Bobroff Presents on Alternative Grading
On November 18, Maria Bobroff gave a presentation entitled “Adventures in Alternative Grading” at the ACTFL conference held in Chicago. She organized the presentation with Laura Florand, Senior Lecturer, Director of Undergraduate Studies and Assistant Director of the French Language Program at Duke University. Together they shared how alternative grading, also known as ungrading, rewards process, risk-taking, and intellectual growth in the language classroom. They shared examples of assignments from their respective courses to demonstrate how they ungrade in a creative writing course (Florand) and in a fourth-semester language class (Bobroff). They also highlighted examples of feedback that they have given students to show how ungrading reduces the effects of subjectivity and bias while encouraging students’ agency. They concluded that ungrading benefits both faculty and students because it eschews anxiety-producing, traditional grades in favor of authentic, constructive feedback focused on improvement.
On November 18, Maria Bobroff gave a presentation entitled “Adventures in Alternative Grading” at the ACTFL conference held in Chicago. She organized the presentation with Laura Florand, Senior Lecturer, Director of Undergraduate Studies and Assistant Director of the French Language Program at Duke University. Together they shared how alternative grading, also known as ungrading, rewards process, risk-taking, and intellectual growth in the language classroom. They shared examples of assignments from their respective courses to demonstrate how they ungrade in a creative writing course (Florand) and in a fourth-semester language class (Bobroff). They also highlighted examples of feedback that they have given students to show how ungrading reduces the effects of subjectivity and bias while encouraging students’ agency. They concluded that ungrading benefits both faculty and students because it eschews anxiety-producing, traditional grades in favor of authentic, constructive feedback focused on improvement.