Effectively Communicating the Written Assignment Brief: Comprehensiveness and Conciseness.

As a key aspect of higher education programmes, assessment is both unavoidable and complex. Students must be assessment literate to achieve high grades. This paper will discuss a key finding from a Ph.D. study that set out to explore how written assignment briefs affect students' understanding of the requirements of assessment, and students' potential to perform effectively. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the written word was the dominant mode of communicating assessment and for distance education students, it was potentially the sole form of communication. For online programmes, reliance on the written assignment brief is significant. While the impact of COVID-19 on the future of higher education is unclear, higher education institutions may continue to offer an online option, or retain some online elements; thus signalling the continued prevalence of written briefs. With a dearth of research focusing on the design stage of the written assignment brief, this Ph.D. set out to determine how the assignment brief influences effective communication. Consisting of three phases, this mixed-methods study combined quantitative and qualitative data gathered across three semesters (spring 2016, autumn 2016, and spring 2017). Following the University's assignment regulations, Hughes' Assessment Task Design (2009) framework, and Gilbert and Maguire's Assignment Brief Guidelines (2014), the researcher worked with four academics (one from each of the four faculties in the University) to design their assignment briefs. The third phase involved conducting focus groups with students and interviews with academics to discuss their experiences of the effectiveness of these briefs. This paper will examine the impact of one of the key findings: the need for comprehensive yet concise assignment briefs, and its relevance to planning an assessment strategy. This paper will recommend a potential solution to balance the tension of providing detailed assignment briefs while maintaining conciseness. The findings will be valuable to academics and instructional designers involved in designing assessment documentation or planning an assessment strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]