"What if they produced solid work but didn’t learn anything?" I'm curious about this too. On the one hand, I think: fine. The student knows the material or skills and shows that they did. On the other hand, I think: Was this course a waste of their time? Was there nothing for them to learn? Did we do them a disservice by placing them in a course below their level? Or did they do themselves a disservice by not taking the opportunity to expand what they already knew?
I don't know. I think there are broader questions about course placement behind this. As well as questions about general attitudes towards learning (student and instructor alike.) If we're focusing just on measurable skills, then it seems entirely plausible that a student came and left with the same skills intact, demonstrated but not further honed. But if we're focusing on content and knowledge, then I hope that what the student was encouraged to think about might have prompted some learning, even if that learning was incremental in comparison to others.
(Also, I would think, with regards to the content of your particular course, that it had to prompt new reflection, if not new refinement of skills. What first-year college student has encountered questions about grading practices before? Those ideas can't help but stick in someone's mind throughout their college career.)
I also think the answer to the assessment question might be that grades serve multiple (sometimes conflicting) ends, and that individual students will care more about some of these than others. As an undergrad, I once took I class I knew I could pass without trying because: (1) I needed certification in the area on my transcript for grad school, and (2) distributing my credits this way allowed me to take a super hard course (way outside my areas of expertise) that I wanted to spend 2x as much effort on. I ended up getting an “easy A” in the one course (because I put in enough effort and was proficient) and an extremely “difficult A” in the other (because I could devote much more time to it). I doubt most students are this reflective and strategic about their course selection (I find that I, like most future PhDs, were weirdos as undergrads). But it’s worth mentioning that students have their own reasons for taking the classes they do, so not all assessment mechanisms need to assume complete or comprehensive control over student motivation / behavior (which is a trap I sometimes fall into when designing courses / implementing assessment).
Thanks to both of you, these are helpful reminders! I agree with everything here. It's difficult, when I'm in my feelings about the end of a course, to remember that students have a lot going on, are motivated by many different factors, and probably learned things that aren't measurable or that I haven't accounted for.
The cases I think I'm most worried about are not really students who come in already at an advanced level but students who come in at a "passable" level with lots of potential for growth but who leave at that same "passable" level. At the same time, I understand why students may not have the time or inclination to focus on improving in my course. And very often this is due to structural factors outside my (or even the student's) control.
I also appreciate the reminder that taking an ungraded course is in and of itself a learning experience for students. Lately, I've been thinking about my own time as a student and what I learned from my teachers who were not as grade-focused--so I'll have more to say about this in a later post!
A great reflection on the nature of assessment, which is something I think about often (especially as semesters wrap up). I’m wondering if you’ll include final grade distribution info (or average GPA) in any of your final posts. For various reasons, this is what I’m now *most* curious about after having followed this series super closely. It’d also help me a ton in conversations with colleagues and administrators about assessment (and revisions to our assessment guidance for faculty). I realize you can’t any identifying info, and perhaps overall GPA is already too sensitive. But even just a sentence that said “My GPA ended up being between X and Y in this class” would be super helpful. (My colleagues’ assumption when I talk to them about ungrading is that everyone walks away with an A, no questions asked. Which has never been how it’s gone in my classes, but I’m curious about how this shakes out for other ungraders.) Thanks for the post and the series!
Paul, I actually think I have very useful data for you here. But I don't know how much I could share or how public I would want it to be. Let me look into this and do some thinking. I will DM you later this week!
Awesome, thank you! And if you need more info for me to figure out which shareable data would be most helpful, I can send that. Basically, imagine you were on a committee with academic administrators trying to address the role assessment plays in mental health issues in an era of extreme grade inflation, and we’re going to present to the group about the pros and cons of “ungrading” as a way of addressing several of these issues at once. And wanted to anticipate (and immediately shut down) the naive worry that “ungrading” means giving up on grade inflation and / or rigor 😃
"What if they produced solid work but didn’t learn anything?" I'm curious about this too. On the one hand, I think: fine. The student knows the material or skills and shows that they did. On the other hand, I think: Was this course a waste of their time? Was there nothing for them to learn? Did we do them a disservice by placing them in a course below their level? Or did they do themselves a disservice by not taking the opportunity to expand what they already knew?
