Two Years of Ungrading

Let’s talk about ungrading. I’m 4 semesters into trying it out, so what have I done and what have I learned?

The first two times I taught my Math and Redistricting course, I had a loosely traditional grading system, with different categories of assignments being worth a certain percentage of the final grade (there were never quizzes or exams). But really, this class was not about grades at all. The whole point and motivation for creating the class in the first place was to spark interest and promote true learning through an authentic interdisciplinary context. So after reading more and more people on Twitter talking about ungrading, this seemed like a natural fit for this particular course.

Fall 2021 – Math and Redistricting

First, I did not change the content or assignment structure of the course in any significant way other than adding more opportunities for reflection. To facilitate feedback, I moved everything to Microsoft Teams instead of Moodle which added an option to submit feedback along with a request for revision/resubmission. The ungrading model was very open-ended; no grades on any assignment, just feedback, and you determine your final grade through a justification reflection at the end of the semester. I did have a small group and whole class discussion about the meaning of grades and wanted to co-create criteria for different letter grades, but this is a vague exercise when they don’t quite know the assignment structure of the class yet. I should also mention that I had two sections (due to the timeliness of the redistricting process) of about 20 students each and that the class was permission-only, so I was not concerned about anything below what they might define as B-level anyway.

When I think back on this semester, my memories are of the bonds and relationships we formed in the classes (keep in mind the added importance of this with Covid restrictions in Fall 2021) and all that we accomplished by taking part in the political process of redistricting in Connecticut, participating in a national mapping competition, and forming a working relationship with the League of Women Voters. The feedback from students at the end was fantastic and for my first time trying ungrading, it was satisfying to get this student reflection:

My parents and other teachers in high school always told me that I worried too much about my grades, which I always found frustrating since grades matter, especially in high school because that's how you get into good colleges. In some ways they were right though because worrying about grades definitely detracts from my interest in actual course content. Normally, I feel trapped in a system where you can't have both worlds. Usually, my options are to worry about learning and not care what grade I get (I never choose this option but probably should), or worry about meeting every course expectation to get the highest grade possible. With this class, I was able to learn the content and invest in it, without worrying that any mistakes would result in a lower grade. I knew that if I didn't get an assignment perfectly right the first time around, I wouldn't lose points and instead I would be able to take my time to learn the content properly. Normally, I'm stressed about proving to a professor that I'm giving my all to a class. Having the freedom to know how hard I was working without having to prove it to someone else in the way that they wanted it to be demonstrated was so relieving. This class took all the bad parts out of classes and kept all the fun parts of learning in. Thank you!

In terms of issues, a handful of students did fall behind on assignments and despite my best attempts through feedback, some students did not have an accurate grasp on the quality of their work. I thought there was too much focus on simply the number of times I asked them to resubmit something rather than the nature of the specific feedback (whether it was for a resubmission or not).

Spring 2022 – Math and Redistricting

To address the last concern, I decided to add EMRN rubrics to the assignment submissions on Teams the following semester. Here, E = excellent, M = meets assignment criteria, R = needs revision (feedback returned with request for resubmission), and N = not relevant. In fact, I had three different rubrics for the three types of regular assignments (quantitative, qualitative, journals) each with two categories.

Quantitative: Mathematical reasoning and understanding
              Evidence of reasoning

Qualitative: Depth and accuracy of information
              Presentation and communication (if applicable)

Journals: Demonstrating understanding of learning objectives
              Nature of reflection (critical/dialogic/descriptive/none)

I don’t think everything fit perfectly into these categories and it does somewhat get back to the issue of students just looking at the rubric letter and not the feedback, but I liked having a more concrete way to communicate the quality of their work without having it tied to any final grade impact. In addition, the major mapping portfolio project was done separately at the end and probably without adequate time to influence their final reflections, so I could do better to space it out and give more feedback along the way.

