Thanks for sharing your conversation with your nephew. It really provides a different perspective on the way we are approaching schooling and assessment. I’m happy to hear that he is doing much better now that he’s homeschooled. I’m curious to learn more about the “alternative” schooling system.

I think schools should focus more on developing relationships with people, “real life” skills, and being a better person. I agree that some of the subjects that are taught can be useless to some but they are still important to learn about, in your nephew’s case, science. Perhaps these courses need to be restructured in a way to teach the importance of science to society while also teaching students the necessary people skills and morals.

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I love your title and comic. I often used that comic to sum up most of my undergrad experience. As an awful test taker, I tried to take classes that either had few tests but higher participation and other grades or a lot of tests that were weighed less.

I like your thoughts about assessment methods, especially #4. Most undergrad classes are there to teach you the core basics and “boring” parts of the major. Therefore, most students think that the basics don’t apply to broader concepts.

I agree with Vibhav, a project based assessment might be beneficial in your field. That could be implemented in place of a test.

You pointed out to an interesting subject, Recognition based vs. Reward based mechanisms. I was wondering if recognition is a new component not included in Dan Pink’s pyramid, i.e. purpose, mastery and autonomy, or if it is a subset of purpose? To me, the latter claim makes more sense.

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During the first two years of my undergraduate career, I was doing very well in classes since I was a good test taker but I wasn’t learning much. Then came junior and senior year where most of the classes assessed students performance based on projects. I am certain that I have learned more in project based classes than in test based classes. Grading and assessment is critical, but how it is done needs to be changed — how to do that is a million dollar question.

I really enjoyed reading your blog post. I think it is not the grades that tend to distract the students, but how the grades are assessed (tests). I think if other creative ways of assessing students performance can be inculcated, which point students’ attention towards learning, then students would stop trying to “beat” the tests and will start focusing on learning the material. However, I also think traditional tests have their own place — but again there have been classes that I have “aced” and I didn’t learn anything substantial from those classes.

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Thanks for your kind words. The other thing I really like small changes is that they can often be done at the ground level without a “top-down” reform agenda. The downside is it’s hard to get everyone on the same page, but if you do then you can create lasting change.

I also wonder how the entire education process would look without grades. The system is so interconnected between K12, postsecondary, and employers that a better information transmission tool would be needed before we got rid of the current system. Maybe that system can include more descriptive feedback instead of summative evaluation? Maybe we can be more holistic and assess things like attentiveness, creativity, effort, fortitude (or grit), collaboration, etc? I wonder if that would be information that postsecondary admissions offices and employers would find preferable to grades? I wonder how students and parents would respond to that kind of change?

I always dread having midterms or finals as a part of my course. Being from computer engineering background I am accustomed to projects being a big part of my final grade, and I really enjoy project based style of assessment — it nearly replicates real life situations. Persistently studying for tests takes the joy out of the course for me. I am not sure how other (civil) engineering departments can incorporate project based assessment, but I think that is by far the best form of assessment that I have come across.

You bring up a really important point about the way students view school as a result of grades. Earning a grade is about “playing the game” the right way. I’m a K12 educator in my day job. For the first time in my 15-year career, I went to a model that has significantly fewer summative assessments and many more formative assessments. So far, the result has been that students turn in much less work to be to provide them feedback with because they know it won’t be graded. In one sense, it’s been freeing for students to not have to feel stress about every activity we do. They are more focused on the end of unit assessments (processes need to have an outcome). In another sense, I have fewer chances to see what students know through a deliverable that I can assess and provide feedback on. I’m not convinced there are significant differences at this point, to be honest, other than the fact that I spend less time grading.

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Thanks for sharing your personal experience with this! Given your experience in “both worlds” I wonder what approach you would take if you were to teach a class in your discipline next semester? Would you use grades? How would you assess students? Would you assess students? I’ve only ever experienced the “graded model” which I was good at. Admittedly that experience (and lack of any other) has made my process of trying to use less grading and more process improvement difficult for me. Coupled with the fact that students aren’t used to this model, it’s a challenge to make the transition.