Alternative Grading Strategies · 2020-07-20 · Alternative Grading Strategies New Approaches to Save Time and Customize Your Course Center for Teaching Excellence Diana Ashe, Matthew

Alternative Grading StrategiesNew Approaches to Save Time

and Customize Your Course

Center for Teaching ExcellenceDiana Ashe, Matthew TenHuisen, & Colleen Reilly

• Overview of strategies for more effective grading and feedback

• Four grading strategies to consider• Criterion-referenced grading

• Specifications grading• Contract grading• Ungrading

Our plan for this session:

Overview of gradingstrategies

Feedback and frequency• “Frequent, low-stakes testing is better than infrequent, high-

stakes testing.”• “Feedback is better than no feedback.”• “Low-stakes, frequent testing with feedback helps students

think more intentionally about their own learning.” • “Design questions that can move students to higher-order

thinking.” • “Break large assignments or exams into smaller pieces.”

--from “Less is More: Low-Stakes Assessments and Student Success,” Steve Volk, Oberlin College. http://languages.oberlin.edu/blogs/ctie/2018/04/15/less-is-more-low-stakes-assessments-and-student-success/

Grading and Feedback Strategies“Decide which things students will need feedback on and the timing of when they will need it.

•Plan early opportunities for students to get feedback on ways of thinking, writing, or problem solving that they will need later, so that they don’t develop or repeat common errors.

•In-class active or collaborative learning exercises can be good moments to provide formative feedback in class.

•Break down large or complex intellectual tasks and projects into steps so that students receive ongoing feedback on key components.”All of these “Grading and Feedback Strategies” and more come from Elon University’s Center for the Advancement of Teaching & Learning: https://www.elon.edu/u/academics/catl/tlresources/assess-student-learning/grading-and-providing-feedback/

Grading and Providing Feedback“Think about alternatives to writing comments on every individual student’s work.•Provide feedback to the whole class orally and/or in a shared written document, or have the class read sample student work together to look for common themes or apply evaluation criteria.

•Share and discuss annotated samples of exemplary and average (anonymous or volunteer) student work.

•Students can provide peer-to-peer evaluation using clear rubrics you have provided, or practice self-evaluation using rubrics.”All of these “Grading and Feedback Strategies” and more come from Elon University’s Center for the Advancement of Teaching & Learning: https://www.elon.edu/u/academics/catl/tlresources/assess-student-learning/grading-and-providing-feedback/

Grading and Providing Feedback“Think about which things need to be graded and what style of grading is sensible for each.

•Make sure that you are grading work that is important to and aligned with your course objectives.

•Consider whether the assignment is low-stakes or at a basic or factual level that can be graded quickly with quizzes or a pass/fail or check/plus/minus system.

•For complex assignments, develop specific evaluation criteria.”

All of these “Grading and Feedback Strategies” and more come from Elon University’s Center for the Advancement of Teaching & Learning: https://www.elon.edu/u/academics/catl/tlresources/assess-student-learning/grading-and-providing-feedback/

Grading and Feedback Strategies“Consider some time-saving strategies.•Rubrics (in Canvas or not)

•Group work can save time in grading but does require front-end work to set up well.

•Can you grade samples of student work, rather than every piece of homework? •Many faculty have students create a portfolio of work for which there are numerous grading options.”All of these “Grading and Feedback Strategies” and more come from Elon University’s Center for the Advancement of Teaching & Learning: https://www.elon.edu/u/academics/catl/tlresources/assess-student-learning/grading-and-providing-feedback/

Criterion-referenced grading

Criterion-referenced grading

“Make standards of learning and performance known in advance and make students’ grades dependent on how well they meet the standards. . . . Grading rubrics, explicit descriptions of the quality of performance required to achieve a given grade”Rubric samples: https://www.cmu.edu/teaching/designteach/teach/rubrics.htmlhttps://www.aacu.org/value-rubrics

“Creating a grading scheme that provides students with some flexibility in determining how their points get weighed across course assessments can also reduce cheating.” --Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence and Educational Innovation, Carnegie Mellon University

Sample flexible grading scheme from CMU

Specificationsgrading

Specifications grading basics• “Assignments, tests, and other work are graded on a pass/fail basis.• Instructors provide very clear specifications of what constitutes

acceptable (passing) work, which reflects the standards and quality of work that would traditionally merit a B grade.

• Students are allowed at least one opportunity to revise unacceptable work.

• Work may be grouped into modules (units that must be completed in order) or bundles (units that do not require an order) that are linked explicitly to course learning outcomes; the modules or bundles are graded as a single pass/fail measure to demonstrate mastery of that outcome.

