T5 - New Perspectives on Assessment

Rethinking Assessment: Exploring the Potential of Gradeless Learning

Critics continue to question the heavy reliance on grades because of their identified detrimental effects on learning outcomes. This literature review explores the concept of gradeless learning as reduced grading or a practice that abandons grading and advocates a departure from traditional grading systems for assessment approaches that prioritize feedback and learner development. This review discusses the potential of gradeless learning to promote intrinsic motivation, deeper student engagement, and a holistic understanding among students.

Presenter: Yusuf Josiah

Not Just Another Entry Point: Using a Podcast to Draw Connections Between Assessment for Learning and Student Well-Being

According to a new policy at our university, assessments should align with healthier learning environments. To help encourage and support instructors in adjusting their assessment practices, our CTL developed a podcast miniseries that illuminates assessment for learning’s connection to student well-being. The podcast disseminates the rationale behind the policy by means of intimate conversations in which interviewees share authentic experiences. Our presentation highlights the innovative aspects of our podcast and focuses on its replicable elements.

Presenters: Margo Echenberg and Jasmine Parent

Ungrading Successfully Improved Physics Student Writing in Two Instances of a Physics in Society Course

This study analyzes ungrading in two consecutive instances of an upper-level undergraduate course on physics and society taught by different professors at a large Canadian university. We used ungrading to combat students’ inattentiveness to feedback from teaching assistants in a previous graded course for six reflective assignments that required students to link their in-class learning to real-world examples. Longitudinal data courses showed that students’ writing improved to mastery level for most of the students examined.

Presenters: Garrick Burron and Carolyn Sealfon