Jen Newton discusses empowering students through ungrading and self-assessment can lead to a more meaningful and independent learning experience.
Empowering Students in Learning Processes
🔵 Ungrading and self-assessment empower students in their learning processes, providing them with agency and autonomy in their education.
🔵 Students should have the freedom to modify, remix, or repurpose assignments if they feel that they are not productive, allowing for a more personalized and meaningful learning experience.
🔵 The speaker’s personal experience highlights the need for educators to consider whether traditional methods of assessment truly benefit students’ learning and growth.
🔵 The instructor emphasizes the importance of aligning student self-assessment with the course objectives to ensure that students feel confident in their learning and achievement.
🔵 Including specific examples and supporting evidence of learning in assessments can help students demonstrate their understanding and provide valuable feedback for instructors.
🔵 Grades should solely reflect learning, not factors like timeliness or compliance with class rules, which dilute the true measure of a student’s progress.
“I don’t think ungrading is All or Nothing…my students get grades. They are constantly assessed. They just do their a lot of their assessing on their own.”
🔵 Ungrading allows students to take ownership of their learning and self-assess, challenging the traditional grading system.
Shifting Focus from Compliance to Learning
“Assigning work should be focused on helping students learn and understand the content, rather than just meeting the expectations of the teacher.”
🟣 It is important to shift the focus from compliance with rules to actual learning and understanding when assessing students’ performance.
🟣 Gathering feedback from students and making modifications based on their input can help improve the effectiveness of teaching methods, such as removing stressors like group projects and refining directions for better understanding.