• Bundles and modules can be weighted based on the complexity of the work required.”

Kirkpatrick, Michael S. “Specifications Grading.” https://www.jmu.edu/cfi/_files/t-t_18-19/11.29.18-specifications-grading.pdf

Specifications grading

sample rubric

Specifications grading from a practitionerDr. Sally Hang is going to tell us how she uses specs grading:

Sample specs grading table

From “Specifications grading: We may have a winner.” Robert Talbert, PhD. http://rtalbert.org/specs-grading-iteration-winner/

Specifications grading resources and readingKirkpatrick, Michael S. “Specifications Grading.” https://www.jmu.edu/cfi/_files/t-t_18-19/11.29.18-specifications-grading.pdf

Hang, Sally. “Empowering Students through Specs Grading.”https://ctl.humboldt.edu/stories/empowering-students-through-specs-grading

Nilsson, Linda. Specifications Grading: Restoring Rigor, Motivating Students, and Saving Faculty Time. Sterling, VA: Stylus, 2014. https://styluspub.presswarehouse.com/browse/book/9781620362426/Specifications-Grading

Talbert, Robert. “Specifications Grading: We May Have a Winner.” http://rtalbert.org/specs-grading-iteration-winner/

Bethany Blackstone & Elizabeth Oldmixon (2019) Specifications Grading in Political Science, Journal of Political Science Education, 15:2, 191-205, DOI: 10.1080/15512169.2018.1447948

Contract grading

Contract grading overview

Contract grading is broader than specifications grading and may cede more control to students. It can be seen as a means of • “negotiating authority,” • “improving learning,” • and “encouraging active learning and community-

building.”

“Contract Improv: Three Approaches to Contract Grading.” Steve Volk, Center for Teaching Innovation and excellence, Oberlin College. http://languages.oberlin.edu/blogs/ctie/2016/03/27/contract-improv-three-approaches-to-contract-grading/

Sample contract language

https://professorhurley.com/2018/03/06/my-current-grading-contract/

Contract grading resources and readingDanielewicz, Jane and Peter Elbow. “A Unilateral Grading Contract to Improve Learning and Teaching.” English Department Faculty Publication Series 3rd ser. (2008). Available at https://works.bepress.com/peter_elbow/39/

Davidson, Cathy. “Contract Grading Plus Peer Review--Here’s How It Works.” January 3, 2011. Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Alliance and Collaboratory.https://www.hastac.org/blogs/cathy-davidson/2011/01/03/contract-grading-peer-review-heres-how-it-works

Hurley, Jennifer. “I Stopped Grading. You Can Too.” https://medium.com/@profhurley/i-stopped-grading-you-can-too-33f155911f4e

----. “My Current Grading Contract.” Teaching with Trust. 6 March 2018. https://professorhurley.com/2018/03/06/my-current-grading-contract/

Inoue, Asao. Antiracist Writing Assessment Ecologies: Teaching and Assessing Writing for a Socially Just Future. Fort Collins, CO: WAC Clearinghouse and Parlor Press, 2015. Book available athttps://wac.colostate.edu/books/inoue/. Handout available at http://tinyurl.com/zpvgrzm.

Kohn, Alfie. "The Case Against Grades." Counterpoints, Vol. 451, 2013, pp. 143-153. Available at https://www.alfiekohn.org/article/case-grades/

Volk, Steve. “Contract Improv: Three Approaches to Contract Grading.” Oberlin College Center for Teaching Innovation and Excellence. March 27, 2016. Available at http://languages.oberlin.edu/blogs/ctie/2016/03/27/contract-improv-three-approaches-to-contract-grading/

Warner, John. “Grading Contract Success, At Last, At Last.” Inside Higher Ed. January 4, 2017. Available at https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/just-visiting/grading-contract-success-last-last

--Most sources from Leslie Henson, Butte College, and Alison Kuehner, Ohone College, at the 2018 Strengthening Student Success Conference

Ungrading

Ungrading Flaherty, Colleen. “Wen Grading Less Is More.” Inside Higher Ed.com. 2 April 2019. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/04/02/professors-reflections-their-experiences-ungrading-spark-renewed-interest-student

Gibbs, Laura K. #PassFailNation: Alternate Grading: https://oudigitools.blogspot.com/2020/03/feedback-alternate-grading-in-crisis.html

On Facebook: Teachers Going Gradeless – TG2

Stommel, Jesse. What if We Didn’t Grade? A Bibliography. https://www.jessestommel.com/ungrading-a-bibliography/

#ungrading on Twitter

What ideas would our participants like to share?