Ungrading: Exploring a New CurricuLUM

Ungrading Educational Resources

The Ungrading approach can be very broad and come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. It's meant to be this way so that it's flexible and adaptable for all variables that come with learning, from the environment, students, accessibility, etc. This section of my website is meant to give educators interested in implementing bits and pieces of the Ungrading approach a handful of resources to get started, or to help you learn more about Ungrading. I'm looking to continue updating this resource page as I continue my own practice and inclusion of Ungrading.

Photo by Jo Szczepanska on Unsplash

Ungrading Introduction

An Introduction to Ungrading:
Trying something different can be intimating. Trying something different and having to read long articles, books, research, etc. about it can be discouraging. A short 5 minute video introducing the idea of Ungrading is a great way to start warming up to this new approach. On their YouTube channel, there are 3 additional videos that can also provide additional information on Student Participation, Delay Grading, and creating a Syllabus & approaching Final Grades.

Resources:
Introduction to Ungrading
Playlist of Ungrading Videos by USC CLC

The Ungrading Handbook:
This resource is more of an interactive digital document meant to help educators start thinking and questioning the way we do things, and engage with the Ungrading approach. The handbook has "fill in the blank" sections for educators to self reflect on their practice, a collection of links to more resources, videos, anecdotes, and excerpts from other works.

Resource:
The Ungrading Handbook

Alternative Assessments:
Traditional Assessments often include exams, quizzes, and tests, which we've seen may not properly show a students' true understanding of the content, in addition to potentially causing additional anxiety and stress to our students. There are Alternative Assessments that educators can use to assess a student's understanding of the content through a wider range of activities that can also engage students better through multiple literacies, allow more room for creativity, and reduce anxiety and stress, etc. Some examples of Alternative Assessments include Case Studies, Storytelling, Infographics, Portfolios, Videos, Podcasts, Blogs/Vlogs, Roleplaying, and more. from York University provides a quick overview of each Alternative Assessment, with its benefits, challenges, examples, rubric, and additional resources.

This resource also provides samples of course outlines, rubrics and assignments.
Ungrading and Alternative Assessment

Student Agency & Learning:
While there are multiple examples of Alternative Assessments to utilize, they are not all made equally and provide different benefits and challenges. Sorensen-Unruh provides an in-depth look at these examples, and graphs out the different assessments in a grid displaying which ones provide more or less student learning, and which ones promote positive student learning agency or instructor compliance.
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Resource:
The Ungrading Learning Theory We Have Is Not the Ungrading Learning Theory We Need

Recommended Books & Articles

An In-Depth Look:
There is lots of documented research around Ungrading and Alternative Assessments. The literature contains data, examples, anecdotes, commentary, and further in-depth information on Ungrading, Alternative Assessments, and grading.

Resources:
"Ungrading: Why Rating Students Undermines Learning (and What to Do Instead)"
by Susan D. Blum
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"Grading for Equity"
by Joe Feldman
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"The Case Against Grades"
by Alfie Kohn

“How to Ungrade”
by Jesse Stommel

"Practical Tips for Instructors"
by Jessie Kwak

Recommended Websites

Digital Resources:
The advantage of digital resources is that they are often a "living" piece of work, where they are dynamic and ever changing, new things being added all the time as updates come in. Attached are some resources that continue to grow. Posts being added and updated, and access to conferences to discuss and interact with others who are interested in the same subject.

Resources:
Hybrid Pedagogy (Jesse Stommel’s work)‍
The Ungrading Conference (Annual event with talks and resources)

Practical Tools

Getting Started
There isn't just one right way to approach Ungrading, but there are a couple of key characteristics that make up Ungrading. Attached is a guide on what characteristics to include in your practice as an educator, and a checklist to help you get started.

Resources:
Ungrading Toolkit
Ungrading Getting Started Checklist

Rubrics:
‍Students rely on detailed and specific feedback in order to understand where they are in their educational progress, and rubrics help educators relay this kind of information to students. Rubrics don't have to be extremely complex. There are ways to make rubrics short but informative, attached are 3 examples of rubrics that can be used in an Ungrading approach.
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Resources:
EMRF Rubric
Single Point Rubric
Syllabus with a mix of 2 kinds of Rubrics