The problem with adding the rubrics is that students see these as typical grades and still rely on them to justify their own final grade. This works in both directions. For example, students would say things such as: “I had x number of E’s, therefore I’ve earned an A+”, “I didn’t have any resubmissions which should be an A”, or “I had a handful of resubmissions (which I addressed) and that corresponds to a B+/A-“. This wasn’t universal, but that reasoning can counteract what I would preach about learning being a continuous process and not a race and that the whole point of resubmissions is to (eventually) learn the content without penalty. On the high end, I really like what striving for an A+ did for student motivation. Knowing that an A+ was achievable but by themselves through exceptional work truly pushed many students to consistently deliver outstanding engagement and assignments. This is a massive benefit for me and the students’ intellectual curiosity and reflections on their learning really showed. This feedback was also satisfying for me to receive and speaks to the motivation and how the ungrading structure humanizes education:

I genuinely loved this class. I did not expect to like it so much, and, frequently, it challenged me. I am not a math person at all, but this class proved to me that structure is kind of ridiculous. You don’t have to be a “subject” person, you just have to try and have interest in it. While my other classes this semester were more traditional to my interests (other humanities classes), I felt like this class actually pushed me. I think the structure was perfect, and I am not just saying this to appeal to the professor. I do not think I have ever learned so much in a math course, but especially because of the way I was supported throughout the entire process. I never felt stressed in this class, which I think also massively contributed to my understanding. If I had to rush, for example, my final maps, which I know were late, I would not have put in full effort and seen results I did not like. The last few weeks have been incredibly challenging for me personally, and it has been humbling having assignments be late for the first time (ever!). I am a strong student and hold myself to a high academic standard. I contributed the most effort I could for the circumstances, and this class proved to me that it’s okay to sometimes not be okay. Thank you for a remarkable semester, and for teaching me about math, politics, and reformed education.

Using Microsoft Teams was quite helpful in facilitating the structure of the class through resubmissions, rubrics, group work, and direct messaging that feels more personalized than email. One major drawback was some student responses not saving/syncing and being lost. I had question/response templates for all assignments and students would type into the documents which required Internet access to automatically save. The workaround is to have students work offline and copy/paste but every instance of lost work was quite frustrating to say the least.

Overall, the grading (or lack thereof) system wasn’t perfect, but I am generally satisfied with how it worked and aligned with this course, but every course usually demands a different approach.

Spring 2022 – Intro to Sports Analytics

Designing a new course in real-time is not easy or recommended. Given that’s how I approached this course, the focus was on building out the content as the semester progressed, meaning that the assessment system was quite open-ended. I did end up fulfilling my initial plan of assigning some Excel homework, a few article responses, and having a large group project collecting, analyzing, and presenting data on one of our sports teams.

Admittedly, I exhausted quite a bit of energy simply creating the content each week, which mainly consisted of detailed Excel sheets which we would work through together in class. This made it harder for me to focus on feedback (there were over 30 students compared to 20 in the Redistricting class), but students appreciated the freeing nature of the course. Knowing I would teach the course again, my focus was on adding more structure in all components of the course, from the class worksheets to the assignments to the group project.

For the 2022-23 academic year, I was a part of the CTL Fellows program, which allowed me additional time and space to workshop ideas about my course and ungrading with colleagues from various departments.

Fall 2022 – Intro to Sports Analytics

The first improvement was a major aesthetic one, as I added an Instructions/Answers tab to each of my Excel sheets. This was a protected sheet with all the steps listed to follow, and the only editable cells (by students) were answer boxes to questions along the way, with conditional formatting set up to let students instantly know if their answer was right or wrong. I also held the class in a computer lab to mitigate some of the laptop inconsistencies and issues from the previous semester, but this move had a negative effect on the camaraderie of the class.

