Decentering grades in Year 1: conceptualising Feedback First, a feasibility trial of ungrading at programme level
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47408/jldhe.vi35.1325Keywords:
ungrading, feedback, self-determination theory, innovation evolutionAbstract
The preparation of students for an unpredictable future means higher education plays a substantial role in supporting students to develop core graduate competencies: risk-taking and learning from failure; effective collaboration and communication; critical thinking; and a love of learning. This competency development can be undermined by grading practices. Grading can also foster unhealthy competition, inducing stress and anxiety. Ungrading is often associated with decentering grades within the learning process with removal of letter/number grades to assess students’ work; instead, students are encouraged to develop mastery of skills. In previous studies, students who have been exposed to ungrading have shown increased motivation and an appetite for risk-taking and curiosity, however, its impact on mental wellbeing is not clearly established. This paper describes an initial ungrading feasibility trial, called Feedback First, at a UK university, presenting a pedagogical innovation and strategy change focused on reorienting staff and students to consider growth and development across the first-year of our degree provision. This involved pass/fail assessment, increased collaboration, and feedback focus. We will describe the process of developing the Feedback First format, outline how we gained school and institutional support for this change of practice, present our evaluation strategy, and reflect on challenges encountered in the development and implementation of this trial.
References
Altahawi, F., Sisk, B., Poloskey, S., Hicks, C. and Dannefer, E. F. (2012) ‘Student perspectives on assessment: experience in a competency-based portfolio system’, Medical teacher, 34(3), pp.221-225. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3109/0142159X.2012.652243
Beatty, J. E. (2004) ‘Grades as money and the role of the market metaphor in management education’, Academy of Management Learning & Education, 3(2), pp.187-196. Available at: https://doi.org/10.5465/amle.2004.13500516
Bloodgood, R. A., Short, J. G., Jackson, J. M. and Martindale, J. R. (2009) ‘A change to pass/fail grading in the first two years at one medical school results in improved psychological well-being’, Academic Medicine, 84(5), pp.655-662. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1097/ACM.0b013e31819f6d78
Buckley, A., Soilemetzidis, I. and Hillman, N. (2015) The 2015 Student Academic Experience Survey. Available at: https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/knowledge- hub/2015-student-academic-experience-survey (Accessed: 28 June 2024).
Chamberlin, K., Yasué, M. and Chiang, I. C. A. (2018) ‘The impact of grades on student motivation’, Active Learning in Higher Education, 24(2), pp.109-124. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/1469787418819728
Dahlgren, L. O., Fejes, A., Abrandt-Dahlgren, M. and Trowald, N. (2009) ‘Grading systems, features of assessment and students’ approaches to learning’, Teaching in Higher Education, 14(2), pp.185-194. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/13562510902757260
Deci, E. L., Koestner, R. and Ryan, R. M. (2001) ‘Extrinsic rewards and intrinsic motivation in education: reconsidered once again’, Review of Educational Research, 71(1), pp.1-27. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543071001001
Dweck, C. S. (1986) ‘Motivational processes affecting learning’, American Psychologist, 41(10), pp.1040-1048. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.41.10.1040
Hayek, A. S., Toma, C., Oberlé, D. and Butera, F. (2014) ‘The effect of grades on the preference effect: grading reduces consideration of disconfirming evidence’, Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 36(6), pp.544-552. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/01973533.2014.969840
Hayek, A. S., Toma, C., Oberlé, D. and Butera, F. (2015) ‘Grading hampers cooperative information sharing in group problem solving’, Social Psychology, 46(3), pp.121-131. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1027/1864-9335/a000232
HESA (2024) ‘Graduate outcomes survey’. Available at: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/ (Accessed 28 June 2024).
Kalbarczyk, A., Miller, E., Majidulla, A., Tarazona-Meza, C., Chatterjee, P., Sauer, M. and Closser, S. (2023) ‘Exploring the implications of implementing Ungrading in two graduate-level global health courses’, Pedagogy in Health Promotion, 9(4), pp.244-251. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/23733799231169204
Karanikola, Z. and Panagiotopoulos, G. (2018) ‘4th Industrial revolution: The challenge of changing human resources skills’, European Journal of Training and Development Studies, 5(3), pp.1-7.
Kjærgaard, A., Buhl-Wiggers, J. and Mikkelsen, E. N. (2024) ‘Does gradeless learning affect students’ academic performance? A study of effects over time’, Studies in Higher Education, 49(2), pp.336-350.
