Developing lifelong skills with active learning design
The Texas A&M University School of Public Health is committed to transforming health through interdisciplinary inquiry, innovative solutions, and the development of leaders through the Aggie tradition of service to engage diverse communities worldwide. Founded in 1998 as the first public health school in the nation with a focus on rural and underserved communities, the School of Public Health developed into a nationally ranked, fully accredited public health academic, research, and service program
Patricia Luna is the Director of Academic Technology at Texas A&M University School of Public Health. Here she is responsible for building a vision and strategic plan for ongoing faculty development and student success in technology-enhanced pedagogy. She also designs and deploys systems to support the integration of technology resources in learning, teaching, and research activities, at the same time facilitating faculty technology development and support distance learning needs of the University community.
The Texas A&M University School of Public Health is committed to transforming health through interdisciplinary inquiry, innovative solutions, and the development of leaders through the Aggie tradition of service to engage diverse communities worldwide. Founded in 1998 as the first public health school in the nation with a focus on rural and underserved communities, the School of Public Health developed into a nationally ranked, fully accredited public health academic, research, and service program
Patricia Luna is the Director of Academic Technology at Texas A&M University School of Public Health. Here she is responsible for building a vision and strategic plan for ongoing faculty development and student success in technology-enhanced pedagogy. She also designs and deploys systems to support the integration of technology resources in learning, teaching, and research activities, at the same time facilitating faculty technology development and support distance learning needs of the University community.
Context
Following a successful pilot, TAMU Health embarked on a campus-wide adoption of the FeedbackFruits tool suite. What followed was a series of course-level transformations, each one designed to meet a distinct pedagogical need, and together building a cohesive culture of authentic assessment, active learning, and skills development.
How Texas A&M University School of Public Health scaled authentic assessment with the Feedback & Assessment solution
With over 3,000 students across undergraduate, graduate, and executive programs, the Texas A&M University School of Public Health (TAMU Health) is dedicated to transforming public health through interdisciplinary inquiry and innovative education. Guided by the Aggie tradition of service, the school prepares students to address real-world health challenges through collaboration and community engagement.
Recognizing the value of authentic assessment in building real-life skills, autonomy, and reflection, faculty have long sought to create a more personalized and inclusive learning environment. With the rise of AI and mixed-modality education, this approach has become even more essential to sustaining engagement and academic integrity.
To meet these challenges, Patricia Luna, Director of Academic Technology, led an initiative to reimagine assessment and feedback, aiming to create scalable, feedback-driven learning experiences that foster collaboration and critical thinking, while reducing administrative workload for faculty.
To support this vision, TAMU Health implemented several learning activities as part of the Feedback & Assessment solution, designed designed to structure, deliver, and scale authentic assessment, aligned with learning outcomes. By combining Peer Review Self-Assessment, Automated Feedback, and Competency-based Evaluation in one cohesive system, these activities helped faculty align pedagogy with practice and deliver more meaningful learning experiences.
Campus-wide pilot overview
In Spring 2023, TAMU Health and the Office of Interprofessional Education (IPE) conducted a pilot to integrate feedback and assessment across multiple schools.
Scope and reach
- 87 learning activities created
- 8 online IPE modules delivered
- 1,331 students actively participating
- 15,000+ peer review comments and 66,000+ ratings generated
Faculty reported reduced administrative time and greater consistency in assessment, while students appreciated the structured opportunities for feedback and reflection.
“I enjoyed the various learning methods…and I feel these learning experiences will certainly help me in my professional career.”
“FeedbackFruits has unique tools, that’s why we choose them to help us elevate the teaching and learning experience at the School of Public Health… FeedbackFruits is the only company that has a TBL tool that integrates with Canvas and that makes a lot of difference because we just want to make things easier for faculty to sync groups with just one click.”
Patricia Luna, Director of Academic Technology at Texas A&M University School of Public Health
These outcomes illustrate the impact of active learning design in achieving three institutional priorities:
- Reducing faculty workload through automation and efficiency
- Ensuring consistency and quality in feedback and assessment
- Supporting lifelong learning through reflection and collaboration
Such results also align with the broader institutional goals of reducing instructor workload and measuring the impact of authentic assessment to drive continuous improvement across programs.
How TAMU Health implemented effective authentic assessment with FeedbackFruits
Use case 1: Critical writing in Public Health (PHEO 650)
In the Public Health writing course (PHEO 650), the instructor wanted to enhance students’ academic writing, critical reflection, and feedback literacy while managing large groups efficiently.
Pedagogical goal
Promote critical thinking and academic writing through authentic feedback cycles that encourage reflection and improvement.
Learning activity design
Students submitted their first drafts for instant automated feedback before entering a peer review phase and then final submission. The design aimed to provide individualized and timely feedback to help students refine their academic writing.
FeedbackFruits solutions used
Impact
The use of both tools helped instructors save time in design and feedback delivery while allowing students to engage deeply with their learning.
“We have a lot of international students and they were very grateful that they were using these tools. It gave them a lot of feedback, to review citation styles.”
Students’ final submissions showed clear improvement in structure and information presentation, which could be tracked through the FeedbackFruits analytics dashboard. Learning analytics can transform decision-making in higher education, offering actionable insights to enhance student success.
Use case 2: Digitalize Team-based learning for an online IPE course
In the Interprofessional Education (IPE) program, more than 400 students and 70 faculty from five schools (Public Health, Dentistry, Nursing, Pharmacy, and Medicine) collaborate to develop communication and teamwork skills. Facilitating such large-scale, fully online team-based learning (TBL) presented coordination challenges.
