Camosun Story #70: Melissa

Melissa is a faculty member who teaches both in the Computer Science and Communications departments at Camosun.  I was very interested in talking to Melissa about her foray into ungrading, and she had a fantastic story to share. If you want to learn more about ungrading, see Becoming Unravelled: a reflection from Robin Fast, Educational Developer, CETL.

Melissa is an art school graduate who has her certificate in Applied Design from Kwantlen Polytechnic University, as well as a certificate in Industrial Design from Emily Carr (as well as many other credentials).  Her work background is in product design (she designed shoes!) but over time, she sought a career shift into teaching, and in 2014, an opportunity came up at Camosun in the Communications Department and she jumped on board.

In 2015, Melissa embraced the opportunity to complete her Master’s degree in postsecondary curriculum and instruction from Simon Fraser University (SFU), and after its completion, began teaching at the University of Victoria (UVic) in Art Education in addition to teaching at Camosun. During COVID, Melissa experienced a reduced teaching load at Camosun. “I taught Digital Media 125 and 126 until the program was paused.” At UVic, her course load expanded to include Digital Art, Visual Design for Marketing, Advocacy and Persuasion and Design Thinking, which she found “was very much in alignment of everything I do.”

While teaching Design Thinking at UVic, Melissa really began to face challenges when grading a creative course.   “Students would ask why I didn’t like their work or why they didn’t get an A, and I explained it was nothing to do with me not liking the work. We were looking at foundational skills, how we develop creativity, and how to marry it with the right technologies to get an outcome that addresses our client needs. There’s always been friction between the creative work and having to fit it in a rubric because creativity cannot be contained in a box. But students have to get a grade, so how can we find a way to understand how grading is going to happen?”

Then, fast forward to last year when Melissa applied to teach a Computer Science course in Design Thinking at Camosun. “Not in Art Education, but for computer science students, but still very much like my UVic course – trying to fit something organic and process-based into the confines of 13 weeks with a grade at the end.” Melissa already knew that there was going to be a friction with grades, but as she began to puzzle through how to address this, some of her colleagues told her about Ungrading: Why Rating Students Undermines Learning (and what to do instead) by Susan Blum. “Then after I read Robin Fast’s piece on ungrading I read the book. I couldn’t put it down – they were speaking my language.” Melissa also reflected on one of her SFU courses which was ungraded.  “Experiencing that course was absolute freedom and marked a shift where I understood that the work I was doing in education was actually a creative pursuit. And discovering that alignment shifted my whole perspective on education.”  Now Melissa began to see a way through her grading conundrum. “I spent my Scheduled Development putting together the design thinking class and setting it up as an ungraded course.”

Taking her guidance from all her reading, Melissa opted for what is known as a Zero, One, Two ungrading system.  “Zero means the student work does not meet any of the outcomes, work given a One meets most outcomes, and Two meets all outcomes. But every assignment also has a reflection and feedback component.” Melissa wrote out her reasoning for her students to help them understand what she was doing and to address questions they might have, telling them she was considering where they would land after college because “in industry, you’re not going to be graded for anything.”  But it was also about process design. “Thinking is about process, and you need to be wildly creative and stand behind your ideas. You have to fail and fail often to be successful, so grading a failure doesn’t work.” And after talking this through with her students, they were onboard and ready to try it.

Students also had the opportunity to engage in peer review and feedback, and needed to recognize the value of that feedback so it wasn’t just “good job.” “I sat down with each student twice during the term (once at mid-term and once at the end) as part of their self-assessment. I explained that I had to give a grade and wanted to know where they saw themselves. I was surprised that most of my students graded themselves with the same grade I would have given them.”

During those meetings, Melissa heard a lot about the student experience she would not have heard any other way. Some of the things students said:

• Students noted how ungrading shifted how they applied skills in other classes.
• Students learned not to overestimate their skill sets (recognizing they still have questions to ask and things to learn.)
• If students put less time into the course because of competing priorities, they graded themselves lower as a reflection of that.
• Students took ownership of their work, defending their work and did not ask Melissa what she wanted to see. They defended their work because they knew that that was encouraged.
• Students felt that they were free to do things over and over again, which is what you do in design and in industry. It’s never a one and done – rarely do you finalize an outcome the first time around.

In addition to students seeing the value of ungrading, Melissa also found relief from the stress of grading work.  “There was a freedom that I didn’t have to assign a letter grade to something, that I could leave it at a Zero, One, and Two. And since I always write feedback, it wasn’t like I had an extra load – it was just different.”  Melissa discovered that we can do assessments differently. “At the end of the day, it’s not my experience, it’s their experience that is important. I was not the teacher, but worked shoulder to shoulder with my students, and they leaned on everybody for feedback, just like it happens out in industry.”

After so many positive outcomes, Melissa is ready to ungrade again.  “Next, I’ll be teaching a user interface [and user experience] course in computer science, with the same students I’ve already taught. This course also relies on empathy, where we’re thinking about other people and their experiences, and if we can ask reflective questions of ourselves, we can ask better questions of our users.”  As for revising the courses she has already ungraded, she said “I would still have the two meetings with students mid-term and at the end. I don’t know how I could fit in more, but I found those meetings to be important to giving students space to talk about what they need.”  But Melissa wants to explore how D2L can support more flexibility in how it presents grades and feedback to students to reduce confusion and keep things aligned with her ungrading.

Melissa also asked her Computer Concepts course students how they might envision that course as being ungraded.  “I asked them what they would like to see and how we could make a course that isn’t particularly creative more engaging. Having the students chime in on that, even though they won’t be able to experience it, was valuable and if I teach that course again I will spend time reworking it into an ungrading format.”

I was curious if Melissa has talked with colleagues about her ungrading, and she noted that she and her fellow computer science instructors have had some very fruitful conversations about pedagogy. “We need to talk about different ways of doing things and the challenges we face trying new things. And because we are teaching the same students it was interesting to compare experiences and connect them back to pedagogy.

Melissa wrapped up our conversation by saying “ungrading had been rolling around in my head for a while, but I wasn’t ready to try it.  But this year after talking to colleagues and reading Robin’s post, I finally felt safe and confident to give it a shot. Because it’s been so positive, I am willing to try again and do even better next time.  And to my Camosun colleagues, those I’ve met and those I haven’t met, if you’re thinking about trying something new like ungrading, just give it a try!”