Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) Virtual Bookshelf

Are you satisfied with your current and traditional grading system? Does it accurately reflect your students' learning and progress? Can it be gamed? Does it lead to grade-grubbing and friction with your students? The authors of this book - two professors of mathematics with input from colleagues across disciplines and institutions - offer readers a fundamentally more effective and authentic approach to grading that they have implemented for over a decade. Recognizing that traditional grading penalizes students in the learning process by depriving them of the formative feedback that is fundamental to improvement, the authors offer alternative strategies that encourage revision and growth. Alternative grading is concerned with students' eventuallevel of understanding. This leads to big changes: Students take time to review past failures and learn from them. Conversations shift from "why did I lose a point for this" to productive discussions of content and process. Alternative grading can be used successfully at anylevel, in anysituation, and anydiscipline, in classes that range from seminars to large multi-section lectures. This book offers a comprehensive introduction to alternative grading, beginning with a framework and rationale for implementation and evidence of its effectiveness. The heart of the book includes detailed examples - including variations on Standards-Based Grading, Specifications Grading, and ungrading -- of how alternative grading practices are used in all kinds of classroom environments, disciplines and institutions with a focus on first-hand accounts by faculty who share their practices and experience. The book includes a workbook chapter that takes readers through a step-by-step process for building a prototype of their own alternatively graded class and ends with concrete, practical, time-tested advice for new practitioners. The underlying principles of alternative grading involve Evaluating student work using clearly defined and context-appropriate content standards. Giving students helpful, actionable feedback. Summarizing the feedback with marks that indicate progress rather than arbitrary numbers. Allowing students to revise without penalty, using the feedback they receive, until the standards are met or exceeded. This book is intended for faculty interested in exploring alternative forms of learning assessment as well as those currently using alternative grading systems who are looking for ideas and options to refine practice.

The moment is right for critical reflection on what has been assumed to be a core part of schooling. In Ungrading, fifteen educators write about their diverse experiences going gradeless. Some contributors are new to the practice and some have been engaging in it for decades. Some are in humanities and social sciences, some in STEM fields. Some are in higher education, but some are the K-12 pioneers who led the way. Based on rigorous and replicated research, this is the first book to show why and how faculty who wish to focus on learning, rather than sorting or judging, might proceed. It includes honest reflection on what makes ungrading challenging, and testimonials about what makes it transformative.

Classroom Assessment Techniques: Formative Feedback Tools for College and University Teachers A practical, research-based handbook for using assessment to improve learning. This completely revised and updated third edition of Classroom Assessment Techniques provides a research-based, engaging guide to assessing student learning where it matters most--at course and classroom levels. Informed by the latest international educational research and 30 years of classroom assessment practice, this practical handbook is designed for postsecondary teachers from all disciplines, faculty and academic developers, and assessment professionals. It offers field-tested guidance, tools, and advice for planning, designing, and implementing formative assessment in face-to-face, hybrid, and fully online classrooms, analyzing resulting data, and using that data to improve student learning. Classroom Assessment Techniques, 3rd Edition, is a practical, clearly written handbook for busy professionals. It contains a wealth of useful resources, including: 50-plus CATs (classroom assessment techniques) - flexible formative assessment tools easily adaptable for use in a wide range of disciplines and contexts. Case studies and examples illustrating how college and university faculty have applied these techniques to improve learning A new "Course Learning Outcomes Inventory" (CLOI)--a self-assessment tool for identifying and prioritizing the most relevant learning outcomes to assess The original "Teaching Goals Inventory" (TGI) which offers an alternate, teaching-focused approach to setting assessment priorities Multiple ways to quickly find the most appropriate tool. CATs are indexed by discipline examples, Bloom's Taxonomy, Biggs and Tang's SOLO Taxonomy, the CLOI, and the TGI Brief chapters explaining what formative assessment is, how it can improve student learning, how to gather and provide formative feedback, how to link classroom assessment with broader/other assessment efforts, and how to collaborate with students and colleagues Each CAT provides a brief, self-contained "recipe" including a description, steps for implementation, dos and don'ts, and relevant references

While preserving the elements that have made the previous two editions so successful--such as chapters on sleep, exercise, memory and mindset--this third edition introduces students to wholly new aspects of brain function and how they impact learning; and furthermore, addresses the challenges of learning online. By introducing new concepts, strategies, and applications related to learning and memory that are based on current findings in cognitive, social, and motivational psychology, this text offers a richer and more complete picture of how brain science illuminates how we learn. Students assigned this book will be equipped to design effective learning plans, employ new strategies, recognize learning traps, discover ways to work effectively in groups, improve recall, and realize better academic performance through test-taking and paper-writing strategies. This new edition also addresses the concerns of all students--particularly those unfamiliar with the college setting and its expectations and assumptions--and offers strategies for success. In keeping with the preceding editions, this book introduces students to concepts, techniques, strategies, tips, and ideas to help them be academically stronger students, advance faster in their studies, and demonstrate what they have learned more effectively--in short, how anyone can learn to be a better learner by learning how to learn in harmony with their brain. The book remains compact and student-friendly, offers examples of practice, and includes discussion questions at the end of each chapter. An instructor's manualis available for faculty.