Alternative Grading Practices

Why?

I’ve always had a problem with traditional grading. It never really assessed the learning abilities of ANY student—college students especially—and rather seemed to praise a certain kind of students students who exhibit/possess certain traits and characteristics which could be absent or not as pronounced in others. Until recently, while reading some papers, I stumbled across a citation of Linda Nilson’s work, and I just had to check it out. “What is this new idea I’m reading that effectively ‘promises’ to fix one of my biggest problems with the (higher) education system? Specifications grading, What’s that?” I decided to explore the subject a bit, and now I hope to document my learning in depth.

I also wish to implement an alternative grading system in one (or more) courses over at my college (yeah, good luck with that).

Join me on this slightly sleep-depriving adventure as I explore what it means to truly learn; what it entails to go from traditional grading to something much better: Grading for Growth

Tasks

• Find papers on alternative grading practices:
  • Specifications Grading
  • Standards Based Grading
  • Ungrading
• Read and extract sources from:
  • Grading for Growth: A Guide to Alternative Grading Practices that Promote Authentic Learning and Student Engagement in Higher Education
  • Specifications grading: Restoring rigor, motivating students, and saving faculty time
  • Ungrading: Why rating students undermines learning (and what to do instead)
• Design a grading framework tailored to a mechatronics course.
• Develop a digital/analog tool to facilitate the implementation (e.g., a performance report sheet or [digital] performance dashboard).
• Create a methodology to measure the impact on student learning outcomes.
• Document the process and results.
• Collaborate with a professor to implement and study the system.

Logs

• Entry 1 (AGP)
• Entry 2 (AGP)
• Entry 3 (AGP)