Kjærgaard, A., Mikkelsen, E. N. and Buhl-Wiggers, J. (2023) ‘The gradeless paradox: Emancipatory promises but ambivalent effects of gradeless learning in business and management education’, Management Learning, 54(4), pp.556-575. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/13505076221101146
Kohn, A. (2011) ‘The case against grades’, Educational Leadership, 69(3), pp.28-33. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2023.2233007
Kohn, A. and Blum, S. D. (2020) Ungrading: why rating students undermines learning (and what to do instead). Morgantown, WV: West Virginia University Press.
Korson, S. J., Meiners, E. B., Howell, M., Buck, A., Moody, K., Winslow, M. P., Martin,T. T. and Fleischer, A. (2023) ‘Ungrading general education: preliminary results from a pilot study’, Pedagogicon Conference Proceedings. Eastern Kentucky University, Kentucky, United States, Available at: https://encompass.eku.edu/pedagogicon/2022/grow-it/1 (Accessed 28 June 2024).
Lynch, R. and Hennessy, J. (2017) ‘Learning to earn? The role of performance grades in higher education’, Studies in Higher Education, 42(9), pp.1750-1763. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2015.1124850
Masland, L. C. (2023) ‘Ungrading: the joys of doing everything wrong’, Zeal: A Journal for the Liberal Arts, 1(2), pp.88-93.
McGunagle, D. and Zizka, L. (2020) ‘Employability skills for 21st-century STEM students: the employers’ perspective’, Higher education, skills and work-based learning, 10(3), pp.591-606. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1108/HESWBL-10-2019-0148
McMorran, C. and Ragupathi, K. (2020) ‘The promise and pitfalls of gradeless learning: Responses to an alternative approach to grading’, Journal of Further and Higher Education, 44(7), pp.925-938. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/0309877X.2019.1619073
McMorran, C., Ragupathi, K. and Luo, S. (2017) ‘Assessment and learning without grades? Motivations and concerns with implementing gradeless learning in higher education’, Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 42(3), pp.361-377. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2015.1114584
Noble, J. and Hanford-Spira, W. (2019) ‘Theory of change in ten steps’, NPC, 9 October. Available at: https://www.thinknpc.org/resource-hub/theory-of-change-in-ten-steps/ (Accessed: 28 June 2024).
Pulfrey, C., Darnon, C. and Butera, F. (2013) ‘Autonomy and task performance: explaining the impact of grades on intrinsic motivation’, Journal of Educational Psychology, 105(1), pp.39-57. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1037/a0029376
Rios, J. A., Ling, G., Pugh, R., Becker, D. and Bacall, A. (2020) ‘Identifying critical 21st-century skills for workplace success: a content analysis of job advertisements’, Educational Researcher, 49(2), pp.80-89. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X19890600
Rohe, D. E., Barrier, P. A., Clark, M. M., Cook, D. A., Vickers, K. S. and Decker, P. A. (2006) ‘The benefits of pass-fail grading on stress, mood, and group cohesion in medical students’, In Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 81(11), pp.1443-1448. Available at: https://doi.org/10.4065/81.11.1443
Rothman, N. B., Pratt, M. G., Rees, L. and Vogus, T. J. (2017) ‘Understanding the dual nature of ambivalence: Why and when ambivalence leads to good and bad outcomes’, Academy of Management Annals, 11(1), pp.33-72. Available at: https://doi.org/10.5465/annals.2014.0066
Ryan, R. M. and Deci, E. L. (2000) ‘Intrinsic and extrinsic motivations: classic definitions and new directions’, Contemporary Educational Psychology, 25(1), pp.54-67. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1006/ceps.1999.1020
Ryan, R. M. and Deci, E. L. (2020) ‘Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation from a self-determination theory perspective: definitions, theory, practices, and future directions’, Contemporary educational psychology, 61, pp.101860. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2020.101860
Spring, L., Robillard, D., Gehlbach, L. and Moore Simas, T. A. (2011) ‘Impact of pass/fail grading on medical students’ well‐being and academic outcomes’, Medical Education, 45(9), pp.867-877. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2923.2011.03989.x
Tannock, S. (2017) ‘No grades in higher education now! Revisiting the place of graded assessment in the reimagination of the public university’, Studies in Higher Education, 42(8), pp.1345-1357. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2015.1092131
Tocci, C. (2010) ‘An immanent machine: reconsidering grades, historical and present’, Educational Philosophy and Theory, 42(7), pp.762-778. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-5812.2008.00440.x
White, C. B. and Fantone, J. C. (2010) ‘Pass–fail grading: laying the foundation for self-regulated learning’, Advances in health sciences education, 15, pp.469-477. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10459-009-9211-1
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).
