A little more about your class:

Graduate-level Student Teaching/Practicum Seminar in the Adolescent Special Education Masters Degree Program.

The issue you’re addressing:

Does ungrading make a difference in how students fulfill the requirements of the course?

Tell us a bit more about your teaching innovation:

The change that I’m making in my teaching is to have assignments and activities that are ungraded; to be a process rather than just a graded assignment. Having the students revise and revisit their work was encouraging for them. They didn’t feel that they were just working for a grade. There were assignments that were not conducive to a grade. In fact, grading was always a stressful situation because one wants to be so fair and student work varies. It was very rewarding to see the students do excellent work, to submit all their work in a timely fashion, and be open to revising their work.

Your initial takeaways: 

My first impression was apprehension about having a course that is ungraded. At this time, I really feel very positive about this approach.

Suggested “podcast pairing”:

Susan Blum on “Engaging Ungrading” (Think UDL podcast)