Students’ first introduction to their disciplines are often in large-enrollment courses, creating unique challenges for establishing and fostering a sense of identity and belonging. This presentation explores a reflective writing assignment built around the idea of belonging through practice, in which students engage in authentic conversations about biology with non-scientists by responding to real misconceptions they encounter outside the classroom.
The presentation will demonstrate how Canvas can be used to implement this assignment at scale in a genetics course with more than 400 students, including using differentiated assignments to provide identity framing to student groups (and the potential impacts of this framing). The presentation will also highlight practical strategies for managing implementation and feedback in large courses.
The presentation will also discuss how assignment design around authentic audiences, individual voice, and applicable skills can increase student buy-in and encourage more authentic student work in the age of AI. Viewers will leave with ideas for adapting similar Canvas-supported reflective assignments to their own disciplines.
