20 Small Starts for Alternative Grading
Wondering how to get started with alternative grading? Robert's blog post gives many small, use-them-tomorrow ways to implement at least one of the four pillars in your own class.
A couple of weeks ago I posted about the "System Myth", that before any meaningful work can be done with alternative grading, we must have large-scale systemic changes to the system of education in which it takes place. One of the reasons this is a myth is that it is possible to take small steps, which involve little to no additional effort to implement, toward reforming and improving the way we grade in higher education. It's not only possible to do this, faculty are doing this on a daily basis in all kinds of professional situations where a full-scale system-changing approach might not be feasible or possible. Those small, incremental steps can lead to real improvements in students' learning experiences.
In a recent poll on Twitter, I asked people who are using alternative grading how they got started: Was it with a complete redesign of an existing system or by making one or more small, incremental changes to a traditional approach? Most said the latter.
In am earlier post, I suggested a framework for starting small: Pick one of the Four Pillars, and do one thing related to it. In the spirit of this blog and our book, which is to give not only big ideas but concrete and sensible blueprints for action, I came up with 20 different ways you might use this framework to implement small changes. Not all of these will make sense for your situation. But maybe some will spark an idea.