Un-grading Update

This week I would like to share an update on the concept of “Ungrading.” The paper is entitled, “Success Was Actually Having Learned:’ University Student Perceptions of Ungrading” by Hasinoff, et al. (2024). A large body of evidence shows that many ungrading practices are as good or better than conventional approaches at supporting learning outcomes. Building on this literature, the authors offer a systematic study that asks:

• “How do students perceive pedagogical practices designed by instructors to support an ungrading strategy?”

To answer this question, they conducted a survey of students across a range of disciplines and a variety of ungrading approaches to assess how they perceive their learning experiences in these courses as compared to others. Findings indicate that students generally perceive that ungrading practices improve their relationship with their instructor; enhance their engagement, agency, enjoyment, and interest; foster their intrinsic motivation and focus on learning; and facilitate their creativity. While many students reported reduced stress, others reported that the unfamiliarity and uncertainty of ungrading increased their stress. Gaining a better understanding of how students react to these pedagogical techniques can help instructors improve their practice.

One students response supports the findings:

• “Other classes begin the semester with strict syllabus and deadlines, creating a negative or threatening  atmosphere. This class focused on a positive, trusting, encouraging environment that allowed me to learn better.”

A number of students experienced their ungrading course as an environment where instructors prioritized growth-directed feedback over grades and acted as facilitators rather than gatekeepers. One student described the instructor as “a guide, not a person to check all the boxes.” Students seemed to appreciate having more agency in their learning. This approach is supported by the research on Open Pedagogy (Open Ed Network, 2023), which is a form of experiential learning which empowers students with agency as creators of information rather than consumers. Open pedagogy sees students as whole people with different perspectives, ideas, and skills that are valuable to the classroom and lend authenticity to the learning process.

References

Hasinoff, A., Bolyard, W., DeBay, D., Dunlap, J., Mosier, A. & Pugliano, E. (2024). Success Was Actually Having Learned:’ University Student Perceptions of Ungrading. Teaching and Learning Inquiry, 12(5). (January). https://doi.org/10.20343/teachlearninqu 

Open Education Network. (2023, March 27). The Open Pedagogy Student Toolkit. 2. Open Pedagogy. https://pressbooks.pub/openpedstudenttoolkit/chapter/open-pedagogy/#:~:text=They%20all%20center%20around%20the,authenticity%20to%20the%20learning%20process.