Ungrading? Is that a thing?
How can that possible be a good idea?
Here’s something I’m curious about: ungrading.
Faculty Focus’s podcast Episode 51: Ungrading: The Misconceptions, the Research, and the Strategies explored this topic recently. In under 14 minutes, you’ll can learn more about it and then you can share your ideas with others on the faculty.
Spoiler alert: It turns out that “ungrading” doesn’t mean that students don’t get grades. It means that students make decisions about what grades they earn and how they will be assigned.
To find the podcast, go to Faculty Focus’ podcast page, and scroll down until you find Episide 51.
(And if you haven’t listened to any of the Faculty Focus podcasts, take some time to look through their episodes. Next on my line-up is #46: How to Make Your Lectures More Engaging and Interactive for Your Students. Episode #41 was a game-changer for me in terms of how I start class.)
Feeling a little burned out…
or worried you might soon be? You’re not alone.
An article in The Chronicle shares eight strategies to help with burnout. The article was written by Flower Darby. Anyone with that name must have some good ideas and in fact she does.
She recommends keeping your approach to teaching simple and shares some idea about how faculty might go about doing that. She also suggests that faculty build “pause” moments into their classes by shifting classes to asynchronous meetings a few times during the semester. As she points out, being on Zoom each week can be exhausting for all of us.
My favorite suggestion is to “communicate strategically and sustainably.” I know that I often send out the same email to several students. She has ideas for how that can be avoided.
Read the full article to learn more about Flower’s ideas.
Upcoming Programming:
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Brown Bag Lunch | Next lunch TBA |
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Bookclub: Inclusive Teaching | Friday, April 28th |
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Professional Learning Community (PLC) | Next Meeting TBA |
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Transparent Assignment Design Work Group | Friday, May 5th |
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Faculty Conversations | Monthly, every 2nd Tuesday, in the ECE (beginning February 14th) |
Come see the Center for Teaching and Learning's first faculty art show!
This exhibit features the work of Kate Sibole.
Kate's mandalas were exhibited at UMF's Art Gallery, and we're pleased to have her work closer to home in the CTL.
Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion at SMCC
At our January professional development day, we discussed how faculty approach and might support diversity, equity, and inclusion. Many of us wondered about SMCC’s stance. SMCC has a page devoted to DEI which can be found in the About SMCC tab. Included on the page is SMCC’s diversity statement as well as a link to our anti-racism statement and a statement in support of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
In January we discussed some of the results of the climate survey that was completed in Fall 2021. Many faculty asked to see the full results of the survey and then have an opportunity to discuss the results and their implications for our community. To that end, the CTL is hosting a brown-bag lunch on Monday, March 6th to share our thoughts and responses to the survey. Join us at noon in the CTL.
Are you interested in professional development opportunities that focus on DEI? The University of Calgary offers a free, self-paced, online training titled Anti-Racism, EDI and Positionality in Teaching and Learning. The time commitment is only 2-3 hours. If you’re interested in doing the training and would like to have someone to do it with, email me at rparse@smccme.edu.