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I wanted to draw attention to some of the comments in Jason’s post on incorporating learning goals into one’s syllabus. Bill Wolff writes briefly about his experience using the Learning Record, a system for evaluating students’ development over a long period of time (i.e., a semester).
John Jones then provided a link to video of a UT Austin workshop–where the Learning Record was developed–explaining the Learning Record’s methodology. John humbly neglected to mention his own recent, smart post at the HASTAC blog on using the Learning Record.
I have looked into the Learning Record approach a few times over the last year, but have ultimately decided against grading differently (pace Derrida) because, as Bill put it in his comment, “my time is too limited.” The Learning Record seems like it would be a very effective way to measure actual student outcomes, but given my schedule (4-4) I don’t have the time to implement a new approach to grading let alone actually carry it out. What are others’ experiences adopting this tool?
Moreover, what kind of other approaches to grading differently are out there? As Jason (and many others) reported elsewhere, Cathy Davidson is trying a crowdsourced approach this semester. But there have to be other possibilities.
How then can we become more efficient while remaining effective in our approaches to evaluating students?
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One Response to Grading Differently
John Jones - August 11, 2009 at 3:29 pm
Brian, thanks for the shout-out(s). Re the Learning Record and the time to implement it, using the system can be time-consuming, especially at first. However, now that I’m used to it, I’ve found that it doesn’t add a lot of time to my grading process. If anyone is interested in trying it out, I recommend doing a test run with a single class to help with this adjustment.
Additionally, Will Martin, one of the developers at the CWRL, has created an online application for managing student Learning Records that is a great time saver. If any readers are interested in exploring this tool, they can find out more info by reading the program tour (pdf). If you would like to try the program out, you can request an instructor account here.
Currently the app is hosted by the CWRL, but Will is working on an open-source version that we will distribute so schools and instructors can host their own installations, if they choose.