the “gradual release of responsibility” developed by Pearson and Gallagher (1983).

Scaffolding is a way to show the learner ways to attempt the question which should solidify their learning. One thing I do is to ensure that no matter how long I ever spend in teaching time, I ALWAYS attempt one question as a way to show them how to get it done. I could either choose a question to model on the board for all to see (not necessarily only the first question!). I could also choose to pick a student at random to choose a question they would like me to model on the board. Scaffolding too can involve asking leading questions for the purpose of figuring out where misconceptions or possible points of mistake could be.

In addition, the design for an authentic task should have context and constraints as encountered by learners in reality. The design should engage different strengths, interests, skills, knowledge, perceptions, and ideas. As a multifaceted task, it need not have any ‘one’ solution, and allows learners to be able to justify their answers. The task so designed is to achieve the goal and also improve performance, enhance learning and deepen understanding, and promote creation of new ideas and innovations for the future.

Let's be frank - there are only so many types of assignment. Many teachers believe that there must be some sort of assignment associated with a lesson simply because the outline for instruction says so. Is this really the best use of student time? Some students learn more effectively with brief assignments associated to individual lessons, while others learn more in application. It may be worthwhile to design 2 or 3 tracks that allow the student to accrue points over a term. Only the student can know which is more appropriate to him or herself. A fuller exploration of this topic is being created for your use.

Explore the multidimensional approach to a task and enable students to form multiple pathways to achieve a task. Have a low floor and a high ceiling that enables every single student to engage in the task.A low floor can begin with a simple question:What do you notice?

Whose learning objectives are “authentic”? Teacher? Student? Employer? With adult learners who are already successful in their roles, their objectives are paramount. Step one is to learn what their motivation is.

In my time as a teacher, I find that throwing questions towards my students to find the relativity of a context and the theory is somewhat authentic and challenging for them as they have to articulate their thoughts and acclimatize with their understanding of the topic. I try to make group discussions more often and ask them to present their understanding before the class to boost their confidence. I also open the floor for disagreement points so that my students can have both perspectives.

Ask Them and embed their contexts and experiences into designing meaning and authentic learning tasks for your students. Years ago as a young teacher, I had a challenge getting assignments competed by a particular group of students. I had a round table talk and the students presented some awesome out of the box suggestions for authentic and meaningful learning tasks. I made it my point of duty to improve my art of designing meaningful and authentic learning tasks by including their voice. Yo date as an instructional leader and an adjunct professor I still include this practice in my planning. Students can suggest meaningful and authentic ways that they want to interact with learning tasks. Their input is valuable. Believe me it works.

Navigating the AI Frontier: My Perspective on Academic Integrity in Higher Education In my opinion, with the rise of AI in higher education brings both opportunities and challenges. AI empowers students to take charge of their learning, but it also raises concerns about academic integrity. Professors must navigate this balance carefully, distinguishing between genuine student work and AI-influenced submissions. To adapt, educators should reassess teaching methods, embracing AI to enhance student engagement and critical thinking. By acknowledging challenges and embracing positive aspects, we can navigate this AI frontier while upholding academic integrity.