CCS Faculty Applications of Ungrading

Faculty at SCC and SFCC have been using ungrading approaches to support student success. This page and the following pages include examples of what ungrading actually looks like when applied to our courses. The information that follows is a mix of reflection, syllabi statements, assignments, and advice from ungrading practitioners. 

 

Amy Anderson, Communication Studies

"I teach an Introduction to Communication class that typically has students who have minimal experience in communication. This class is required for some programs as it gives students some content about interpersonal communication, small group communication, and public speaking.

I hope to switch my speech assignments' focus from grades to feedback. Many students pay attention to their grades, but they disregard the feedback designed to help them improve.  

Students are accustomed to receiving grades for assignments, and they may not feel that it is worth putting energy towards work that does not impact their grades. It is important to explain the value of feedback and practicing new skills."

The Assignment: Ungrading Speech.docx Download Ungrading Speech.docx (Word document)

 

Geoffrey Bagwell, Philosophy Faculty 

The assignment below is an example of an ungrading writing assignment I have adopted in my introductory philosophy courses (PHIL101) at Spokane Community College (SCC). This course is a general introduction to philosophy and philosophical problems whose goal is to help students confront fundamental philosophical problems and thinking critically what solutions to these problems. Students in these courses are typically seeking to earn a bachelors degree in some academic or scientific field and take the course to fulfill degrees requirements at SCC or at the four-year college or university to which they intend to transfer after completing their associates degree. 

The Value Problem (Ungrading Project).pdf Download The Value Problem (Ungrading Project).pdf 

 

Jennifer Barson, SFCC Geology Faculty 

The course is Geol&100 Earth Revealed. This is an introductory, non-lab, 5-credit science course that is typically taken by non-STEM majors. Students often take this course to fulfill their degree requirement in science distribution. Students would often state or complain that some of the assessments were ‘busy work’ and too confusing. This caused me to look into TiLT as a means to provide students with more discrete directions and purpose. It also allowed me to provide students with examples of success beforehand, rather than in announcements on how students should have performed after the fact. This process allowed me to reduce my implicit biases and provide enough framework to the assignments from the start. It does take time. The process helps you formulate the ‘why?’ for students (when they might seem obvious to me). I also was able to use the course CLO’s to more effectively support the content in the assessment.

 

Janelle Brooke and Sam Hilton, Business Technology Faculty 

Our module includes ungrading approaches used in our Business Technology courses. BT students are working on professional certificates and two-year degrees. We adopted ungrading strategies to create more equitable classes, address the diverse needs of our students, and model workplace learning. We recommend incorporating ungrading strategies slowly. Perhaps you begin with writing assignments, for example. Please feel free to contact us. We have tried, failed, and succeeded; we’d love to support you-- Samantha.hilton@scc.spokane.edu or Janelle.brooke@scc.spokane.edu

  • (see the documents in the S Hilton and J Brooke Ungrading Toolkit on the following pages) 

 

Megan Fadeley & Michelle Wise Gendusa, Counseling and College Success Faculty 

This work was designed for GUID 102 (Strategies for Success), for first quarter students without prior college pursuing a transfer degree. "Our motivation is to approach assessment through an equity lens in order to build on a student centered approach in instruction. Our motivation is to also enhance student growth through self-reflection and self-awareness." Their advice: "Start small and try the buddy system 😊"

Syllabus Statement:

Grades are part of college. But in this class, I really want to shift your focus away from grades and put the emphasis on personal growth and learning! If you do that, the grade you earn will reflect it. Yes, you will receive a final grade at the end of this class, but you will have opportunities all throughout the quarter to get the grade you want and deserve. This will take a variety of forms: 1) you will be able to edit and submit assignments/quizzes multiple times if you are not happy with your score, 2) in some cases, you will grade yourself based on honest reflection of effort, learning, and personal growth 3) I will accept late work for up to 50% of the original points possible. As noted above, everything due on a Sunday and Friday discussion post replies must be completed by 11:59 pm. If you are having problems completing an assignment, I expect to be notified early so that I can help you get it in on time. Asking for help is GOOD – let me know what you are struggling with and we will find a solution.  

 

Samantha McCann, English Faculty

This assignment was developed as a final reflection for students enrolled in my co-requisite English 101 and 151 course. These students have been identified as needing a bit of extra writing and soft skills support to be more successful in English 101. The class was a mix of Running Start and older, non-traditional students. Since the 101 course was graded more traditionally, I wanted the 151 course to focus on reflection and self-evaluation. I thought the ungrading approach would fit well for the final assignment because most of the class was graded based on effort and student engagement. I wanted the students to engage in metacognition because students don't always realize how the skills they're building apply beyond one class. This assignment was a Canvas survey, and I recommend practicing with Canvas's quiz creator if you're unfamiliar with it. My class had a few hiccups because I'd never created a quiz, and many of them had never taken one. I'm sure there's a more efficient way to set it up than what I did.

 

Christina Momono, ESL Faculty 

These assignments were designed for ABE ESL Levels 5/6 Reading Speaking Course Reading. Also, these assignments are strictly online. I never see my students FtF. I believe “ungrading” or what I prefer to call learning opportunity assignments allow students to take the time to learn and get natural feedback versus a high stakes “do or die” attitude in learning. I do appreciate grades and the value they have but I do not think all my assignments need to be made that route. I try to find balance in formative and summative assessments.  I think there is a lot more flexibility in formative assessments as students are learning.  When students have a lower affective filter and carry less anxiety around an assignment it opens for exploration and meaningful connection to a topic. I want them to have that opportunity with several assignments in my course. I do integrate a combo of “ungraded” and “graded” assignments throughout my course.  I think this approach allows students to gain confidence in the material and gain understanding before summative assessments are presented to them. I let students take them as often as they’d like with feedback or they can change an answer in comments before the “close date”. 

I think if you are interested in this approach to take it in small measures. Start small especially if it is new for you. I think you can create one assignment a week to start with. You can observe how students may interact with that assignment versus your graded assignments. You also may want to do a small series (1-2 a week) to compare the differences because at first when you do it your students may be confused as to what is happening.  The more data you have and interaction you have with small pools of information and opportunities will be a learning experience for you and your students. Also, for me when I took an online Spanish course from Diamond Wilson this past summer, I felt a lot of activities were “ungraded” in the sense that I had an option to do them multiple times within a time period and it really allowed me to be engaged with the topic, to test myself, and then to produce.  When I opened up Canvas quizzes that were open to multiple tries, I felt a sense of relief. However, when I opened up quizzes that were “1 time” I had more pressure to do it.  The opportunity as a student on the “ungrading” side gave me more insight. My students have also been relieved to know they can do an inclass comprehension check a few times.  It allows there to be more connection and deeper individual learning without unnecessary pressure.  Give it a try.  😊

 

Susan Williams, Electronics

"I used a tip from Linda Nilson’s Creating Self-Regulated Learners.  I had my first quarter class write the final.  It was a huge success! They all took the assignment very seriously and submitted questions that were almost exactly what I would have asked. We had a group discussion and they “cut and pasted” (literally) their questions onto legal size paper I had up on the white board. They talked to each other (probably for the first time) and came up with a pretty good exam. They enjoyed the exercise and totally got why I was doing it. 

The final was worth 124 points:  30 for turning in the assignment and 10 for participating in the discussion.  The high was 108% (there was some bonus questions). A few people didn’t take it and got zeros, so I think that has thrown off the average. From the people who took it, 86% was the lowest, and the average (without the zeros for non-participation) was 114%."