{"id":760,"date":"2024-06-12T13:48:35","date_gmt":"2024-06-12T18:48:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/assessment-committee\/?page_id=760"},"modified":"2026-08-04T15:07:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T20:07:17","slug":"prompt-development-guidance","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/assessment-committee\/prompt-development-guidance\/","title":{"rendered":"Prompt Development Guidance"},"content":{"rendered":"<div data-modular-content-collection>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Below, you can find prompt development guidance compiled by Summer OLE Core Assessment Workshop Teams based on their experiences scoring OLE Core artifacts and patterns observed across the years. You can also <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/assessment-committee\/example-assignment-prompts\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>browse examples of effective assignment prompts<\/strong><\/a><strong>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Become intimately familiar with the structure and components of the Intended Learning Outcome (ILO) itself. How do you (and the college) understand the operative terms of the ILO, and how do those definitions relate to your course or assignment? For example, what does it mean to \u201cexamine,\u201d \u201creflect on,\u201d or \u201ccritically interpret\u201d something in your discipline?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Students tend to produce better results when given explicit instructions about what is expected. Prompts that ask students to synthesize or reflect on a whole semester of material, for instance, are less likely to generate student work that clearly demonstrates the knowledge or skills described by the ILO.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Direct assessments of student work provide evidence of students\u2019 ability to articulate and show their learning in the class. Through direct assessment, the college is looking for evidence that students demonstrated the intended learning, not that students have been exposed to it or should have learned it over the course of all class materials\/assignments.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Choosing a component of a larger project that matches the ILO or a smaller, more targeted assignment that directly addresses the ILO can provide a more accurate estimate of students\u2019 learning.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>This does not preclude the importance of other course goals, but rather emphasizes a more intentional mapping between ILOs (OLE Core-related or otherwise) and what you are asking of students, which can help students produce higher-quality work and more readily make the connection between their assignments and what they are learning. Think about embedding the ILO somewhere in the assignment prompt to make this connection more explicit.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Make use of existing resources, both internal and external:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Consult the <a href=\"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/assessment-committee\/ole-core-rubrics\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">rubric<\/a> that will be used to score your artifacts.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Consult with department colleagues, librarians, or others with experience in academic assessment or expertise in the area being assessed to get suggestions\/examples of successful prompts and\/or feedback on your proposed prompt.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Consult <a href=\"https:\/\/celt.iastate.edu\/prepare-and-teach\/design-your-course\/blooms-taxonomy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Bloom\u2019s Taxonomy<\/a> for guidance on definitions of learning activities for assessment.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Think about the ways your assignment and the resulting student work can be used more broadly, such as in departmental assessment activities or to inform your own teaching and curriculum adjustments.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Options for prompt crafting:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Start with the ILO language and adjust it to fit your course\/assignment, using the same terminology.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Start from your assignment prompt and thread the ILO language into the prompt.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Illustrate the ways your assignment prompt components map onto the ILO components and adjust if the mapping has gaps or ambiguities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>For prompts with multiple parts and\/or multiple options:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Make clear in your instructions to artifact scorers which parts of the assignment (e.g., which questions) they should focus on for the ILO assessment.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>If students may choose between multiple prompts in your assignment, ensure that each one will address the ILO in question.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>ILO-Specific Guidance:<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Each year&#8217;s Assessment Workshop Team has also shared more targeted prompt development guidance for OLE Core ILOs where particular scoring challenges arose. Note that we had not yet implemented this process for the first couple years of OLE Core assessment (though some teams still provided specific feedback on prompts) so not all attributes are represented below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size\"><strong>Christian Theology in Dialogue<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>All CTD prompts: Consider providing options or suggestions for specific dialogue partners that fit the requirements of Christian theology and another religious tradition or form of inquiry.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>CTD ILOs 1 and 2: More strongly aligned prompts direct students to examine the way that two religious traditions or schools of thought <em>respond to each other<\/em>, incorporating specific ideas from the intellectual background or tradition of these perspectives, rather than just comparing and contrasting the points of view.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>CTD ILO 2: Ensure that the prompt explicitly asks students to discuss the specific <em>context <\/em>from which the concern(s) arise.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size\"><strong>Creativity<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>CRE ILO 1: For courses where students are producing (as opposed to analyzing) creative work, consider asking students to reflect on their creative process\/the mechanics of creation to more fully illuminate their understanding of &#8220;creativity as a dynamic process.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size\"><strong>Ethical Reasoning in Context<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>ERC ILO 1: The most effective prompts require students to compare between different perspectives and ask them to specify the relationship between these perspectives.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>ERC ILOs 1 and 2: Ensure that students understand what constitutes an \u201cethical perspective,\u201d as students often seem to view moral judgments (this is good\/bad) as equivalent to ethical perspectives.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size\"><strong>First-Year Seminar\/Writing and Rhetoric<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>FYS ILO 2: When students \u201cutilize\u201d sources in research papers or similar products, asking students to include in-text citations, rather than just a bibliography, prompts them to show how they are using these sources in context and demonstrates a deeper understanding of the material.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>FYS ILO 4\/WRR ILO 5: Ensure that you are prompting students to \u201creflect on their learning\u201d <em>and<\/em> \u201carticulate how they will apply it to their college experience\u201d by asking for examples of how they plan to apply what they learned in the future.