Getting Students to Care: Awareness Ads

Although “significant learning” certainly has some cognitive dimensions to it, Dr. L. Dee Fink (2003) suggests that caring is another important dimension of significant learning. One aspect of caring is getting excited about or invested in a topic.

There are many ways to approach this learning goal of getting students keenly interested in a subject; one assessment method that can help is asking students to create an “Issue Awareness Ad” (Barkley & Major, 2016). 

If your course addresses topics that the public could use better awareness about (now, or perhaps even historically), consider asking students to first review real issue awareness ads. For added depth, see if students can generate the key elements of an effective ad from those they examine, and together create or contribute to an assessment rubric using this information. Then, in groups or individually, students create their own awareness ad - on an issue of their choice from your course, or one you assign.

Because such ads tend to have limited text, consider also requiring students to attach a reasoned rationale, using course material for support, explaining why they selected the text, tagline(s), and/or images used in their ads.

Barkley, E. F., & Major, C. H. (2016). Learning assessment techniques: A handbook for college faculty. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Fink, L. D. (2003). Creating significant learning experiences: An integrated approach to designing college courses. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.