In terms of assessment, this was the first semester where I really noticed the class not being prioritized by students, and for obvious reasons. First, I wasn’t even prioritizing the feedback as I should have, which I attribute to having three preps and updating the class Excel sheets. (It didn’t help having over 30 students in the class.) And from the students’ perspective, it is completely understandable and a reasonable academic strategy to prioritize classes that have traditional deadlines and late penalties over a course that lacks these. This has been the primary issue with my lack of structure in my ungrading approach in every semester that I have described, and I have always been aware of it, but this semester it seemed more glaring than in the past. Keep in mind that the group projects also involved a lot of work on my end to support, and these were completely different than the previous semester in the sense that we worked with a new set of teams (Fall sports rather than Spring sports).

Nonetheless, the course was an improvement from the first time, and I know students still appreciated focus on learning rather than grades:

You changed the way I understand learning and I will be forever grateful for this. I always paid attention to your Excel explanations, but I never felt that I was being burdened and pressured by you. You cared for us and allowed us to work at our own pace, and I can truly say that I loved the course.

With a third opportunity to teach the course, I knew the focus would be on increasing student motivation to prioritize the class, and a bit more consistent structure in assignments and the group projects, which could serve the motivation aspect as well.

Spring 2023 – Intro to Sports Analytics

I’m proud to say that a lot of things seemed to come together the third time around. A few students fell behind, but a lot more were consistently on top of their work, and I have a few hypotheses. First, I made the assignments regular (one due every Thursday) and more varied – creating graphics, different types of Excel sheets, and an article summary. Second, the individual students matter, and about a third of the students I had in previous semesters. In addition, one star student had such a high level of engagement and enthusiasm, both in class and in office hours, which I’d like to think had a positive impact on the rest of the class.

The calendar was also conducive to the class format. The first eight weeks, up until Spring break, I focused on many Excel skills and had the weekly assignments. Per the suggestion of a colleague, I had the students write a midterm reflection and assign themselves a midterm grade going into the break. This was something I had done in the Redistricting course, but was an oversight here, and a useful opportunity to communicate about their progress. Coming back from break, I spent maybe one more week on Excel content and then shifted our attention to the group projects for the remainder of the semester.

For the group projects, I was much more intentional about creating tracking templates for all groups and creating an equitable workload across all groups in terms of how many games/matches were watched and how much time was spent on data collection. I also worked more closely with groups on data analysis and in facilitating the creation of the research posters. Again, I am proud of the final products and the engagement with coaches and other students was quite high in our final poster session. There was also an added layer of accountability as students graded their group members (on a 1-5 scale where I defined each number) which could influence their own final grade.

I believe that the final reflections and feedback were even kinder than normal due to it being my last semester at the school, and again I appreciate student attitudes towards the course:

I am a student who is excited to contribute to classes where I know my work will be valued by my professors, peers, and coaches. I found Sports Analytics to be this kind of a class. Additionally, I want to work hard and push myself in classes where I know the knowledge I gain will be impactful beyond the termination of the course. … In high school, I dealt with some mental health struggles because I was so caught up on the letter grade on my transcript. If the power was stripped from letter grades back then, I wonder if I would have dealt with the same issues.

Personal Reflection

So after five semesters with two different courses, how do I feel about ungrading?

I like it! …For certain classes, and with more accountability and “deadlines” built in. For the two classes I created with the emphasis truly on learning through authentic connections, removing grades makes perfect sense to me. But for the Calculus sequence? That would require much larger systemic change about the role of education, so I’ll stick with some version of standards-based grading for those courses.

Honestly, if you want ungrading (or truly any approach) to work well, you must care about the students as people first and be confident in your own values and approach to education. My pedagogy of care and focus on individual learning certainly aligns with the ungrading approach which makes it authentic within my classroom and context. I’ll close with two snippets of many similar comments that embody what I strive for in the classroom:

You create an environment that is welcoming where everyone feels free to learn in whatever way works best for them.
I have not had a professor that has shown so much love, support, and guidance for their students.

If ungrading supports love, then consider it a success.

#SpreadLoveAlways