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size\"><strong>Global Histories and Societies<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>All GHS prompts: When analyzing literary texts, ensure that students are prompted to undertake a deeper historical analysis rather than literary analysis alone; the main goals of a prompt using literary sources should be analyzing historical developments, perspectives, and contexts.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>GHS ILO 2: Effective prompts ask students to consider a specific historical event and two or more specific viewpoints on that event. Examples of the latter include viewpoints of historical actors on a historical development <strong>or <\/strong>comparison of scholarly analysis of that subject; successful prompts pose a unified approach to this analysis rather than attempting a mix of viewpoints from historical actors and scholars.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>GHS ILO 3: Effective prompts guide students to analyze a specific piece of \u201cevidence\u201d and connect it to specific contexts that demonstrate their understanding of that evidence\u2019s contextual roots. This can entail requesting the support of external scholarly citation, for example.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size\"><strong>Natural Science<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>NTS ILO 1: Effective prompts ask students to describe the type of data that they are interpreting and guide them to justify their interpretations, rather than simply asking yes\/no questions. When developing your prompt, note the different possible uses of data described in the <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/document\/d\/11JfsNyKKcEISkv6efdJU3QP3DT46TkYIQhY7EwXLJeo\/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.mj9r3wcfw2jt\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">NTS rubric<\/a>: answer a question, develop a hypothesis, or identify patterns in the natural world.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size\"><strong>OLE Experience in Practice<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>OEP ILO 1: Ensure that the prompt addresses and defines important terms such as \u201cvocation\u201d (<a href=\"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/lutherancenter\/the-lutheran-center\/vocation-at-st-olaf\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">see St. Olaf&#8217;s definition here<\/a>) so that students can accurately describe their \u201cemerging vocational and\/or academic interests.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>OEP ILO 2: Prompts should direct students to make connections between current\/prior coursework and their OEP experience, using specific examples.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size\"><strong>Power and Race<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>PAR ILO 1: Ensure that the prompt explicitly asks students to consider \u201cideas about race and ethnicity,\u201d especially if they are primarily addressing concepts that may be more tangentially related to these ideas (e.g., immigration).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>PAR ILO 2: Consider what \u201cculture\u201d and \u201ccultural differences\u201d mean in the context of your course.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>PAR ILO 4: Attend to the ways that your prompt asks students to critically reflect on their own experiences and identity, rather than what they may have learned in the course more generally.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size\"><strong>Quantitative and Computational Reasoning<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>QCR ILOs 1 and 3: Ensure you are attending carefully to the distinction between ILO 1 (<strong>interpreting <\/strong>an analysis) and ILO 3 (<strong>critiquing\/evaluating<\/strong> <strong>different interpretations<\/strong> of analyses)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>QCR ILO 2: Prompts should not prescribe a specific approach to solving the problem but rather ask students to identify the appropriate steps and\/or analytical method.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size\"><strong>Religion, Faith, and Values<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>RFV ILOs 2 and 3: Note the nuances between &#8220;how religious life shapes the world&#8221; vs. &#8220;how the world shapes religious life&#8221; and ensure your assignment prompt specifies the intended directionality.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size\"><strong>World Languages and Cultures<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>All WLC prompts: If the prompt refers to a source covered in class (and the actual content of the source(s), not just the use of language, is relevant), including references to those sources and ideally a summary of the most important aspects will greatly assist scorers in assessing the artifacts. This is particularly relevant to ILO 1, where students need to demonstrate understanding of materials.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>WLC ILO 3: Ensure that the prompt asks students to talk about their own experiences\/perspectives in addition to those of other &#8220;users of the language studied.&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>WLC ILO 4:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>For modern language prompts: If a certain tone or style of writing is required, this should be included in the prompt. Moreover, the instructions for summer scorers should point out specific aspects (e.g. terminology or grammatical constructs) to pay attention to during scoring.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>For ancient language prompts: Ensure that the prompt is explicit about the linguistic and\/or cultural features that students should address in their explanation or analysis of the language. Again, for scoring it would be helpful to outline the expected answers in the rationale.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size\"><strong>Writing Across the Curriculum<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>WAC ILO 1: Effective prompts clearly define the \u201cparticular disciplinary or interdisciplinary perspective\u201d used in the assignment and explain how this should frame students&#8217; approach to analysis of the text(s) (e.g., which sources are appropriate, whether the writing can be an opinion piece, etc).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>WAC ILO 2: Effective prompts explicitly mention the intended audience(s) and provide examples of techniques that could be applied in order to address the audience(s) appropriately.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Below, you can find prompt development guidance compiled by Summer OLE Core Assessment Workshop Teams based on their experiences scoring OLE Core artifacts and patterns observed across the years. You [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2679,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-760","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/assessment-committee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/assessment-committee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/assessment-committee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/assessment-committee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2679"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/assessment-committee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=760"}],"version-history":[{"count":68,"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/assessment-committee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/760\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1729,"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/assessment-committee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/760\/revisions\/1729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/assessment-committee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}