Welcome to the Tuesday Teaching Tip, an easy-to-implement tool that you can use immediately in your classroom teaching.
TUESDAY TEACHING TIP: UNGRADING
We all know that grading is not the same thing as assessment, but too often the two get conflated. When students see a numerical grade first, they may stop paying attention at that point, disregarding substantive feedback or opportunities for growth that might deepen their learning.
This week, we challenge you to postpone or withhold a grade on an assignment in favor of prioritizing formative feedback intended to help your students improve.
Here’s one way to do it
- This week, assign a short formative assessment, like a set of practice problems, a short written reflection on a topic, or a partial draft of a longer assignment.
- Collect the work and then provide feedback on the student’s work *without* assigning a grade.
- In Camino, you have the option to mark an assignment as Complete/Incomplete, or make it entirely ungraded; use the comment field to write holistic feedback, or comment in the margins of the text. (Note: your students may need instruction in accessing the feedback on Camino. They’re most accustomed to locating the grade!)
- Create a rubric that clarifies the criteria of an effective submission—say, in terms of "emerging, accomplished, and exemplary work”—rather than assessing by assigning letter or number grades.
- Consider what other assignments you might be able to “ungrade” in this way.
DID YOU DO IT?
Let us know how it went. We would love to hear your feedback about how you implemented today’s Tuesday Teaching Tip in your classroom. Click here to fill out our 3-question survey. The survey is anonymous, but if you choose to enter your name, you’ll be entered in a drawing at the end of the quarter to win a new book from Faculty Development!
UPCOMING EVENTS
- Join our upcoming CAFE (Conversations Advancing Faculty Excellence) on Managing Alternative Grading on Tuesday, Feb 18th at 12:15pm in Varsi 222 to learn how your colleagues use technology to track student learning in courses that use alternative grading.
- Come to Instructional Technology office hours this week to discuss instructional/course design, the use of campus instructional and assessment tools, assignment design, assessment tools, active learning, and using AI in your teaching. They are available every Monday, 1-2 pm in Varsi 218. See the full list of Faculty Associate Office Hour times and topics here. No need to register, just show up!
- Announcement: Please take a moment to help SCU by responding to the SCU Campus Climate Study here. Your responses provide valuable insight and perspective into what is taking place in terms of fostering an inclusive learning environment and a community of belonging. Make sure your faculty perspective is heard!
WANT TO READ A LITTLE MORE?
This week’s Tuesday Teaching Tip was prepared by Amy Lueck on behalf of the Faculty Collaborative.
Missed a teaching tip? Read them all here. Don’t forget to check out our Faculty Associates office hours here.
And check out our full calendar of CAFEs and other Faculty Development and Faculty Collaborative events.
