The Grading Podcast

Two of the most frequent questions that come up when introducing instructors to alternative grading are "What about homework/effort?" and "What about due dates?" In this episode, Sharona and Bosley look carefully into both of these questions. From rethinking all the "work" in your class and grading it not on time, place and manner but rather on intent to marrying that intent to your due date structures and late policies, this is another episode where we take the time to talk and think deeply about some of the unexamined components of our classrooms.LinksPlease note - any books linked here are likely Amazon Associates links. Clicking on them and purchasing through them helps support the show. Thanks for your support!ResourcesThe Grading Conference - an annual, online conference exploring Alternative Grading in Higher Education & K-12.Some great resources to educate yourself about Alternative Grading:The Grading for Growth BlogThe Grading ConferenceThe Intentional Academia BlogRecommended Books on Alternative Grading (Please note - any books linked here are likely Amazon Associates links. Purchasing through them helps support the show. Thanks for your support!):Grading for Growth, by Robert Talbert and David ClarkSpecifications Grading, by Linda NilsenUndoing the Grade, by Jesse StommelGrading for Equity, by Joe FeldmanThe Grading Podcast publishes every week on Tuesday at 4 AM Pacific time, so be sure to subscribe and get notified of each new episode. You can follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram - @thegradingpod. To leave us a comment, please go to our website: www.thegradingpod.com and leave a comment on this episode's page.If you would like to be considered to be a guest on this show, please reach out using the Contact Us form on our website, www.thegradingpod.com.All content of this podcast and website are solely the opinions of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily represent the views of California State University Los Angeles or the Los Angeles Unified School District.MusicCountry Rock performed by Lite SaturationCountry Rock by Lite Saturation is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

By your request! A listener from New York City wrote in asking us to talk in more detail about our grading systems, what we have done right, what we have messed up - so we did! Sharona and Bosley talk in detail about some of the things they each tried and what worked and what has not. Keep those requests coming!LinksPlease note - any books linked here are likely Amazon Associates links. Clicking on them and purchasing through them helps support the show. Thanks for your support!The Case Against The ZeroThe Cast Against Percentage GradesPLCs at Work by Richard DuFourCollege BridgeResourcesThe Grading Conference - an annual, online conference exploring Alternative Grading in Higher Education & K-12.Some great resources to educate yourself about Alternative Grading:The Grading for Growth BlogThe Grading ConferenceThe Intentional Academia BlogRecommended Books on Alternative Grading (Please note - any books linked here are likely Amazon Associates links. Purchasing through them helps support the show. Thanks for your support!):Grading for Growth, by Robert Talbert and David ClarkSpecifications Grading, by Linda NilsenUndoing the Grade, by Jesse StommelGrading for Equity, by Joe FeldmanThe Grading Podcast publishes every week on Tuesday at 4 AM Pacific time, so be sure to subscribe and get notified of each new episode. You can follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram - @thegradingpod. To leave us a comment, please go to our website: www.thegradingpod.com and leave a comment on this episode's page.If you would like to be considered to be a guest on this show, please reach out using the Contact Us form on our website, www.thegradingpod.com.All content of this podcast and website are solely the opinions of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily represent the views of California State University Los Angeles or the Los Angeles Unified School District.MusicCountry Rock performed by Lite SaturationCountry Rock by Lite Saturation is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Let's discuss SoTL research! What is it, what are some of the things that have been done to apply SoTL research to Alt Grading, and where do we want to see it go? Dr. Drew Lewis returns to the pod to share his experiences with SoTL research in his classrooms. Sharona and Bosley also share some of their experiences and perspectives. If you are curious about SoTL research, we go deeper into some of the choices that we can make to do useful, effective research in support of alternative grading practices. LinksPlease note - any books linked here are likely Amazon Associates links. Clicking on them and purchasing through them helps support the show. Thanks for your support!Dr. Drew LewisImpacts of Standards-Based Grading on Students' Mindset and Test Anxiety, Drew LewisApplying a Standards-Based Grading Framework Across Lower Level Mathematics Courses, Drew Lewis and Jay ElsingerResourcesThe Grading Conference - an annual, online conference exploring Alternative Grading in Higher Education & K-12. Registration for 2024 now open!Some great resources to educate yourself about Alternative Grading:The Grading for Growth BlogThe Grading ConferenceThe Intentional Academia BlogRecommended Books on Alternative Grading (Please note - any books linked here are likely Amazon Associates links. Purchasing through them helps support the show. Thanks for your support!):Grading for Growth, by Robert Talbert and David ClarkSpecifications Grading, by Linda NilsenUndoing the Grade, by Jesse StommelGrading for Equity, by Joe FeldmanThe Grading Podcast publishes every week on Tuesday at 4 AM Pacific time, so be sure to subscribe and get notified of each new episode. You can follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram - @thegradingpod. To leave us a comment, please go to our website: www.thegradingpod.com and leave a comment on this episode's page.If you would like to be considered to be a guest on this show, please reach out using the Contact Us form on our website, www.thegradingpod.com.All content of this podcast and website are solely the opinions of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily represent the views of California State University Los Angeles or the Los Angeles Unified School District.MusicCountry Rock performed by Lite SaturationCountry Rock by Lite Saturation is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

