grading – Teaching Hub

Teaching how to do college: do grades help students learn? Part 2 of 2.

February 27, 2023

A masculine-presenting person of color showing a big smile while sitting on a green lawn holding papers in both hands and a laptop on their lap.The person’s expression of glee is what I hope students in my courses feel about learning!

by Lisa Beck, Psychology Another option, especially after having the above “let’s get curious” conversation with students part 1 of my post, may be to creatively remove the grading fixation altogether. This leads us to the spectrum of possibilities commonly referred to as “ungrading,” which has become quite the buzz word and hot topic in higher education over the past few years. According to Amy Kenyon, the Assistant Director for Teaching Innovation at Duke University’s Center for Instructional Technology: Ungrading […]

Teaching how to do college: do grades help students learn? Part 1 of 2.

February 27, 2023

sculpture of a hand holding up a massive tree branch.

by Lisa Beck, Psychology. Do grades help students learn? As a professor, I find myself frequently asking my students some variation of “what is your intention with their work… … this sentence, your research methodology, this intervention, fill-in-the-blank with other activities of the academy?” In mentoring conversations, this may be “what is your goal, and how is what you are doing now helping you to get there?” I also find myself asking similar questions of my own pedagogy: “why am […]

Using Gradescope to Give Detailed Feedback on Assignments

December 2, 2020

by Nathan Loewen, Department of Religious Studies/eTech Did you notice the “Gradescope” option under the “Build Content” option in your Blackboard courses in Fall 2020? Perhaps you also noticed the Gradescope resources posted by the Center for Instructional Technology? Thanks to the support of the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Engineering, and the Office of Information Technology, UA provided Gradescope for everyone using Blackboard on campus. And, thanks to the positive feedback of instructors, it is renewed […]

Last Week’s Teaching in 2020 – Episode 5

November 30, 2020

A revamped final project, a new lab assignment, and the tiered feedback model

Scan and Deliver! Personalized Feedback in Large Classes

April 26, 2017

barcodes used to scan and return graded exams

by Marco Bonizzoni and Diana Leung, Department of Chemistry Organic chemistry is a surprisingly visual discipline. Molecules, the fundamental entities of chemistry, exist as 3D objects whose shapes often profoundly influence their properties, so students must learn the visual language of the discipline, which attempts to convey the nature of these three-dimensional objects through two-dimensional drawings. When it comes to testing, students answer open-ended questions in handwritten free form. We both encourage our students to learn from their mistakes, from the […]

Be the Grader that You Wish to See in the World

December 16, 2015

by Nathan Loewen, Department of Religious Studies Final grades are due tomorrow! My colleague mentioned that eating cold cereal thrice daily was the norm over the weekend in order to minimize the time not spent writing comments on essays, verifying spreadsheet formulates, cross-checking assignments with rubrics, and all the other, sometimes mind-numbing tasks that arrive at the end of the term. And this is not to mention the host of final committee meetings that must take place to wrap up end-of-term business. Professors’ […]

Something’s in the Way: Struggling Students in Large Courses

November 16, 2015

by Nathan Loewen, Department of Religious Studies Since it is almost Thanksgiving, many students will be leaving UA for home, where they will inevitably be asked, “So, how are things going?” Here is a short story about a student who dropped by my office this term: Last week, a distraught student stopped by my office to ask about withdrawing from my class because their grade seemed irreparable. When asked who suggested withdrawal, the student answered, “I looked at how I was […]

These Aren’t the Grades You’re Looking For

October 7, 2015

by Nathan Loewen, Department of Religious Studies Today is the final day for the entry of mid-term grades for lower-level courses. As a new faculty member at UA, I had already noted the provost’s blog entry on entering these grades. I teach a 100-level course, so I have until midnight tonight to do so. According to the FAQ posted by the University Registrar, this is a hard deadline. Don’t miss it! I have already gone about the business of entering the marks, and I want to […]

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