One of what will be many blog posts on ungrading
GPA as the measure of all things
When I was a fourth-year undergraduate, I was doing the annual trek through the bookstore for my stack of required textbooks (which I haven't made my students do for at least 5 years, though that's another blog post). I saw this image on a greeting card (on offer in the campus bookstore, wtf) and became motionless, speechless, and basically my whole life and purpose for the last 15 years became meaningless. Are you F-ing kidding me? No one cares? The nights I stayed in to study, the Sundays I spent in the library -- no one cares?
Ya, but...
Okay so some people care what my GPA was. The admissions folk at the grad schools that I went to, presumably. My parents, because it gave them something to brag about. And sadly I did, because it was the most tangible measure of my academic success. Was I having fun as an undergrad? Can't be measured. Was I part of campus life? Can't be measured. Was I eating properly, sleeping, making friends, doing stupid stuff that undergrads should do? Can't be measured. So, because of this inability to measure such essential things in university life, I felt like they didn't matter. Because of course the traditional idea of academic "success" can be measured -- by GPA. So I sacrificed much of that "life" stuff for the "gpa" stuff because it was all that could be measured, supported, or quantified.
Why ungrading?
Last semester I taught a course that was offered to all students in our Faculty (not just the Communication and Digital Media Studies students in the program in which I am housed). What I noticed is that I spent TONS of time giving feedback, together with a grade based on a carefully constructed and clearly communicated rubric. And I realized that students cared less about the feedback and more about the grade. It started to feel like I could give students an A+ and tell them that this was the worst piece of academic drivel ever to be submitted on earth and they'd be cool with that, because no one sees the feedback -- all anyone (besides them) ever sees is the grade. And so that's what mattered.
The language of grades
It occurred to me that grades are fear-based. Students submit an assignment, and hope that they get a reward of a "good" grade. They fear failure, getting it wrong, or the instructor not understanding what they wanted to do. A grade can often be punitive -- points off for not doing this or that. And that is not at all the climate that I wanted in my classes.
What about progress?
In one class that I teach, students submit weekly comments/thoughts/reflections on the course readings. Many students struggle with writing, and with the extensive feedback that I give (without a TA and without the course being officially "writing intensive" -- another blog post, obv), they improve. Often significantly. As in, gigantic progress. But consider this. That massively improved student got Ds and Cs at the start of term, and with my coaching, ends up with consistent As and Bs by the end of the term. The average would be somewhere in the C+/B- range by end of term once the math is done. So that student is essentially punished for their lack of knowledge at the start of term, and the final grade doesn't reflect how much the student learned and grew throughout the semester.
What about the transcript?
My classes are not at all lectures and all about activities (I know, I know, another blog post on that coming soon). This term, in one of my fourth-year courses, the entire course is ungraded. (I've put the syllabus below.) But at the end of semester, I have to give students a grade because alas my university is not bucking the trend of not giving grades at all (now wouldn't that be a great bandwagon to jump on, and I'm driving it at this place!).
In this course, at the end of term, students will grade themselves, and more on that later. But here's the deal at the moment: All semester, students have received extensive feedback, lots of coaching, invitations to chat, and no grades. Wanna know who has complained?
NO ONE.
Not one person. Not one student. Not one TA. Not one professor. Not even anyone's dog. We are halfway through term and so far I will call it a raging success.
One of my "ungraded" syllabi is below -- click to download. I'd also suggest following Jesse Stommel via @jessifer and Clarissa Sorensen-Unruh via @RissaChem for inspiring info on ungrading.
More to come soon on ungrading, why, and lots more on how.
In this course, at the end of term, students will grade themselves, and more on that later. But here's the deal at the moment: All semester, students have received extensive feedback, lots of coaching, invitations to chat, and no grades. Wanna know who has complained?
NO ONE.
Not one person. Not one student. Not one TA. Not one professor. Not even anyone's dog. We are halfway through term and so far I will call it a raging success.
One of my "ungraded" syllabi is below -- click to download. I'd also suggest following Jesse Stommel via @jessifer and Clarissa Sorensen-Unruh via @RissaChem for inspiring info on ungrading.
More to come soon on ungrading, why, and lots more on how.
| nvc_syllabus_winter_2020.pdf |
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