I am seeing and hearing some cheating conversation going around with the end of the term and with ChatGPT making a bit of a splash and want to raise some questions for teachers and educators about cheating and asking critical questions about teaching rather than uncritically problematizing students and children when cheating occurs.
For full disclosure I have been largely going gradeless and #ungrading for 2 years, and have not given a test or quiz in nearly a decade, I have not caught a student cheating in at least that long.
So some questions ...
Why do students cheat? And what systems promote, encourage cheating?
What is the nature of assignments and tasks that are conducive to cheating? That are not conducive to cheating?
How does cheating reflect on the trust, community, and general state of a classroom?
Who is responsible for student cheating?
#edutooter @ungrading @edutooters
@ZingerLearns @ungrading @edutooters please say more about #Ungrading. I'm trying to balance student needs (requests) to know where they stand in my class against an old-school grading regime where they look online and see that my grade book is basically empty of anything other than "participation" and "effort" assessments, which feel equally icky to me.
To your point, ungrading requires more and frequent feedback on student work focused on learning rather than a grade. A trusting community, rich tasks, and feedback that reflects student progress and learning are critical. My gradebook mostly tracks submission and completion, where feedback tracks learning.
@Jessifer has a fantastic overview to ungrading.
@ZingerLearns did I tell you I finally made the leap this semester based on your sharing how it works for you all at UCI?? It might be the best mid & end of semester feedback I've ever gotten? They were freaked initially but got into it. Forces me out of my procrastination / adhd loop too!
@jamiedgravell
1) glad to see you on here!
2) glad to hear this, always a challenge at first because it's so different and amorphous, but once students get it, it gets much better.
My evals became incrementally better after ungrading (I was also more experienced) but most importantly, students reported lower levels of stress, anxiety, and a greater genuine commitment to learning.
@ZingerLearns hiiiii! oh yeah, by feedback I mean their literal feedback surveys to me that are my own questions, I won't get actual evals for at least 2 months cause the CSU system is...interesting. but yes!! stress levels decrease & work quality improves!
@jamiedgravell that is awesome. I am working on a more systematic way of collecting data on the impact of ungrading. I have some perception data and our students need to pass the edTPA, so I have data on that, but would like a more holistic picture
@jamiedgravell we have a group of K-12 and Higher Ed instructors that meet monthly to grapple and puzzle with #ungrading. It is a fantastic group that started a couple of years ago. We are going to talk data in our next meeting in January. I will send you an invite.
@ZingerLearns ooooh let me know if you want a partner on that work! i'd be really interested. I've been wanting to find a way to get into 'standards based grading' discourse in K-12 as well if you know anyone doing that work. First few years as prof kicked my research agenda ass except for a project using mixed reality sims to support teachers learning to lead controversial issues discussions...otherwise, nothin eek!