C2

“Ungrading” in a large class: Why, How, and What to Consider

We know, from decades of criticism, that traditional grading structures have a negative effect on student learning. The presence of grades in classrooms:

• Tends to diminish student interest in the actual subject matter (Kohn, 1999) 
• Turns focus from *what* you’re doing in the classroom to *how* you’re doing in the classroom (Kohn, 2011)
• Creates a preference for the easiest possible task
• Undermines both teaching and learning (Elbow, 1997)
• Creates and sustains racialized power dynamics, which privilege a dominant, White, discourse (Inoue, 2014).

In the winter of 2024, I took over teaching a large and unconventional class. The very nature of the class content encouraged me to consider how I could make space for students to practice the habits of mind of successful university students without fear of failure. Each week, students would be asked to try something potentially new and radical as they experimented with different learning strategies and metacognitive practices. So much of this practice required a willingness to be vulnerable and risky; I could not imagine a space with traditional grades fostering the safety they would need. Having just read Ungrading: Why rating students undermines learning and what to do instead (Blum, 2020), I decided this would be a great opportunity to practice an alternative form of grading in a large class. Since TMU requires students to have grades, I could not eliminate grades altogether. Instead, I chose to use a form of grading known as “contract grading” or “labour based grading”, which produces labour based grades, as opposed to “quality” based grades. Each grade is associated with a certain number of assignments and a certain number of classes attended. Students contract for the grade they are hoping to achieve and commit to doing the required work to do so. This model allows students to practice the habit of responsibly assessing their capacity for additional work, taking into account other priorities that may account for their time and energy. Students have responded really well to this model and I plan to keep using it, but I will also share some lessons learned from the experience of contract grading in a large class (120 students).

Presenters

Collaborative Reflections on Specs Grading in Communication Courses

Specifications (specs) grading, as introduced by Nilson (2015), represents a departure from traditional points-based grading systems, aiming to foster a more student-centered approach to assessment. By employing a binary grading system (Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory) for each assignment and grading “bundles,” specifications grading seeks to mitigate the shortcomings of point-based grading and establish clearer connections between learning objectives and assessment outcomes. There is increasing evidence that indicates this system’s effectiveness in promoting a growth mindset and motivating students to take responsibility for their own learning through the opportunities to revise their work in response to instructor feedback. Although a few TMU faculty members have already incorporated the specs grading into their courses, no communication class has yet used this alternative grading system. In this presentation, we share our experiences of implementing specs grading into two communication courses with different size and delivery - an asynchronous online course with 60+ undergraduate students and an in-person course with 22 undergraduate and master’s students. Drawing from the collaborative reflections of both the instructor and the grading assistant (GA), we offer a nuanced examination of the pros and cons encountered while navigating this alternative grading system.

Presenters

Cognitive control applied to a real-life experience

Unlike mechanical objects, humans can set goals autonomously and initiate deliberate actions towards reaching these goals. Cognitive control, designated at times as executive function, refers to the capacity of an individual to regulate and control their mental processes and actions towards the achievement of a goal (Gazzaniga, Ivry, & Mangun, 2014). Cognitive control is closely linked to the sense of agency, the awareness of being in control of one’s thoughts and actions, and through them being in control of external events (Haggard & Tsakiris, 2009). The session will focus on the sense of agency and cognitive control, and how students can apply these concepts to a personal experience like preparing a healthy meal.

1. What experience and teaching strategy will you share? I will share the concept of cognitive control and a formative assessment in which students apply cognitive control to a personal experience. The formative assessment enables students to: 
   1. Connect a personal experience with a theory of cognitive control, that is, the learning material and thus increase its meaning. 
   2. Reflect, through metacognition, on the cognitive control processes used in a personal experience. 
   3. Apply cognitive control to the attainment of a future goal. 
2. What background teaching or learning theory are you building upon? I am building upon a) the concept of metacognition which refers to thinking about thinking (Brown, 1986), and b) the 4MAT model of learning (McCarthy, 2006, 2010). The 4MAT model includes four learning phases: Why – Experiencing: why is cognitive control important to learn for my goals? What - Conceptualizing: what concepts do I learn? How - Application: How can I apply these concepts to my experience? If – Creativity: if the concepts have validity, would they help me be creative and achieve my future goals?
3. How has this teaching strategy impacted the students’ experience? The teaching strategy impacted the students' experience in two ways. It enabled them to reflect on a personal experience and discover that they are using deliberative agency and cognitive control to reach a goal optimally. It also directed them to apply mental processes like planning to optimize the achievement of a future goal.

Presenters