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Did you know that academic grades originated with the qualification of meat? For real. Grade A beef! And then the grading system (through several permutations) eventually seeped into the Ivy League schools and then all the rest of academia over 100 years ago. Schools did not start out with grades!
Why competency/effort based grading?
Why competency/effort based grading?
This will most likely be a very different kind of class with regards to grading. Many scholars have been investigating the effects of grading for years and have found that it has an inverse and negative impact on actual learning. When students are focussed on their grades, they are not focussed on what they are actually learning. And I think that sucks. Really. So I don't want to do that. I really want us to focus on the learning and acquisition of intercultural competence and other transferrable skills in this class so that it is actually helpful and transformative for you, my students.
This page will explain why traditional grading is unhelpful and and why your grade will be based on your effort, risk, and persistence in the class.
Grades diminish your interest in what you are learning
Grades diminish your interest in what you are learning
A "grading orientation" in which you are focussed on earning a grade is in direct contrast to a "learning orientation." Grades distract you from the actual learning. When you are worried about grades, you are not able to follow your interest because you are afraid of failure. You will need to risk, and yes, fail, in this class in order to improve your intercultural competence skills. I don't want grades to inhibit you.
Grades make you prefer the easiest possible task
Grades make you prefer the easiest possible task
If you are worried about a grade, you will often cut corners (choose a shorter article, tackle a smaller task) in order to maximize your score with minimal effort. You might choose a less risky or less complex subject because you want a good grade rather than an educational or learning experience. This also goes against what we are trying to do and learn in this class. There should be no de-motivating factors in your learning process.
grades reduce the quality of your thinking
grades reduce the quality of your thinking
Do you find yourself asking "Will this be on the test?" When you are wondering if you will be responsible for some information, then you are not fully grasping what the information is. If you are worried about a test, you are missing out on the real point of the learning. I don't think that is helpful. Without grades, then you can ask questions like, "How do I know this is true?" Your thinking is allowed to go deeper and ask more beautiful questions.
If you'd like to read more about ungrading, I suggest reading the works of these scholars: Alfie Kohn, Cathy Davidson, Jesse Stommel and Susan Blum. The three points above are from Alfie Kohn, and the other three authors offer many ways to think about ungrading.
Lillian and one of her First Year Students toast in a Belgian restaurant on a Study Abroad FYS trip. (This is a legal drink in Europe for my student- his first. And I don't care for beer, just a nice hard cider or a cherry Belgian beer that you can't even get in America.)
Ghent, Belgium, 2017
Working together on grades
Working together on grades
What does an "A" look like and how about a "C" in this class? Read through this Effort-Based Grading Guidelines document for our class. It would be great if we could do this over waffles and ice cream, but we will have to suffice over a google doc. I hope that this will allow for risk and creativity, deep thoughtfulness and exploration, and the unfettered development of curiosity, openness, and a transformative experience. If you feel really uncomfortable right now about it, that is totally normal. And that's OK. You are already experiencing a very different and counter-cultural (at least in traditional academia) process. And that's all part of the learning in the course. So if you are slightly uncomfortable, that's good! You are now ready to learn!
Effort-Based Grading for Intercultural Dialogues
Your grade in the class will be based on your completion of a number of tasks during the semester. Most of these tasks are worth 5 points. And every day you come to class, you also earn 5 points (3 if you are late, 0 if you miss class). Most of these 5 point exercises will be you working out some concept we are learning for yourself (for example, drawing an iceberg, creating a stick-figure cartoon, responding to a classmate on a discussion board prompt for one of our asynchronous activities, participating in a poll during a synchronous zoom meeting). The more effort you expend, the more you are learning. The one who does the work is the one who is doing the learning. I will present information, of course, but a lot of our class will be trying out new ideas and learning together (see my cave spelunking video in our liquid syllabus).
There are a few larger assignments that will count for more points:
25 pts Name Story
30 pts Annotated Bibliography
30 pts Completed International Exchange
20 pts Final Reflection exercise
Total Points for Semester is around 350 total points.
200-250 for in class and out of class exercises (can vary, but everyone will have the same number of points possible)
plus attendance points = 110 (22 synchronous classes x 5 pts per class)
A = 90% - 100% of total points
A- = 85% - 89.9% of total points
B+ = 80% - 84.9% of total points
B = 75% - 79.9% of total points
B- = 70% - 74.9% of total points
C = 60% - 69.9% of total points
D = 50% - 59.9% of total points
F = below 50% total points
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