Scaffolding Assessments for Student Success

In this episode of the Prof Talk Pod, Becky Achen and Katie Metz revisit scaffolding as a core teaching strategy, focusing on how to build students toward learning outcomes by providing more support early and gradually increasing autonomy. They discuss a workshop framing scaffolding alongside AI use, emphasizing what students must master independently versus where AI can serve as a thought partner, while noting equity differences between paid and free tools. Katie shares her federal tax course design using short pre-class videos, low-stakes checkpoints, in-class practice problems, team activities, and module conclusions that combine terminology checks with application cases. Becky shares redesigning a marketing course from exams to three scaffolded unit assessments that progress from recognizing concepts in daily life to applying target audience ideas to analyzing and improving strategy. They emphasize formative repetition, reflection, and “see it before you do it.”