grading

The debate about whether grades help or hinder student learning is as old as the U.S. grading system itself.

Some unsolicited suggestions for the ungrading community to start 2023.

Powerful possibilities open up when considering how we might embrace strategies that reduce anxiety, increase transparency, encourage consistently meaningful learning, and therefore foster educational justice.

What did that word mean, again?!

Separating grades (values, numbers, percentages, levels, letters) from feedback (verbal or written comments, directions on where to improve, outlining strengths, suggestions for next steps) is the …

What I'm changing, and what I'm aiming for in 2023

Reflecting on arbitrary limits in our classes

When I redesigned the curriculum for my Introductory Biology course, I wanted my grading policy to improve equity in learning and equity in grading . To do this, I implemented three unique grading strategies – here’s how it went. Multiple Grading Schemes I’ve used Multiple Grading Schemes in

Keeping the workload manageable for instructors and students

How can our grading practices remain true to who we are as teachers, while balancing institutional constraints & respecting the role of evaluation in helping students develop as learners?

What does an A, B, C, or D really mean in terms of student learning? Grades are overly emphasized in the assessment of student learning. Instructors give agonizing attention to decisions about how …

How to downsize the footprint of your course to give students time to breathe.

David Clark discusses arbitrary limits in our classes on episode 443 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast

Extricating ourselves from A-F grading scales requires an inclusive, big tent approach in which we de-emphasise grades in a way that best fits our individual contexts

Episode 132: Ungrading: Re-Thinking Teaching, Learning, and Assessment in Higher Education

A mathematician’s thoughts about numbers

Five methods for handling plus/minus grades in an alternative system.

High-stakes “weed-out” classes like Organic Chemistry are relics of an age when college students were much more uniformly privileged.

Gatekeeper courses contribute to the diversity challenges chemistry faces. Some professors and institutions are working to change the narrative from one of gatekeepers to one of gateways

How to set up a spreadsheet to record your alternative grades

There’s a growing movement to stop assigning conventional A through F letter grades to first-year college students with the purpose of easing the transition to higher education — especially for those who are the first in their families to go to college or weren’t prepared for college-level work.

Grading is time-consuming and anxiety-producing. Specs grading allows instructors to focus on quality feedback while making assignment expectations clearer - and less stressful - for students.

Won't students always give themselves an A?