In this week's episode, Dr. Steven Clontz returns to talk in more detail about creating and using open source tools to support aspects of alt grading such as authoring assessment banks to support the reattempts needed in many alt grading systems. Join us as we look at how CheckIt, Dr. Clontz's open authoring tool for assessments, developed and what path forward he sees to developing the sociotechnical infrastructure needed to better support instructors and students in the work of implementing alternatively graded classes.LinksPlease note - any books linked here are likely Amazon Associates links. Clicking on them and purchasing through them helps support the show. Thanks for your support!www.clontz.orgcheckit.clontz.orgShout out to Jean-SébastienThe PROSE ConsortiumPreTeXtResourcesThe Grading Conference - an annual, online conference exploring Alternative Grading in Higher Education & K-12.Some great resources to educate yourself about Alternative Grading:The Grading for Growth BlogThe Grading ConferenceThe Intentional Academia BlogRecommended Books on Alternative Grading (Please note - any books linked here are likely Amazon Associates links. Purchasing through them helps support the show. Thanks for your support!):Grading for Growth, by Robert Talbert and David ClarkSpecifications Grading, by Linda NilsenUndoing the Grade, by Jesse StommelGrading for Equity, by Joe FeldmanThe Grading Podcast publishes every week on Tuesday at 4 AM Pacific time, so be sure to subscribe and get notified of each new episode. You can follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram - @thegradingpod. To leave us a comment, please go to our website: www.thegradingpod.com and leave a comment on this episode's page.If you would like to be considered to be a guest on this show, please reach out using the Contact Us form on our website, www.thegradingpod.com.All content of this podcast and website are solely the opinions of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily represent the views of California State University Los Angeles or the Los Angeles Unified School District.MusicCountry Rock performed by Lite SaturationCountry Rock by Lite Saturation is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

In this episode, Sharona and Bosley take a detailed look at what goes into developing a course calendar for an alternatively graded course. How do we schedule all those "reattempts" into a term? And what impact does that have on our organization and communication with our students?LinksPlease note - any books linked here are likely Amazon Associates links. Clicking on them and purchasing through them helps support the show. Thanks for your support!We recommend checking out the various discipline based repositories for more detailed information on what other folks have done:The Grading Conference Resources PageMaterials repository: MathMaterials repository: PhysicsMaterials repository: BiologyMaterials repository: ChemistryResourcesThe Grading Conference - an annual, online conference exploring Alternative Grading in Higher Education & K-12.Some great resources to educate yourself about Alternative Grading:The Grading for Growth BlogThe Grading ConferenceThe Intentional Academia BlogRecommended Books on Alternative Grading (Please note - any books linked here are likely Amazon Associates links. Purchasing through them helps support the show. Thanks for your support!):Grading for Growth, by Robert Talbert and David ClarkSpecifications Grading, by Linda NilsenUndoing the Grade, by Jesse StommelGrading for Equity, by Joe FeldmanThe Grading Podcast publishes every week on Tuesday at 4 AM Pacific time, so be sure to subscribe and get notified of each new episode. You can follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram - @thegradingpod. To leave us a comment, please go to our website: www.thegradingpod.com and leave a comment on this episode's page.If you would like to be considered to be a guest on this show, please reach out using the Contact Us form on our website, www.thegradingpod.com.All content of this podcast and website are solely the opinions of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily represent the views of California State University Los Angeles or the Los Angeles Unified School District.MusicCountry Rock performed by Lite SaturationCountry Rock by Lite Saturation is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Welcome to 2024! In our first new episode of the year, Sharona sits down with Drew Lewis and Steven Clontz to discuss their Team-Based Inquiry Learning project as well as other parts of the growing open resource community. We look at the integration of Alternative Grading with active and inquiry-based learning, learn about TBIL, and also delve a little bit into some of the other NSF projects coming along to support instructors in the areas of assessment, instructional design, and enhanced classroom activities.LinksPlease note - any books linked here are likely Amazon Associates links. Clicking on them and purchasing through them helps support the show. Thanks for your support!The Team-Based Inquiry Learning Project (tbil.org)The PROSE Consortium CheckIt Assessment ToolTBIL Linear AlgebraTBIL CalculusDrew LewisSteven ClontzDo the Math!: Challenging, Fun Math Puzzles for Kids, by Steven ClontzResourcesThe Grading Conference - an annual, online conference exploring Alternative Grading in Higher Education & K-12.Some great resources to educate yourself about Alternative Grading:The Grading for Growth BlogThe Grading ConferenceThe Intentional Academia BlogRecommended Books on Alternative Grading (Please note - any books linked here are likely Amazon Associates links. Purchasing through them helps support the show. Thanks for your support!):Grading for Growth, by Robert Talbert and David ClarkSpecifications Grading, by Linda NilsenUndoing the Grade, by Jesse StommelGrading for Equity, by Joe FeldmanThe Grading Podcast publishes every week on Tuesday at 4 AM Pacific time, so be sure to subscribe and get notified of each new episode. You can follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram - @thegradingpod. To leave us a comment, please go to our website: www.thegradingpod.com and leave a comment on this episode's page.If you would like to be considered to be a guest on this show, please reach out using the Contact Us form on our website, www.thegradingpod.com.All content of this podcast and website are solely the opinions of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily represent the views of California State University Los Angeles or the Los Angeles Unified School District.MusicCountry Rock performed by Lite SaturationCountry Rock by Lite Saturation is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

