TCDC’s Summer Book Club: Ungrading: Why Rating Students Undermines Learning (and What to Do Instead)

Ungrading by Susan D. Blum

The summer semester book club selection, Ungrading: Why Rating Students Undermines Learning (and What to Do Instead), edited by Susan D. Blum, promises to give us much food for thought as we contemplate the idea of ungrading and critique the entire notion of grading students.

Join us via Zoom every Wednesday, May 12 to June 23, from 4:30pm to 5:45pm as we unpack two chapters at a time and delve into discussion and conversation. Save your spot and register now!

Note: While we encourage participants to sign up for the duration, if you wish to attend only one or two sessions, please contact us at tcdc@langara.ca to get the Zoom link and meeting details.

Unlimited e-book access and limited hard copies of the book are available through the Langara library. The book is also available for purchase via Book Warehouse, Chapters, and Amazon.

Date Chapters for Discussion
May 12 “Introduction: Why Ungrade? Why Grade” & “How to Ungrade”
May 19 “What Going Gradeless Taught Me about Doing the ‘Actual Work’” & “Just One Change (Just Kidding): Ungrading and Its Necessary Accompaniments”
May 26 “Shifting the Grading Mindset” & “Grades Stifle Student Learning. Can We Learn to Teach without Grades?”
June 2 “Let’s Talk about Grading” & “Contract Grading and Peer Review”
June 9 “Critique-Driven Learning and Assessment” & “A STEM Ungrading Case Study: A Reflection on First-Time Implementation in Organic Chemistry II”
June 16 “The Point-less Classroom: A Math Teacher’s Ironic Choice in Not Calculating Grades” & “Grade Anarchy in the Philosophy Classroom”
June 23 “Conference Musings and The G Word” & “Wile E. Coyote, the Hero of Ungrading” & “Conclusion: Not Simple but Essential”

Further resources for Ungrading: