This exam allows for both personal and intellectual responses to the course, grounds readings in experience, and encourages dialogue and diversity. Students are to write about their participation in an outside activity related to the course. Possibilities might include participation in campus events or volunteering at a community organization that is based in women's issues. This assignment forges a connection between the classroom and activism. As the paper would both summarize and critique the experience in relation to class readings, it thus creates its own cross-methodology.
Students are to challenge a mode of oppression and write about their experience doing so.
This challenge could take the form of a talk with a friend about homophobia, date rape, sexism, etcetera. This assignment helps students to see how their lives relate to the class, as well as connecting the classroom with action.