Moving Higher Education Grading Forward

It all started when…

…I stumbled upon @teachingisintellectual on Instagram. As an early career millennial, a lot of my scrolling tends to be career-related. And, you know what? I’m not ashamed to say that social media like IG, twitter, and yes, even TikTok has improved my teaching 10-fold. We live in an era in which we want our information in short, digestible bursts. Anyway, lets get to the point. Jen Netwon, from Teaching is Intellectual kept posting about ungrading and its value in her courses. I became intrigued and started to go down that rabbit hole. I read Jesse’s Stommel’s take on Compassionate Grading and really felt called to try to put some of their ideas into action. So, this past semester, in my first go-round with teaching 150 undergraduates (remotely, too) at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, I thought, why not just dive right into the deep end. SO, I implemented my own version of Ungrading.

It was BUMPY.

And, I learned a lot. I tried to do ungrading as purely as possible.

  • I tried to go completely letter gradeless. No points. No letters.

  • I tried to give rich, iterative feedback quickly.

  • I tried having flexible deadlines.

  • I tried student conferencing, rubrics, and self & peer assessment.

  • I tried being transparent about my ideas, practices, and my own mistakes.

  • I tried centering content and process over points.

Some of it worked, and some of it just really didn’t. What I learned was that I dove in TOO QUICKLY for students. The “grading rug” got pulled right from under them without much preparation. Ungrading was causing some of them anxiety (even when I gave them opportunities to ask about letter grades). Some of them were so turned off by the phrasing ungrading that they hardly gave the system a chance. And, some of them, really were excited and dove all in with me.

I found the uber flexible grading to be challenging. I love to give great feedback. However, my TA’s and I struggled with having to double back with feedback on assignments that were assessed weeks in the past. Cleaning up the gradebook became really arduous, too. Knowing who was and wasn’t making progress without a clear cut system was hard to keep track of.

“ ...was actually causing some barriers to learning. ”

While it worked out in the end, many of my students expressed wanting a system that they were familiar with. EVEN if that system isn’t what’s best for learning. So my biggest lesson was that while I was trying to create an equitable and accessible method of assessment, the way I was ungrading was actually causing some barriers to learning.

 
info graphic on universally designed grading
 

Video Explanation of Universally Designed Grading

So what is Universally Designed Grading?

The Bridge from Ungrading to Universally Designed Grading

So, (perhaps an unpopular opinion), I don’t think the word “grading” is the worst thing on the planet. Grading was partially designed as a communication tool from institution to institution so we could have a quick way of understanding student achievement. It has its share of flaws, we know this. However, I don’t think we need to throw it ALL out. Instead, we can approach it differently. Hence, UDG. UDG is my system of providing students with grades in a way that aligns with my values. I predominantly focus on growth through feedback and an interactive process of practice informed by my students, their peers, and myself. We are constantly engaging with content, attempting to apply our knowledge, and provided feedback on those attempts. This process involves all of us. We ALL are talking about our progress. If I want them to be vulnerable in their learning, I need to model that too. If I want grace to mess up sometimes, I need to give it. You get the point. So…UDG:

-> Uses self, peer, and instructor assessment.

-> Centers content and process over grades and points.

-> Provides student assignment expectations on day 1.

-> Outcomes and engagement focused.

-> Flexible assignment deadlines with feedback checkpoints.

-> Less paperwork snowballing by using feedback cutoffs.

-> Bridges to the traditional grading system by posting letter grades 3 times a semester.

I’m better at explaining the above ideas using my voice, so if you're interested in hearing more about how I’m hoping to do this, check out my video below. This is just a clip from my course introduction video to students. Also, I’m linking my syllabus here—so you can see how I present these ideas to my students in text.

Finally, I try to use the principles of Universally Designed Instruction (UDI) in my course design. When I can, I offer choice and multiple methods for assessment, content representation, and student engagement. That might not be super clear on the linked syllabus as this doctoral course has prescribed products. But, if you want to see how I’ve done UDI in the past with undergrads, check out this syllabus (just remember, I didn’t quite have my grading philosophy down pat yet).

I’m hopeful that UDG will provide my students with all the benefits of ungrading, while not shoving them into the deep end of the pool with me. I’m convinced that the best way to change minds about new, effective practices is by doing it a bit more slowly.

Also, since I’m putting myself out here, please be gentle, k? Thanks.