Does ungrading promote student engagement and learning in Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs)?

Abstract

The goal of assessment should be to encourage learning to drive student engagement and success. However, grades make students focus on the evaluation of their work, often limiting the learning process. In forcing me to rank students, grades promote extrinsic rather than intrinsic motivation and direct attention to how well students are doing rather than engaging them with what they are doing. Ungrading is an alternative approach to grading that increases the focus on feedback and growth and decreases the emphasis on "points." In the Fall 2023 semester, I piloted ungrading in one introductory and in two advanced Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs). Although students will earn a grade for the course at the end of the semester, they did not get letter or number grades for individual assignments. Student learning was assessed using qualitative, not quantitative, approaches with an emphasis on quality feedback from me, reflections/self-assessments/surveys where students think critically about their own learning, and peer review for certain assignments and activities. In addition to the course learning goals, each student set individual goals for the course at the beginning of the semester, discussed their progress with me, and shared evidence of their learning throughout the semester. At mid-semester and also at the end, students suggested a course grade and explained how they arrived at that grade. Initial analysis of mid-term reflections/self-assessments shows evidence of students making progress towards personal goals as well as course learning goals: they are asking me more questions about the assignments both before submitting them and after receiving feedback, and they are actually reading my feedback; and the grades they suggested for themselves are mostly in agreement with my evaluation of their progress. Overall, students are engaged during class and seem more relaxed and less stressed because they are not worried about earning as many points as possible for each assignment. Further analysis of reflections and self-assessments will highlight student expectations and attitudes towards ungrading and showcase evidence of learning. Student feedback on an end-of-course survey about ungrading will help me refine the approach to improve student learning in future courses. I predict implementation of this ungrading policy in my courses will foster a collaborative and equitable environment where students are encouraged to learn and grow, and I plan to adapt this alternative grading practice in my animal physiology course as well as an additional advanced CURE in the Spring 2024 semester. All protocols were approved by Rice University IRB (Protocol IRB-FY-2023-239). Rice University Department of Biosciences. This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2024 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.