Fostering Student Agency Through Ungrading: Project- and Portfolio-Based Methods and Case Studies

Abstract

Students in service writing courses, particularly those enrolled in non-writing majors, often struggle with low confidence in their writing ability, resulting in a desire to “just get through” the class with a passing grade. Furthermore, instructors of such courses often struggle with a balance between what students actually need to learn in order to be successful in their careers and the level at which they want students to be proficient in writing practices–and students struggle with the same notions. Using a pedagogy called “ungrading,” students are released from their fear of “bad grades” caused by the feeling of being at the mercy of their instructor–this release fosters empowered students who can focus on their actual learning and improvement in writing. Using case studies from my TCOM 2010: Technical Writing and TCOM 3030: Instructional Design courses at Kennesaw State University, this innovative practices article introduces two methods for implementing ungrading in any class, including resources from my classes and considerations for implementing these methods in other fields.