Thanks for a fantastic post! I had an almost identical experience when I began using a 3-point rubric: students were discouraged by their low grades and frustrated that “if I get one little thing wrong, I’m already at a 67%!” Despite my reassurances that the 3-point scale was more of a guideline than a rule (students named their own midterm and final grades along with an explanation), it took most of the semester to reduce student anxiety. If only I could have read this post in advance of my class. This semester, I am still using a three-level rubric, but I increased the points assigned to each level. This seems to have reduced student anxiety. I will know more when I see midterm survey results next week. I appreciate you sharing what didn’t work because I was able to empathize with so much of it.
Thank you for sharing! I also find it reassuring to hear from other people having similar experiences. Hopefully we can learn from each other and make it work out it in the end!
This is very familiar, if not in the details! Phenomenally useful essay as I get ready to return to the classroom after three semesters away (for research and having babies).
". . . the Learning Management System in use at my institution required me to choose how to report the final grade of an assignment as either a letter grade, a percentage, points, or complete/incomplete."
I think this is something that many people do not really appreciate. Often, the LMS or grading system simply does not support alternative grading schemes, and it's a real struggle to make the class work within that constraint. I've worked a lot with Canvas and Gradescope, and I think they are both excellent. But it can be difficult to make certain things happen in these products e.g. allowing students to resubmit an assignment, or using different method of reporting scores. Many (not all!) of the discussion of alternative grading seems to come from people in the humanities teaching small classes, and they often work out an approach that doesn't rely on an LMS. But these solutions don't scale well with large classes or with courses built around problem sets rather than papers.
This sounds like a minor technical detail, but in practice it's a serious issue, and I think it is a major factor in the resistance to alternative grading strategies.
Thanks for a fantastic post! I had an almost identical experience when I began using a 3-point rubric: students were discouraged by their low grades and frustrated that “if I get one little thing wrong, I’m already at a 67%!” Despite my reassurances that the 3-point scale was more of a guideline than a rule (students named their own midterm and final grades along with an explanation), it took most of the semester to reduce student anxiety. If only I could have read this post in advance of my class. This semester, I am still using a three-level rubric, but I increased the points assigned to each level. This seems to have reduced student anxiety. I will know more when I see midterm survey results next week. I appreciate you sharing what didn’t work because I was able to empathize with so much of it.
Thank you for sharing! I also find it reassuring to hear from other people having similar experiences. Hopefully we can learn from each other and make it work out it in the end!
This is very familiar, if not in the details! Phenomenally useful essay as I get ready to return to the classroom after three semesters away (for research and having babies).
". . . the Learning Management System in use at my institution required me to choose how to report the final grade of an assignment as either a letter grade, a percentage, points, or complete/incomplete."
I think this is something that many people do not really appreciate. Often, the LMS or grading system simply does not support alternative grading schemes, and it's a real struggle to make the class work within that constraint. I've worked a lot with Canvas and Gradescope, and I think they are both excellent. But it can be difficult to make certain things happen in these products e.g. allowing students to resubmit an assignment, or using different method of reporting scores. Many (not all!) of the discussion of alternative grading seems to come from people in the humanities teaching small classes, and they often work out an approach that doesn't rely on an LMS. But these solutions don't scale well with large classes or with courses built around problem sets rather than papers.
This sounds like a minor technical detail, but in practice it's a serious issue, and I think it is a major factor in the resistance to alternative grading strategies.