Corrie J. Navis

Undergraduate student experiences with a non-traditional grading approach

In fall 2022, I conducted a study in partnership with colleague Cynthia Carter to examine undergraduate student perspectives on traditional grades and experiences in a course that used a non-traditional grading approach (e.g., one of many possible assessment and feedback systems that falls under the broad umbrella of "ungrading" strategies). We aimed to gain insight about student perspectives on alternative grading structures, as their voices are often missing from scholarship reflecting on attempts to implement such (un)grading approaches.

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Our primary research question was: How does use of an alternative grading system in an undergraduate course impact students’ experiences in the course? This was broken down into a number of sub-questions of interest:

• What are undergraduate students’ perspectives on alternative grading systems when they are first introduced to the concept in a course?

• How do those perspectives change (if at all) after students have gained experience with an alternative grading system during a course?

• What are undergraduate students’ perspectives on traditional grades, and in what ways may alternative grading systems be perceived (by the students) as aiding or disadvantaging them as compared to traditional grading systems?

• Do student perspectives on and experiences with an alternative grading system differ among demographic groups (e.g., underrepresented minorities, first-generation college students, students who completed most of their prior schooling outside of the U.S., or disabled students)?

 

We invited participation by students in an undergraduate course in which the instructor was implementing an alternative grading approach for the first time that semester, replacing traditional points-based grading with criteria-based levels of achievement, opportunity for revision and resubmission of work, and student participation in determining a representative final letter grade for the course. We used online surveys and semi-structured interviews to gather qualitative and quantitative data on student demographics, educational backgrounds, feelings about traditional grades, and thoughts on the assessment approach being used in their current course. 

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Summarized results of our research were shared with the course instructor after conclusion of the course so that the information gleaned could be used to inform adjustments to future iterations of the course. We also presented this research at the University System of Georgia (USG) Teaching & Learning Conference in May 2023 to share what we'd learned with other instructors across the USG system who may be considering implementing alternative assessment approaches in their own courses. Insights gained through our research have already been used to inform adjustments and implementation of similar assessment frameworks in additional courses within the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources.

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