I don't know. I think there are broader questions about course placement behind this. As well as questions about general attitudes towards learning (student and instructor alike.) If we're focusing just on measurable skills, then it seems entirely plausible that a student came and left with the same skills intact, demonstrated but not further honed. But if we're focusing on content and knowledge, then I hope that what the student was encouraged to think about might have prompted some learning, even if that learning was incremental in comparison to others.
(Also, I would think, with regards to the content of your particular course, that it had to prompt new reflection, if not new refinement of skills. What first-year college student has encountered questions about grading practices before? Those ideas can't help but stick in someone's mind throughout their college career.)
I also think the answer to the assessment question might be that grades serve multiple (sometimes conflicting) ends, and that individual students will care more about some of these than others. As an undergrad, I once took I class I knew I could pass without trying because: (1) I needed certification in the area on my transcript for grad school, and (2) distributing my credits this way allowed me to take a super hard course (way outside my areas of expertise) that I wanted to spend 2x as much effort on. I ended up getting an “easy A” in the one course (because I put in enough effort and was proficient) and an extremely “difficult A” in the other (because I could devote much more time to it). I doubt most students are this reflective and strategic about their course selection (I find that I, like most future PhDs, were weirdos as undergrads). But it’s worth mentioning that students have their own reasons for taking the classes they do, so not all assessment mechanisms need to assume complete or comprehensive control over student motivation / behavior (which is a trap I sometimes fall into when designing courses / implementing assessment).
Thanks to both of you, these are helpful reminders! I agree with everything here. It's difficult, when I'm in my feelings about the end of a course, to remember that students have a lot going on, are motivated by many different factors, and probably learned things that aren't measurable or that I haven't accounted for.
The cases I think I'm most worried about are not really students who come in already at an advanced level but students who come in at a "passable" level with lots of potential for growth but who leave at that same "passable" level. At the same time, I understand why students may not have the time or inclination to focus on improving in my course. And very often this is due to structural factors outside my (or even the student's) control.
I also appreciate the reminder that taking an ungraded course is in and of itself a learning experience for students. Lately, I've been thinking about my own time as a student and what I learned from my teachers who were not as grade-focused--so I'll have more to say about this in a later post!
A great reflection on the nature of assessment, which is something I think about often (especially as semesters wrap up). I’m wondering if you’ll include final grade distribution info (or average GPA) in any of your final posts. For various reasons, this is what I’m now *most* curious about after having followed this series super closely. It’d also help me a ton in conversations with colleagues and administrators about assessment (and revisions to our assessment guidance for faculty). I realize you can’t any identifying info, and perhaps overall GPA is already too sensitive. But even just a sentence that said “My GPA ended up being between X and Y in this class” would be super helpful. (My colleagues’ assumption when I talk to them about ungrading is that everyone walks away with an A, no questions asked. Which has never been how it’s gone in my classes, but I’m curious about how this shakes out for other ungraders.) Thanks for the post and the series!
Paul, I actually think I have very useful data for you here. But I don't know how much I could share or how public I would want it to be. Let me look into this and do some thinking. I will DM you later this week!
Awesome, thank you! And if you need more info for me to figure out which shareable data would be most helpful, I can send that. Basically, imagine you were on a committee with academic administrators trying to address the role assessment plays in mental health issues in an era of extreme grade inflation, and we’re going to present to the group about the pros and cons of “ungrading” as a way of addressing several of these issues at once. And wanted to anticipate (and immediately shut down) the naive worry that “ungrading” means giving up on grade inflation and / or rigor 😃