On alt grading research, justice and equity, and liking student writing

One week of David's uncensored thoughts about grading

Insights from a survey at the University of Colorado Denver

Ungrading is an emancipatory pedagogy that focuses on evaluative assessment of learning. Self-regulated learning (SRL) has consistently been referred to as the learning theory that undergirds ungrading, but SRL—with its deficit frame in the literature and in practice—fails to uphold ungrading’s emancipatory aims. An asset-framed learning theory—one that combines the cultural orientation of funds of knowledge with the power dynamics of community cultural wealth—is proposed as an alternative to SRL. The proposed learning theory aligns ungrading to its emancipatory aims and may provide an opportunity to better understand the learning that occurs in ungraded classrooms. Scholarly and practical impacts for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), and specifically biology, educational research and practice include investigating the plausibility of mixing learning theories, aligning learning theory to emancipatory aims and researching how faculty activate funds of knowledge and community cultural wealth, both individually and collectively, in ungraded STEM classrooms.

Changes I’ve made to my ungrading practice for fall 2023

What do students say about alternative grading?

Wait, what am I being accused of now?

Excerpt: On being invited to write something informative or evocative. I really couldn't resist the temptation to be a little provocative and return to a theme that I have touched on before (Rust, 2007), and is a particular bête noir of mine. Although I have to admit that, given I have no reason to believe that what I wrote previously has had any discernable impact, there is a slight sense of futility even as...

Some unsolicited suggestions for the ungrading community to start 2023.

Teaching

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I’ve come to see #ungrading as something more like a spectrum that’s moving away from traditional event-based grading. Things like SBG are a step towards something better, but there's further to go. I think most ungraders do some combination of pieces on this spectrum 2/3 pic.twitter.com/2ag6vlhAUq— Chris Sarkonak (@CSarkonak) September 3, 2022

A MYFest Space for Connecting and Sharing

Grading is simply the default. Why?

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“@karenraycosta This is why we came up with Self Mapped Learning Pathways - it doesn’t have to be either/or. But people that were very focused on ungrading didn’t understand the need for the structured side of the idea. People with a strong focus on equity got it.”

“I've been noticing some storm clouds on the horizon for ungrading related to equity. We need to think about the students who need more structure in order to succeed. I think the research on structured active learning would really benefit those of us who use this model. 1/x”

“OK, so my article this morning on #ungrading is generating a lot of questions. Because I love you all, I will take a break from my Lenten social media fast for one hour to do an AMA. Ready, set, go.”

Research shows that grades are often not a good reflection of student learning and growth, and that being graded can be stressful for students. In addition, many traditional grading practices ...

Spicy takes from Benjamin Bloom

My dissertation on #ungrading as an example of teaching development in online, social spaces is web-ready. I will be working on smaller pieces in the coming months (especially for @dbuckedu's pressbook), but for now I wanted get this out into the world. https://t.co/EkvS63tI6a

Call it pass-fail-plus.

Our current grading system can be a way for kids to prove themselves and win college scholarships, or admission to selective colleges. It can also be a barrier, in sometimes surprising ways. What migh

Over the past semester or two, as COVID has been disrupting most parts of our lives, I’ve been thinking more about teaching, learning, and assessment in my classes. This is more than just an opportunity to modify my practice when things go sideways. I think this pandemic has given us an opportunity to think deeply... Continue reading →

IntroductionI recently offered a series of "small things you can do tomorrow to start ungrading." I’ve never been a fan of best practices. In Teaching to Transgress, bell hooks writes about bringing our full selves to the classroom, and creating space for students to bring their full selves. This

Just getting rolling(already a day behind! argh!) in a week-long @BCcampus FLO Micro-course on Alternative & Authentic Assessment with @NickiRehn and @olaoluadeleye. I'll use this thread to drop in stuff about what I learn throughout the week!

A third edition to our series of long-form conversations featuring SASN faculty, students and staff where we open up the floor on courses, topics, and collab...