Center for Teaching & Learning

Do you want to spend less time worrying about grades and more time interacting with students about what they’re learning? Would you like to be more confident that your students meet the learning objectives?   Join us for this discussion of ways alternatives to traditional grading can promote better quality student work, offer more equitable opportunities for student success, promote realistic student goal-setting, and reduce stress for students and instructors alike. Drawing on the experiences of colleagues who have been using specifications grading and/or grading contracts, we’ll look at ways classroom assessment systems can do much more than simply give individual students grades.

This session overviews alternatives to traditional grading—contract grading and specifications grading—and features tips from the working group of UVM colleagues who have been implementing these methods in recent semesters.  You’re welcome in this workshop whether you’ve already had some experience with alternative grading or whether you’re simply curious about the possibilities.

Participants will learn enough about grading alternatives to decide whether and how to adapt one of these models for spring/summer courses. (There will be a continuing faculty learning community around these practices, but participating in this workshop confers no future obligations!)

Facilitated by Susanmarie Harrington, Writing in the Disciplines & Holly Buckland Parker, Center for Teaching and Learning

Please reserve this time on your calendar.  You will receive a Microsoft Teams calendar invitation 1-2 days prior to your event explaining how to join and participate in the meeting.  If you click “accept,” it will populate on your Teams calendar for easy access!