Learning About Grades from an Emerging Failure and Special Guest Emily Donahoe

Emily Pitts Donahoe shares what we can learn about grades from an “emerging failure" on episode 588 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode They introduced a framework that attempts to identify the common features of alternative grading for growth systems that are meant to prioritize student growth and student learning over just grades and performance. -Emily Donahoe Those four pillars are marks that indicate progress, reattempts without penalty, clearly defined standards, and helpful feedback. -Emily Donahoe One of the most important functions of grades or marks given on individual assignments is to communicate to students about how they're progressing in a certain subject. Traditional grades don't serve this communicative function very well. -Emily Donahoe Resources Unmaking the Grade, Emily Pitts Donahoe’s blog and reflective journal chronicling one educator's experiences with ungrading and other progressive teaching practices Grading for Growth: A Guide to Alternative Grading Practices That Promote Authentic Learning and Student Engagement in Higher Education, by Robert Talbert & David Clark Grading for Growth How Humans Learn: The Science and Stories Behind Effective College Teaching, By Joshua R. Eyler Failing Our Future: How Grades Harm Students and What We Can Do About It, by Joshua R. Eyler Harry Potter Wizards of Baking Sarah Rose Cavanagh Japanese restaurant at Irvine Spectrum all four of the Stachowiak family members like: Robata Wasa Wicked Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban More Everything Forever: AI Overlords, Space Empires, and Silicon Valley's Crusade to Control the Fate of Humanity, by Adam Becker Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants, by Robin Wall Kimmerer

M. C. Flux uncovers lessons for video creation from what he calls layered learning on episode 587 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode I've also started creating these little quiz questions in them, but they're not hard. They're just to keep their attention going. -M. C. Flux Many students seem to enjoy this and actually learn well from it, so I keep doing it. -M. C. Flux I think these students struggle so much with attention that bringing them back with a really simple question just helps. -M. C. Flux The fact that students have shorter attention spans is still something we need to pay attention to. I don't think it's as bad as people say, but it is actually still a big piece of how I design instruction. -M. C. Flux A lot of students are used to rewatching things that they enjoy. -M. C. Flux Resources Video: Education as Content, by Dr. Flux The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why it Matters, by Priya Parker Preferences vs. What Works, by Robert Talbert Song: Leave it Like it Is, by David Wilcox  Episode 555: A Big Picture Look at AI Detection Tools with Chris Ostro LinkedIn: Christopher Ostro LinkedIn: Dr. MC Flux Netflix Special: Bo Burnham Inside DJI Osmo Mobile 7P Insta360 Flow Pro HollyLand Lark Microphones Games: Agency as Art, by C Thi Nguyen

Seth Offenbach shares about his article, Kindness and Community in an Online Asynchronous Classroom, on episode 586 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode I had to recognize the reality that my classroom was never going to be the number one priority for people during the pandemic. -Seth Offenbach When we teach, why not be kind? -Seth Offenbach My goal is to challenge my students intellectually. My goal is not to stress them out. -Seth Offenbach We all miss deadlines. -Seth Offenbach In order to truly be kind, you have to create a safe space for the students where they feel that they can come to you, talk to you and learn with you. -Seth Offenbach Resources Kindness and Community in an Online Asynchronous Classroom, by Seth Offenbach Currents in Teaching and Learning – January 2025 edition Radical Hope: A Teaching Manifesto, by Kevin M. Gannon The Social Justice Syllabus Design Tool: A First Step in Doing Social Justice Pedagogy, by Sherria D. Taylor and Maria J. Veri Feeling Better: A Year without Deadlines, by Doreen Thierauf A Pedagogy of Kindness, by Catherine Denial Cultivating Compassionate Community to Foster Academic Integrity?, by Maha Bali and Yasser Tammer An Equity Syllabus Liquid Syllabus, by Michelle Pacansky-Brock Jesse Stommel The Practice of Ungrading, by Jesse Stommel Remi Kalir’s Annotated Syllabus Go Ahead and Ask for More Time on That Deadline, by Ashley Whillans A Pedagogy of Kindness: The Cornerstone for Student Learning and Wellness, by Fiona Rawle Effect of Syllabus Tone: Students’ Perceptions of Instructor and Course, by Harnish & Bridges Replacing Power with Flexible Structure: Implementing Flexible Deadlines to Improve Student Learning Experiences, by Hills & Peacock Enhancing Social Presence in Online Learning, by Joyce & Brown The 1:1 method, by Seth Godin  Master Slave Husband Wife, by Ilyon Woo

