Progressive project assignment

Definition

• Progressive project assignment is an instructional design model or method of designind projects that are challenging and attainable for each student in a class.

Robert Leeper (1989) invented a “design for projects in computer courses that tends to enable all students in the class to achieve their maximum potential. Each project is structured at three progressive levels of difficulty corresponding to three prospective grades A, B, and C. The B-level is an extension of the C-level and the Alevel is an extension of the B-level. Each student starts at the C-level and progresses as far as possible and is scored accordingly” (Leeper, 1989, 88).

Architecture

Each assignment has three parts:

• Each project has a core part that includes all the principles the project intents to convey and each student is expected to complete this part. A correct project gets a 'C' (US grading)

• A second part extens the project and requires a significant effort from students who elect to aim higher than 'C'. Students who correctly finish this 'B' part and the 'C' part will get a 'B'.

• Same principle for a third 'A' part

It is important that projects are progressive. Otherwise, some weaker students may select 'A' and then get stuck, which will lead to an 'F' (failure).

Evaluation

There are two steps:

1. Evaluation of each project type (A,B,C) is made with an appropriate grid.
2. The result is then multiplied with a "level factor".

E.g. on a scale from 0 to 20 points:

18-20 = A
16-17 = B
14-15 = C
12-13 = D

Level factors:

A = 20/20
B = 17/20
C = 15/20

Evaluation example

Here is an example presented by Leeper (1989: 90) for teaching a computer class.

The grading system is patterened after Linda Rising (1987):

• Correctness
• Design
• Style
• Documentation
• Efficiency

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Discussion

Leeper resports that this method resulted in significantly fewer "A" and "F" grades and significantly more "B", "C" and "D" grades. This result should interest many teachers since the idea is to leave as few students as possible behind but also to set high challenges for the best.

References

Leeper, R. 1989. Progressive project assignments in computer courses. SIGCSE Bull. 21, 1 (Feb. 1989), 88-92. Abstract / PDF (Access restricted)

Linda Rising, (1987). Teaching documentation and style in Pascal, ACM SIGCSE Bulletin, v.19 n.3, p.8-9, September 1, 1987 Abstract / PDF