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| Last Thursday, Hoda Yousef rounded out 3 years of rich Teaching Matters programming with her final topic: “How Are We Grading Now?” The discussion provided a bounty of thoughtful ideas about alternative grading approaches that work for our Denison students. Emily Nemeth (EDUC/QS/BS) started us off with a reminder of the Four Pillars: clearly defined standards, helpful feedback, marks that indicate progress (vs “absolute” grades) and reattempts without penalty. Emily talked us through how she focuses her courses on clearly defined standards, which includes ensuring that the standards for each individual assignment connect directly to the aspirational learning goals of the course so that students can identify the progress they are making through the semester. Rebecca Kennedy (AGRS) emphasized the fact that which mode of alternative grading she selects depends on the learning goals of a particular assignment or course and explained that AGRS has created a standardized departmental rubric for their writing courses that clarifies grading and feedback practices for both faculty and students.
Julia Kolchinsky (ENGL/QS) explained that she has adopted alternative grading practices based on two goals: encouraging students’ experimentation and exploration in their thinking and writing and fostering their ownership of their own work and ideas. To that end, she emphasizes completion grades and revision during the semester, and she takes student reflections into account when assigning midterm engagement grades. Formal grading on written work comes at the end of the semester with their final portfolios. Finally, Lew Ludwig (MATH) explained that he is focused on getting students to think about the things that they aren’t understanding in their course material, so he has adopted a process that encourages them to rework and resubmit assessments until they have achieved mastery level in each of the learning standards for his course. These four examples prompted lots of questions and discussions about the challenges of structuring our courses and grading practices in ways that most effectively encourage academic and intellectual growth. You can find helpful materials and examples from our presenters here. Please feel free to reach out to them or to the CfLT for further resources or with questions! |