Ungrading: Strategies and Insights

Grades and grading can be frustrating and stressful for students and instructors alike. No matter how much we might emphasize the inherent value of learning, the numbers or letters we end up assigning to student work often become the primary focus for student motivation, achievement, recognition, or disagreement between students and instructors. Grades are also the chief means by which student success is often measured, with very high stakes for student finances, wellbeing, and equity. Can we imagine other approaches to assessment that might help shift away from so much focus on grades and back to learning?   

Some instructors are adopting the approach of “ungrading,” which decenters assigning a grade to student work and focuses on feedback and support of the learning process. What would it be like to assess student work in this way, without use of grades? And how does such an approach translate into the letter grade the university requires at the end of the course? 

In this workshop we’ll consider briefly the philosophy of ungrading and then turn to learning from colleagues Katie Lynch, David Purucker, and Timothy Williams, who have tried ungrading in their courses – small and large – and will share examples, practical tips, lessons learned, and insights for moving forward with an ungrading approach.   

Workshop Materials

View the session recording (use this passcode: =^gKo.t4)

 

Panelist Materials

Katie Lynch's syllabus can be viewed here.

Katie Lynch's slides can be viewed here.

David Purucker's syllabus can be viewed here (small class) and also here (large class).

David Purucker's slides can be viewed here. 

Tim Williams's syllabus can be viewed here.

Additional Resources

Alfie Kohn's foundation article, "The Case Against Grades"

Jesse Stommel's various blog articles on ungrading

Susan D. Blum (ed.) anthology, Ungrading: Why Rating Students Undermines Learning (and What to Do Instead)