Liberated Learning: a view of what ungrading could deliver
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47408/jldhe.vi35.1175Keywords:
ungrading, autonomous learningAbstract
The enhancement ensuing when educators free themselves and students from devoting effort to graded coursework is summarised. General neglect of the closing stage in fully autonomous learning - namely self-evaluation to self-determined criteria - is regretted. The features and external evaluation of a historical scheme are reviewed and advanced as a model that could well be taken forward by ungrading practitioners.
References
Boyd, H., Adeyemi-Bero, A. and Blackhall, R. (1984) Acquiring Professional Competence through Learner-directed Learning – A Student’s Perspective. Education for Capability Occasional Paper No. 7. London: Royal Society of Arts.
Boyd, H. and Cowan, J. (1985) ‘A case for self-assessment based on recent studies of student learning’, Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 10(3), pp.225-235. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/0260293850100304
Clark, D. (2025) ‘My go-to alternative grading templates’, Grading for Growth, 3 February. Available at: https://gradingforgrowth.com/p/my-go-to-alternative-grading-templates (Accessed: 17 February 2025).
Clark, D. and Talbert, R. (2023) Grading for Growth: A Guide to Alternative Grading Practices that Promote Authentic Learning and Student Engagement in Higher Education. New York: Routledge. Available at: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003445043
Cosgrove, T. (2023) Towards wholeness in engineering education: The role of reflective writing. PhD thesis. University of Limerick. Available at: https://researchrepository.ul.ie/articles/thesis/Towards_wholeness_in_engineering_education_The_role_of_reflective_writing/21814848 (Accessed: 17 February 2025).
Cowan, J. (1984) Acquiring Professional Competence through Learner-directed Learning - A Lecturer's View. Education for Capability Occasional Paper No. 7. London: Royal Society of Arts.
Cowan, J. (1987) Education for Capability in Engineering Education. DEng thesis. Heriot-Watt University.
Cowan, J. (1988) ‘Struggling with self-assessment’, in D. Boud (ed) Developing Student Autonomy in Learning. 2nd edn. London: Kogan Page, pp.192-210. Available at: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203059036
Cowan, J. (1998) On Becoming an Innovative University Teacher. Buckingham: SRHE and Open University Press.
Cowan, J. (2020) ‘Students' evidenced claims for development of abilities arising from linked reflection-for-action and reflection-on-action’, Reflective Practice, 21(2), pp.159-170. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/14623943.2020.1716709
Dymond, S. (2021) ‘Flushing the grades: a pilot study in ungrading in a watershed hydrology course’, in AGU Fall Meeting 2021. New Orleans, Louisiana 13-17 December. Available at: https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2021AGUFMED55E0326D
Ferns, S., Hickey, R. and Williams, H. (2021) ‘Ungrading, supporting our students through a pedagogy of care’, International Journal for Cross-Disciplinary Subjects in Education, 12(2), pp.4500-4504. Available at: https://infonomics-society.org/wp-content/uploads/Ungrading-Supporting-Our-Students-through-a-Pedagogy-of-Care-.pdf (Accessed: 17 February 2025).
Flaherty, C. (2019) ‘When grading less is more’, Inside Higher Ed, 1 April. Available at: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/04/02/professors-reflections-their-experiences-ungrading-spark-renewed-interest-student (Accessed: 17 February 2025).
Freire, P. (1970) Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Seabury Press.
Freire, P. (2019) ‘Education as a practice of freedom’, in J.N. Green, V. Langland and L.M. Schwarcz, The Brazil Reader. 2nd edn. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1515/9780822371793-103
Garrison, D. (2011) E-learning in the 21st century: a framework for research and practice. 2nd edn. New York: Routledge.
Geary, T.M. (2021) ‘What I learned from failing to ungrade’, Academia Letters, 224. Available at: https://doi.org/10.20935/AL224
Gibbs, L. (2020) ‘Let's talk about grading’, in S.D. Blum (ed) UNgrading: Why Rating Students Undermines Learning (and What to Do Instead). Morganstown: West Virginia University Press, pp.91-104.
Gorichanaz, T. (2022) ‘“It made me feel like it was OK to be wrong”: student experiences with ungrading’, Active Learning in Higher Education, 25(1), pp.67-80. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/14697874221093640
hooks, b. (1994) Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom. New York: Routledge.
Katopodis, C. and Davidson, C. (2020) ‘Contract grading and peer review’, in S.D. Blum (ed) UNgrading: Why Rating Students Undermines Learning (and What to Do Instead). Morganstown: West Virginia University Press, pp.105-122.
Kohn, A. (1999) From Degrading to De-Grading. Available at: https://www.alfiekohn.org/article/degrading-de-grading (Accessed: 17 February 2025).
Martin, T.L., Winslow, M.P., Gremp, M.A, Korson, S.J., Bedetti, G., McMahan, E., Stumbo, D., Short, E. et al (2021) ‘Ungrading across the disciplines: reflections of a professional learning community’, Pedagogicon Conference Proceedings 2020. Eastern Kentucky University, pp.1-12. Available at: https://encompass.eku.edu/pedagogicon/2020/specialaudiences/7 (Accessed: 17 February 2025).
Murray, J. G. (2022) Email to John Cowan, 2 October.
Perry, W.G. (1970) Forms of Ethical and Intellectual Development in the College Years. New York: Rinehart and Winston.
Rogers, C. (1969) Freedom to Learn: A View of What Education Might Become. Columbus, Ohio: Charles E Merrill Publishing Co.
Sorensen-Unruh, C. (2020) ‘A STEM ungrading case-study’, in S.D. Blum (ed) UNgrading: Why Rating Students Undermines Learning (and What to Do Instead). Morganstown: West Virginia University Press, pp.140-160.
Stommel, J. (2017) ‘Why I don't grade’, Jesse Stommel blog, 26 October. Available at: https://www.jessestommel.com/why-i-dont-grade (Accessed: 17 February 2025).
Stommel, J. (2020) ‘Ungrading: an FAQ’, Jesse Stommel blog, 6 February. Available at: https://www.jessestommel.com/ungrading-an-faq/ (Accessed: 17 February 2025).
Stommel, J. (2023) Undoing the Grade: Why We Grade, and How to Stop. Denver, Colorado: Hybrid Pedagogy Inc.
Talbert, R. (2022) ‘The heart of the loop: reattempts without penalty’, Robert Talbert, Ph.D. blog, 15 April. Available at: https://rtalbert.org/the-heart-of-the-loop-reattempts-without-penalty (Accessed: 24 February 2025).
Taras, M. (2010) ‘Student self-assessment: processes and consequences’, Teaching in Higher Education, 15(2), pp.199-209. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/13562511003620027
von Renesse, C. and Wegner, S.A. (2022) ‘Two examples of ungrading in higher education in the United States and Germany’, Primus: Problems, Resources, and Issues in Mathematics Undergraduate Studies, 33(9), pp.1035-1054. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/10511970.2023.2229819
Wolf, A.M. (2022) ‘Adventures in ungrading’, in L. Britt (ed) Teaching Matters, Volume 3: Essays by Faculty and Staff of the University of Maine at Farmington. Farmington: University of Maine, pp.15-22. Available at: https://scholarworks.umf.maine.edu/publications/102 (Accessed: 20 February 2025).
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
