Assessments and grading can be more inclusive by adding structure and emphasizing a growth mindset. Below are some examples of approaches that are aligned with inclusive practices.

Viji uses two-stage exams in her research methods course (pictured above) as well as in practice exam days in her statistics course. She enjoys how eagerly students work to solve the problems. It also helps communicate how much she values and wants them to see the benefits of collaborative learning.

Here's a bit about the mechanics of the two-stage exam as she implements it:

• Provide your directions to students before the testing session. For many students, this is an unfamilar testing strategy and they may be apprehensive about it. You can help them feel more comfortable with it by sharing how it will be implemented. With experience, you can assure them that you have had good experience with it and hope that they will to. (You may want to ask students to provide feedback on the process to help you adapt as well.)

• Determine and relay to students how they will be graded for this assessment.Viji has used a variety of grading schemes for these types of assessments from not graded (as is the case for practice exams where they are simply for class participation points) or as graded tests. She has also weighted each stage differently. Her most frequent grading scheme is to weight the individual round 50% and then the group round 50%. Many learning management sites handle averaging two grades easily, thus making implementation via LMS straightforward. It's important to give some weight to the individual round to encourage students to come prepared to demonstrate their learning and contribute to teams.

• Determine how students will be grouped. Viji recommends using previously assigned groups or at the very least assuring that someone has someone else to work with. Students may need some reassurance that they are likely to see a bump up in their individual round scores in the group round rather than a bump down. If you anticipate that their group round score could be lower you can assure them that you will retain the individual round if higher. In Viji's experience, the group round has always been close to 100% correct.

• Create a short assessment. Because you will be asking students to take an assessment twice, you will want to keep your assessment brief. Consider something that takes about 25-30% of class time to take to allow for students who need more time. Depending on the complexity of the exam and amount of reading required this can be as short as 5 questions and as long as about 15-20.

• Make two copies of the assessment for each stage. Round 1 of the assessment is the individual round. It looks and feels a lot like a traditional test. After it is complete, you can collect these and distribute the second copy. In more recent years, Viji did this through the LMS and created a "Round 2" of the assessment for when the students moved to group stage. Each round is password protected and students cannot move on until you announce the start of the next stage. In many cases, Viji has asked students to use only the "brain power" in the room and no notes or the internet to answer the questions. In some assessments she encourages them to research the answers -- you'll want to monitor time closely to ensure they don't run out of time in their research.

• You may like to incorporate a third stage or round 3. If time permits, you may want to break the assessment into 3 rounds: round 1 is individual, round 2 small groups, and lastly round 3 is the whole class discussion. Viji has typically averaged round 1 and 3 for the grade rather than use all three scores. Because round 3 is always 100%, she only has to grade round 1 and average it with 100%.

• Extra tips: If you have students who require additional time for accommodations, inquire if they are able to meet before the class session starts and then you can have them join the group as they get started. Be careful to safeguard the student's privacy regarding accommodations. If students are absent, encourage the students who cannot attend to come to an office hour or find a time to meet virtually and run the two-stage assessment there.

Sample assessment here.

Assessment of student learning can take on many different forms. Below we outline some examples.

• Ask the students what they want to do to demonstrate their learning at the end of the term. Viji has done this many times in her upper-level research methods course. One term the students made a presentation to key stakeholders on campus who had an interest in the group's research (such as the campus' Learning Center or Makerspace). Another term students made a website and short paper (see "Making Better Makers" above) showcasing their work. And yet another term, students submitted a paper for publication and abstracts to present at research conferences.

• Consider the use of authentic assessments. For a class involving the makerspace that Viji taught, students had to not only create an object that taught a statistical concept, but they had to create a short 2-3 page document ("white paper") to describe their tool and some of the data on the efficacy of the tool. This is the template she provided to students that they customized and submitted as their final assessment.

• E-portfolios. For a class Kelly taught about molecular aspects of disease, students chose a disease to work with all semester. Students completed seven projects over the semester, each one with multiple opportunities for peer and instructor feedback (using rubrics) before posting to a google site that they put together. Projects were designed to examine students ability practice thinking about the science and communicate to different audiences. For example, students demonstrated their ability to dive deep (example: research paper or research talk geared toward a science audience), ability to teach others (designed a curriculum for introductory biology students), ability to persuade (video for donors), and more. See examples here.