I think there are two separate things, and mixing the two up is part of the reason that there's so much attention right now:
"Ungrading" as a classroom practice (e.g. what we describe here) is hot right now and is getting lots of attention. That's genuinely new as a widespread practice, and it's caught the media's eye as a result.
I think there are two separate things, and mixing the two up is part of the reason that there's so much attention right now:
"Ungrading" as a classroom practice (e.g. what we describe here) is hot right now and is getting lots of attention. That's genuinely new as a widespread practice, and it's caught the media's eye as a result.
Separately, "narrative evaluations and feedback with no final grades" has been around for a long time at a few places exactly as you say, but it's getting mixed up (intentionally or not) with "ungrading" (no grades on assignments). So it's being brought up as part of the "ungrading" discussion by confused journalists who don't realize they're not the same thing.
Finally, I think there is a culture war element: "Professors are doing this thing, I can make up a narrative where it's 'woke', so let's argue about it" gets clicks and viewers.
I think there are two separate things, and mixing the two up is part of the reason that there's so much attention right now:
"Ungrading" as a classroom practice (e.g. what we describe here) is hot right now and is getting lots of attention. That's genuinely new as a widespread practice, and it's caught the media's eye as a result.
Separately, "narrative evaluations and feedback with no final grades" has been around for a long time at a few places exactly as you say, but it's getting mixed up (intentionally or not) with "ungrading" (no grades on assignments). So it's being brought up as part of the "ungrading" discussion by confused journalists who don't realize they're not the same thing.
Finally, I think there is a culture war element: "Professors are doing this thing, I can make up a narrative where it's 'woke', so let's argue about it" gets clicks and viewers.