Bryan Dewsbury helps us explore what socially just teaching might look like across disciplines on episode 585 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode I am not interested in being in a war with AI. I'm not trying to be a faculty detective to see who's using ChatGPT or not, I didn't sign up for that work. -Bryan Dewsbury I'm not your enemy. I'm not against you. I'm rooting for you every single day. I really mean that. -Bryan Dewsbury The things I say on day one are not going to mean anything over the course of the semester if I don't give them feedback in a reasonable time or if I'm rude when they answer a question wrong in class. -Bryan Dewsbury The way in which we can interact around this material doesn't have to be one that's dictatorial. -Bryan Dewsbury You don't have to be able to save the world, but you're obligated to try, right? And so the whole key behind that is in trying, you almost by definition achieve more. -Bryan Dewsbury Resources Toward a Humanist and Agentic Paradigm of Inclusive Teaching—Lessons from the United States Civil Rights Era for College Pedagogy, by Bryan M. Dewsbury This I Believe – Essay Guidelines The Norton Guide to Equity-Minded Teaching Michael Palmer on “Big Beautiful Questions” David Yeager on “Wise Feedback” Eli Review Collaboration with Sarah Cavanagh on Assessment, Feedback, and Grading We Are Lady Parts Abbot Elementary Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI, by Yuval Noah Harari

Danny Liu shares a different way to think about AI and assessment on episode 584 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode Our students are presented with this massive array of things they could choose from. They may not know the right things to choose or the best things to choose. And our role as educators is to kind of guide them in trying to find the most healthy options from the menu to choose from. -Danny Liu People want to give their students clarity. They want to give their students a bit of guidance on how to approach AI, what is going to be helpful for them for learning and not helpful for learning. -Danny Liu There is no way to really know if the rules that you're putting in place are going to be followed by students, and it doesn't mean that we need to detect them or surveil them more when they're doing their assignments. -Danny Liu We need to accept the reality that students could be using AI in ways that we don't want them to be using AI if they're not in front of us. -Danny Liu Not everyone lies. Most of our students want to do the right thing. They want to learn, but they have the temptation of AI there that is saying, I can do this work for you. Just click, just chat with me. -Danny Liu Our role as teachers is not to be cops, it's to teach and therefore to be in a position where we can trust you and help you make the right choice. -Danny Liu Resources Menus, not traffic lights: A different way to think about AI and assessments, by Danny Liu Talk is cheap: why structural assessment changes are needed for a time of GenAI, by Thomas Corbin,Phillip Dawson, &Danny Liu What to do about assessments if we can’t out-design or out-run AI? by Danny Liu and Adam Bridgeman Course: Welcome to AI for Educators from the University of Sydney Whitepaper: Generative AI in Higher Education: Current Practices and Ways Forward, by Danny Y.T. Liu, Simon Bates Five myths about interactive oral assessments and how to get started, by Eszter Kalman, Benjamin Miller and Danny Liu Interactive Oral Assessment in practice, by Leanne Stevenson, Benjamin Miller and Clara Sitbon ‘Tell me what you learned’: oral assessments and assurance of learning in the age of generative AI, by Meraiah Foley, Ju Li Ng and Vanessa Loh Interactive Oral Assessments: A New but Old Approach to Assessment Design from the University of South Australia Interactive oral assessments from the University of Melbourne Long live RSS Feeds New AI RSS Feed New AI RSS Page Broken: How Our Social Systems are Failing Us and How We Can Fix Them by Paul LeBlanc

James Lang shares about his latest book, Write Like You Teach, on episode 583 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode Answers on their own are not interesting. They become interesting when we know the questions behind them. -James Lang When you take a reader on a journey, as the reader works through an essay or book that you've written, they spend a lot of time with you. -James Lang Be attentive to the person that you are on the page to the reader. -James Lang Start right now. That's the most important thing. -James Lang Resources Write Like You Teach: Taking Your Classroom Skills to a Bigger Audience by James M. Lang Distracted: Why Students Can’t Focus and What You Can Do About It by James M. Lang Small Teaching: Everyday Lessons from the Science of Learning by James M. Lang Cheating Lessons: Learning from Academic Dishonesty by James M. Lang The Greek Way by Edith Hamilton The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean How Can Educators Teach Critical Thinking? by Daniel T. Willingham (American Educator) James M. Lang’s official website Susan Orlean’s official website Scrivener, a popular writing and revision tool for long-form projects The Opposite of Cheating from the Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Series (University of Oklahoma Press) University of Oklahoma Press – Teaching, Engaging, and Thriving in Higher Ed series Christine Tulley The Sirens' Call: How Attention Became the World's Most Endangered Resource, by Chris Hayes Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain, by Maryanne Wolf