Pedagogical goal
Foster collaboration and problem-solving through digitalized, structured team-based learning that encourages active participation and peer evaluation.
Learning activity design
The teaching team implemented all phases of Team-Based Learning (TBL)—from preparation and quizzes to group applications and peer evaluations, entirely online using integrated FeedbackFruits solutions. This streamlined the entire process, as instructors no longer had to manually grade the iRAT and tRAT or enter scores into spreadsheets. With FeedbackFruits, quizzes were automatically scored and synced with the Canvas Gradebook, allowing instructors to save valuable time for writing, research, and other academic tasks.
FeedbackFruits solutions used
Impact
Automation simplified grading, group synchronization, and feedback collection.
“All the tools have a similar user experience. Once you are familiar with one assignment, the rest of the tools have the same layout. It is very easy for faculty and students to set up and complete the FeedbackFruits activities.”
Students appreciated the structure and interaction:
“It [Team Based Learning Tool] gets the conversation going, and gives the student the areas where they would need to think and talk about. The iRAT and tRAT helped a lot!”
Faculty noted how the tools enhanced collaboration and accountability, while analytics provided insights into team performance.
Use case 3: Promote asynchronous engagement in the Global Environment Health course
Instructors in the Global Environmental Health course wanted to motivate students to engage more actively with preparatory materials and make the learning experience inclusive and interactive.
Pedagogical goal
Stimulate meaningful asynchronous engagement, accessibility, and collaboration among students through interactive study materials.
Learning activity design
Videos and readings were enriched with embedded questions and discussion prompts, allowing students to respond, ask questions, and reflect directly within the materials.
FeedbackFruits solutions used
Impact
The activity encouraged interaction and exchange of perspectives, resulting in 713 participants giving 1,773 comments.
“The reading and discussion were in one place, so students didn’t have to go read the article in a separate platform and then go back to the discussion. This is good for online students because they feel like they are interacting with their peers even though they don’t know each other.”
This design created an accessible and community-driven space for learning and reflection.
Use case 4: Provide personalized and skills-oriented feedback in a Risk Management course
Instructors sought to improve the quality and efficiency of personalized feedback in the Risk Management course, as existing tools like SpeedGrader on Canvas were time-consuming and limited.
Pedagogical goal
Offer continuous, competency-based feedback that supports student growth while simplifying the grading workflow.
Learning activity design
Instructors used rubric-linked criteria to provide inline, personalized feedback and assigned points to encourage students to read and reflect on the feedback they received.
FeedbackFruits solutions used
Impact
The faculty praised the ability to provide consistent, rubric-aligned feedback and save time.
“When you give feedback, everything that you review ties in with the feedback rubric. That was very powerful for the faculty.”
This approach supported a culture of continuous learning and accountability while ensuring feedback remained focused on skill development.
Use case 5: Nurture problem-solving skills with real-world scenarios in IPE courses
In an Ethics in Health Profession course, instructors wanted students to apply theoretical knowledge to real-world ethical dilemmas and practice giving constructive feedback.
Pedagogical goal
Develop critical thinking, ethical reasoning, and feedback literacy through authentic, applied learning experiences.
Learning activity design
Students created video presentations proposing solutions to ethical case studies and provided structured peer feedback on specific sections using shared rubrics.
FeedbackFruits solutions used
Impact
The use of these tools helped students demonstrate their understanding and practice professional communication.
“It [Peer Review tool] helped students get familiar with the process of giving and receiving feedback, something that they will need to do in their future work.”
This authentic assessment design promoted feedback, collaboration, and critical problem-solving—skills vital to students’ professional growth.
Results and institutional impact
The impact of TAMU Health’s initiative was both measurable and transformative. Across all use cases:
- 1,331 students actively participated in peer and self-assessment
- Over 15,000 peer comments and 66,000 ratings were exchanged
- 87 structured learning activities were implemented across disciplines
- Faculty experienced notable reductions in grading workload and gains in assessment consistency
- Students developed stronger habits of reflection, collaboration, and critical thinking
These results highlight how the learning activities, now part of the Feedback & Assessment solution packlage, enabled TAMU Health to scale authentic assessment while maintaining quality and engagement.
Through intentional pedagogical design and a commitment to innovation, the Texas A&M University School of Public Health successfully scaled authentic assessment across disciplines, continuing its mission to prepare leaders who can address complex, real-world health challenges.
This shift empowered instructors to focus on mentorship and student growth, while learning experiences became more engaging, reflective, and skill-oriented. Students strengthened their ability to think critically, communicate effectively, and apply their knowledge in real-world contexts, developing the lifelong learning skills essential for their professional success.
The measurable gains in engagement, feedback quality, and workload efficiency achieved at TAMU Health demonstrate how thoughtful learning design can create lasting institutional impact. These outcomes align with the broader goals of reducing instructor workload and enhancing educational value, providing a clear model for other institutions committed to measuring the impact of authentic assessment and demonstrating meaningful return on innovation.
Want to dive deeper into authentic assessment?
Texas A&M University’s journey with FeedbackFruits was also featured in Instructure webinar, where Patricia Luna (Director of Academic Technology, Texas A&M University) and Cole Groom (Product Marketing Manager, FeedbackFruits) explored how authentic assessment empowers students and streamlines faculty workflows.
Explore more
Assessment of learning outcomes
Notable outcomes
Possible variation
.avif)
.avif)