It's the last of our replay episodes as we finish out our holiday break. As we start to think about next semester, we felt it was a good time to think about how we will begin building buy-in from the very beginning. Enjoy as we discuss options for getting buy-in with students and others.LinksPlease note - any books linked here are likely Amazon Associates links. Clicking on them and purchasing through them helps support the show. Thanks for your support!Whatever it Takes, by Richard DuFourThe SAFE Approach to Earning Buy-In, Robert TalbertAlabama School of CyberTechnology and Engineering Interview (Episode 17)ResourcesThe Grading Conference - an annual, online conference exploring Alternative Grading in Higher Education & K-12.Some great resources to educate yourself about Alternative Grading:The Grading for Growth BlogThe Grading ConferenceThe Intentional Academia BlogRecommended Books on Alternative Grading (Please note - any books linked here are likely Amazon Associates links. Purchasing through them helps support the show. Thanks for your support!):Grading for Growth, by Robert Talbert and David ClarkSpecifications Grading, by Linda NilsenUndoing the Grade, by Jesse StommelGrading for Equity, by Joe FeldmanThe Grading Podcast publishes every week on Tuesday at 4 AM Pacific time, so be sure to subscribe and get notified of each new episode. You can follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram - @thegradingpod. To leave us a comment, please go to our website: www.thegradingpod.com and leave a comment on this episode's page.If you would like to be considered to be a guest on this show, please reach out using the Contact Us form on our website, www.thegradingpod.com.All content of this podcast and website are solely the opinions of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily represent the views of California State University Los Angeles or the Los Angeles Unified School District.MusicCountry Rock performed by Lite SaturationCountry Rock by Lite Saturation is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

As we continue to enjoy the holiday season, Sharona and Bosley revisit their own grading architecture decisions and discuss some things they are thinking about for the next semester. From rethinking how we collect the evidence of learning and considering how our proficiency scales impact the design of our grading architecture, semester breaks are often spent tinkering. Enjoy revisiting Episode 7 with us as we take a break from the usual day-to-day work of educators.LinksPlease note - any books linked here are likely Amazon Associates links. Clicking on them and purchasing through them helps support the show. Thanks for your support!www.tilthighered.com Episode 2: Getting Started Part 1, the Problems with Traditional GradingResourcesThe Grading Conference - an annual, online conference exploring Alternative Grading in Higher Education & K-12.Some great resources to educate yourself about Alternative Grading:The Grading for Growth BlogThe Grading ConferenceThe Intentional Academia BlogRecommended Books on Alternative Grading (Please note - any books linked here are likely Amazon Associates links. Purchasing through them helps support the show. Thanks for your support!):Grading for Growth, by Robert Talbert and David ClarkSpecifications Grading, by Linda NilsenUndoing the Grade, by Jesse StommelGrading for Equity, by Joe FeldmanThe Grading Podcast publishes every week on Tuesday at 4 AM Pacific time, so be sure to subscribe and get notified of each new episode. You can follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram - @thegradingpod. To leave us a comment, please go to our website: www.thegradingpod.com and leave a comment on this episode's page.If you would like to be considered to be a guest on this show, please reach out using the Contact Us form on our website, www.thegradingpod.com.All content of this podcast and website are solely the opinions of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily represent the views of California State University Los Angeles or the Los Angeles Unified School District.MusicCountry Rock performed by Lite SaturationCountry Rock by Lite Saturation is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

We're heading into the holiday break, so over the next few weeks we'll be replaying some previous episodes while adding some thoughts as we conclude the Fall semester of 2023. So enjoy your holiday break! In this episode, we describe the four decisions that make up the "Grading Architecture" of an alternatively graded course.How will you assess your learning targets?What type of proficiency scale(s) will you use?How will students show proficiency for a specific learning target? (I.e. how much evidence and of what kind to they need to provide)How will you wrap up into a final grade?After introducing the four decisions, we explore some examples of common options used for each of the decisions. This includes:What types of evidence of learning will you accept?Exploring three common types of proficiency scales - 2 level, 3 level and 4 level scalesDescribing different methods for determining proficiency on a specific target (the Guskey method, N times, and decaying average)Evaluating options for rolling up grades, including the simple count method, the bucket method, and the "good to great" method with multiple levels of proficiency.LinksPlease note - any books linked here are likely Amazon Associates links. Clicking on them and purchasing through them helps support the show. Thanks for your support!Implementing Mastery Learning, by Thomas GuskeyResourcesThe Grading Conference - an annual, online conference exploring Alternative Grading in Higher Education & K-12.Some great resources to educate yourself about Alternative Grading:The Grading for Growth BlogThe Grading ConferenceThe Intentional Academia BlogRecommended Books on Alternative Grading (Please note - any books linked here are likely Amazon Associates links. Purchasing through them helps support the show. Thanks for your support!):Grading for Growth, by Robert Talbert and David ClarkSpecifications Grading, by Linda NilsenUndoing the Grade, by Jesse StommelGrading for Equity, by Joe FeldmanThe Grading Podcast publishes every week on Tuesday at 4 AM Pacific time, so be sure to subscribe and get notified of each new episode. You can follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram - @thegradingpod. To leave us a comment, please go to our website: www.thegradingpod.com and leave a comment on this episode's page.If you would like to be considered to be a guest on this show, please reach out using the Contact Us form on our website, www.thegradingpod.com.All content of this podcast and website are solely the opinions of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily represent the views of California State University Los Angeles or the Los Angeles Unified School District.MusicCountry Rock performed by Lite SaturationCountry Rock by Lite Saturation is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Dr. Katie Mattaini is an lecturer in Biology at Tufts University. In this episode, we talk with Katie about how to think about equity and inclusion when designing a course using alt grading. Katie uses a range of alt grading practices from standards-based grading in into biology to collaborative grading (or ungrading) in an upper level Cancer Bio course. This wide ranging conversation touches on the fundamentals of course design, the need for deep thinking about the use of due dates with different student populations, and concludes with some advice for alt grading practitioners to think about when considering inclusion and equity in their courses. LinksPlease note - any books linked here are likely Amazon Associates links. Clicking on them and purchasing through them helps support the show. Thanks for your support!Katie Mattaini at Tufts UniversityBuilding meaningful student-instructor relationships (on the Grading for Growth blog), by Katie MattainiTwitter Threads about #ungradingResourcesThe Grading Conference - an annual, online conference exploring Alternative Grading in Higher Education & K-12.Some great resources to educate yourself about Alternative Grading:The Grading for Growth BlogThe Grading ConferenceThe Intentional Academia BlogRecommended Books on Alternative Grading (Please note - any books linked here are likely Amazon Associates links. Purchasing through them helps support the show. Thanks for your support!):Grading for Growth, by Robert Talbert and David ClarkSpecifications Grading, by Linda NilsenUndoing the Grade, by Jesse StommelGrading for Equity, by Joe FeldmanThe Grading Podcast publishes every week on Tuesday at 4 AM Pacific time, so be sure to subscribe and get notified of each new episode. You can follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram - @thegradingpod. To leave us a comment, please go to our website: www.thegradingpod.com and leave a comment on this episode's page.If you would like to be considered to be a guest on this show, please reach out using the Contact Us form on our website, www.thegradingpod.com.All content of this podcast and website are solely the opinions of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily represent the views of California State University Los Angeles or the Los Angeles Unified School District.MusicCountry Rock performed by Lite SaturationCountry Rock by Lite Saturation is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.