Adriana Aldana shares about Counterstory Pedagogy: Student Letters of Resilience, Healing, and Resistance on episode 582 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode One of our ethical obligations as social workers is to engage in self care to avoid burnout. -Adriana Aldana Their voice really comes through in the letter format in ways that I don't see in other forms of writing. I encourage them to loosen up a little bit with what they think I am expecting them to write about or how to write. -Adriana Aldana Resources Counterstory Pedagogy: Student Letters of Resilience, Healing, and Resistance, by Adriana Aldana Rest as Resistance, by Trisha Hersey Rest as Resistance card deck Episode 195: Considering Open Education with an Interdisciplinary Lens with Robin DeRosa Radical Hope: Letters of Love and Dissent in Dangerous Times, by Caro de Robertis Counterstory: The Rhetoric and Writing of Critical Race Theory, by Aja Y. Martinez Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change, by William Bridges Elon University Center for Engaged Leanring Open Access Book Series

Alexandra (Ana) Kogl shares about her chaper in Joy-Centered Pedagogy in Higher Education on episode 581 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode I didn't expect to find joy in the classroom when I started teaching political science 20 years ago. -Alexandra (Ana) Kogl Joy isn't something that we can coerce out of students. -Alexandra (Ana) Kogl They seem to expect to feel dead inside in the classroom, which is heartbreaking. -Alexandra (Ana) Kogl The opposite of joy isn't suffering, it's numbness. -Alexandra (Ana) Kogl People survive injustice and they thrive. -Alexandra (Ana) Kogl Resources Joy-Centered Pedagogy in Higher Education: Uplifting Teaching & Learning for All, edited by Eileen Camfield Ross Gay Masculinity as Homophobia: Fear, Shame and Silence in the Construction of Gender Identity, by Michael S. Kimmel SIFT Audre Lorde Martin Luther King Jr. Mike Caulfield Karl Marx Stanley Milgram Hannah Arendt Joy Cards Eichmann in Jerusalem All My Relations Podcast

Leslie Bayers discusses her chapter in Joy-Centered Pedagogy: The Joy of Embodied Learning on episode 580 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode I certainly wasn't taught body literacy in school, and what I mean by that is how to read the internal signals that the body might be communicating. -Leslie Bayers We feel and think better when we move. -Leslie Bayers I try to get students moving or engaged with sensory textures as much as possible to spark learning. -Leslie Bayers How we feel absolutely shapes if and how we learn. And many of us feel this in our bodies. -Leslie Bayers Learning is incredibly hard work. It's one of the things that does drain the body of energy. -Leslie Bayers Resources Joy-Centered Pedagogy in Higher Education: Uplifting Teaching & Learning for All, edited by Eileen Camfield Katy Bowman Episode 505: How Role Clarity and Boundaries Can Help Us Thrive with Karen Costa Scope of Practice Template, developed by Karen Costa An Educator’s Scope of Practice: How Do I Know What’s Mine?, Karen Costa’s Chapter in Trauma-Informed Pedagogies Bend App 15 Minute Gentle Morning Yoga Catalina: A Novel, by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio On Muscle: The Stuff That Moves Us and Why It Matters, by Bonnie Tsui

Jennifer Baumgartner shares some lessons in love and learning from Mr. Rogers’ legacy on episode 579 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode Mr. Rodgers was a very comforting influence as a young child. -Jennifer Baumgartner Moving slowly or taking your time is a very key theme of Mr. Rogers neighborhood, and also Fred Rogers' life and the way he lived it. -Jennifer Baumgartner He didn't shy away from talking about difficult subjects. -Jennifer Baumgartner "Anything that is mentionable is manageable." -Jennifer Baumgartner, quoting Fred Rogers Resources Fred Rogers Institute Fred Rogers Institute at Saint Vincent College The Neighborhood of Make-Believe You don’t have to wait for the clock to strike to start teaching, by Peter Newbury Go Somewhere: Reimagining Technology in Education for a Better Tomorrow, Bonni Stachowiak’s Keynote at LSU’s Faculty Colloquium Speaking Freddish: How to Sound Like Mister Rogers, by Alexei Novak “Did You Know?” Song by Mister Rogers 10 to 25: The Science of Motivating Young People, by David Yeager Cartoon about writing Teaching C-I Substack Fred Rogers Archive OuiSi Original: Games of Visual Connection Thomas Dambo – Recycled Art and Troll Sculptures Trollmap – Locations of Thomas Dambo’s Trolls Won’t You Be My Neighbor? (2018 Documentary)