Tactics to Recenter Grading

1. The structure of the gradebook matters!

The inclusion of multiple categories in a gradebook balances accuracy and effort based grading. A grading system that rewards both effort and knowledge has been shown to stimulate student interest in improvement (source?). Additionally, it helps acknowledge and address issues of equity. There are three main categories that should be included in a gradebook:

1. Attendance (and maybe participation):

Learning is a process, and exposure to the content in the classroom or lecture setting is a good start. Students can learn a little each class instead of cramming all new information right before the exam. Within a week’s time, nearly 75% of the material ‘learned’ from cramming will be lost (Citation). Beyond being exposed to the content, student attendance is important because it is where you (the professor) share your knowledge. Sure, the student can read the book or look at the slides, but you offer passion, outside knowledge, and perspective on the content. There is a reason you are the one teaching the course. Assessing attendance is simple; the student is either present or absent. However, it is imperative that perfect attendance or participation is not expected. Attending class is important, but not as important as health and mental wellbeing (Wright, 2020). Allowing grace in terms of attendance makes the classroom more equitable, otherwise the students who have chronic illnesses, have to work multiple jobs, etc are punished even further for something out of their control. As previously mentioned, evaluating participation is one of the most subjective areas of grading (Feldman, 2019). However, I do understand that in discussion based courses it may be a requirement, so effort must be made to make it more equitable. Here are some ways to work towards that:

• Set quantitative criteria and scoring rubric (i.e.) comment X amount of times, write X word response
• Grading for completion versus accuracy (Schinske & Tanner, 2014)
• Offer multiple ways to participate and contribute (Holly et al., 2023)
• Vocal, written, discussion boards, small group work, clicker questions, etc

Homework/application problems:

Exposure and practice with the class content is important because it requires repetition and retrieval, both of which are steps in the learning process (ASC at OSU, n.d.). For the practice to evolve into understanding, it is beneficial to create feedback loops (Clark & Talbert, 2023). Humans fundamentally learn through feedback loops, which can be created by allowing multiple attempts on problems. Students can rework the problem to figure out where they went wrong and how to correct it instead of giving up after the first failed attempt. Online answer resources such as Chegg or Course Hero can create inequities in terms of homework because the students who can afford to spend money on those subscriptions are at an advantage. Allowing multiple attempts can help resolve this inequality because the student who solved the problem on their own but needed three attempts receives the same grade as someone who bought the answer. Another way to address this inequality is to frequently alter the questions or use original questions. The alterations can be as simple as changing any small detail in the problem that would result in a different correct answer (i.e. numbers, directions, labels, etc).

Assessments:

The evaluation of student learning can be completed in many different ways. Each type of assessment has its own benefits and limitations that should be considered when deciding how to assess student learning for each course.

Source to Help Determine Best Form of Assessment: https://www.unb.ca/fredericton/cetl/_assets/documents/teaching-tips/assessment/varietyinassignments.pdf

P.S. – Adding more to your gradebook does not mean more grading for you! (see point 3)

Improve equity through communication

• Rubrics:
  • Reduce inconsistencies and increase objectivity in grading (Schinske & Tanner, 2014)
  • Sharing with students before hand can lead to enhanced learning by allowing for feedback and self-assessment (Schinske & Tanner, 2014)
  • Providing students with the rubric beforehand can reduce stress (Harbin, 2015)
• Building exams from practice problems
• Give clear directions
  • Can be completed by providing a rubric
  • Helps the student determine how to approach the question or assignment

Make these changes without creating more work for you.

• Utilize technology:
  • Online homework offered through book
    • My physics homework through Wiley uses different numbers within the same problem.
  • Add it as a self-graded quiz on canvas
  • Online attendance/participation resources (tophat, iClicker)
• Grade for completion, not accuracy
  • Smaller assignments completed outside of class can be graded quickly based on simple criteria such as due date, word or page count, resources (Schinske & Tanner, 2014). The purpose behind these assignments is to have the students engaging with the course content.
  • Examples:
    • Response papers to a question posed in class or anything about the reading
    • Case studies, concept maps, and other written assignments
    • Tophat and iClicker questions during lecture
• Utilize peer revisions and self reflection
  • Using a rubric or provided grading criteria, students can help themselves and their peers by assessing their confusion and making corrections (Schinske & Tanner, 2014) . This offers a feedback loop and opportunity for learning the same way that multiple attempts at a homework problem can.

Remove the Curve.

Removes competition between students (Schinske & Tanner, 2014)

• encourages collaboration and community; students can rely on and support one another
• Instead, analyze the assessment result for trends to figure out what students are struggling with and why.