The Story of Grades with Luke Green

Luke Green uses the Santa Claus story to rethink what grades measure and the case for ungrading on episode 629 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode Each student at some point throughout their academic career is going to receive a grade, receive some sort of an assessment that is going to fundamentally alter how they feel about the classroom. -Luke Green The narrative that we sell to our kids is that these gifts are earned. The metric is, those who are good children or better children, you receive more. -Luke Green What are grades, and what purpose do we want them to serve? -Luke Green Usually, it’s a proxy of understanding a student’s overall experience. And GPA is even worse, because you’re putting all of your course grades into a meat grinder and spitting out one number. -Luke Green Resources Luke Green, St. Cloud Technical & Community College Luke Green Recognized at MinnState Board Awards Grading for Growth, by David Clark and Robert Talbert Unmaking the Grade, by Emily Pitts Donahoe Learning About Grades from an Emerging Failure, with Emily Pitts Donahoe and Hannah Stachowiak Campbell’s Law Hood Politics with Prop There Really Is a Santa Claus, by Glenn P. Crone

Remi Kalir shares the Fair Feedback Project for addressing bias in student evaluations on episode 628 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode If you actually have students write about affirming values as a kind of open free write before they complete an evaluation of teaching, it actually has been shown to mitigate bias. -Remi Kalir There are many people who are experiencing the effects of these structural patterns of bias who don’t look like me. So what can I do? How can I show up as an individual in this? -Remi Kalir I did not want people coming to the Fair Feedback project and then having long-winded, tangential, potentially problematic conversations with Claude as a chatbot. -Remi Kalir You can call it my complicity, you can call it my complexity, whatever you might call it, but I am very much entangled in this AI moment, trying to understand how I am navigating all of this. -Remi Kalir Resources The Fair Feedback Project Remi Kalir at the Duke Center for Teaching and Learning Remi Kalir — remi(x)learning Claude’s Remi Record The Research on Course Evaluations, with Betsy Barre (Teaching in Higher Ed) The Potential Impact of Stereotype Threat, with Robin Paige (Teaching in Higher Ed Episode 79) How Better Teaching Can Make College More Equitable, with David Gooblar (Teaching in Higher Ed Episode 599) Claude M. Steele, Stanford Department of Psychology Whistling Vivaldi: How Stereotypes Affect Us and What We Can Do, by Claude M. Steele Ludmila Praslova, PhD — Vanguard University The Canary Code: A Guide to Neurodiversity, Dignity, and Intersectional Belonging at Work, by Ludmila N. Praslova Teaching: Is There a Fix to the Teaching-Evaluation Problem? by Beth McMurtrie (The Chronicle of Higher Education) A Practical Guide to Modern Teaching Evaluation, by Michael McCreary (Engaged Learning Collective) Transforming College Teaching Evaluation: A Framework for Advancing Instructional Excellence, by Ann E. Austin, Noah D. Finkelstein, Andrea Follmer Greenhoot, Doug Ward, and Gabriela Cornejo Weaver Rebecca Fordon — AI Law Librarians Aria Chernik, JD, PhD — Duke Learning Innovation & Lifetime Education Claude Code Cowork by Claude Bartz v. Anthropic — Anthropic Copyright Settlement Anthropic Settles With Authors in First-of-Its-Kind AI Copyright Lawsuit (NPR) My Tech Disclaimer, by Doug Belshaw My 2026 Tech Stack, by Bonni Stachowiak (Teaching in Higher Ed) The Data Fix with Dr. Mél Hogan (podcast) Poll Everywhere

Janice McCabe shares her research on campus loneliness and college friendship networks on episode 627 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode The previous surgeon general, among others, have declared a loneliness crisis facing the United States, and, in fact, the highest rates are among young adults. -Janice McCabe Many people that I interviewed told me how they felt like everyone else either had more friends than them, had better friends than them, was having more fun than them, along those lines. -Janice McCabe Something I hear from students a lot is just this appreciation for taking friendship seriously in students’ lives. And so that’s something that professors, teachers, college administrators can do. -Janice McCabe Students often say they don’t really like group projects, but then, that was a place that many of the friendships that formed in classes that I saw formed. -Janice McCabe Resources Making, Keeping, and Losing Friends: How Campuses Shape College Students’ Networks by Janice McCabe Connecting in College: How Friendship Networks Matter for Academic and Social Success by Janice McCabe Janice McCabe at Dartmouth What Friendship Network Type Are You? (PDF) I Study Friendship. Here’s How You Make Lasting Friends by Janice McCabe, The New York Times The Friendship Advice Experts Swear By by Catherine Pearson, The New York Times Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation: The U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory on the Healing Effects of Social Connection and Community Community of Inquiry framework Propinquity (Wikipedia) Homophily (Wikipedia) Peter Felten Network Weaving as an Antidote to Imposter Syndrome Dear Nina: Conversations About Friendship podcast

Jeanie Tietjen unpacks trauma-informed practices in higher ed and why naming itself is a form of teaching on episode 626 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode Naming goes so far back in, even just in literary terms, the importance of naming. -Jeanie Tietjen There is still a very nascent and as yet relatively unarticulated understanding of how profoundly trauma, adversity, and violence adversely affect teaching and learning. -Jeanie Tietjen Many students have experienced traumas that are situated in educational settings, bullying experiences that are identity-based, that profoundly shape how they feel about the educational setting as a place. -Jeanie Tietjen Learning is very vulnerable. It involves being wrong, failing, failing in front of other people. -Jeanie Tietjen Resources Naming the Urgency: The Importance of Trauma-Informed Practices in Community Colleges, by Jeanie Tietjen (chapter) Trauma Informed Pedagogies: A Guide for Responding to Crisis and Inequality in Higher Education, edited by Phyllis Thompson and Janice Carello The Institute for Trauma, Adversity, and Resilience in Higher Education Supporting the Whole Student: Mental Health, Substance Use, and Wellbeing in Higher Education (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine) What Happened to You? Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing, by Bruce D. Perry and Oprah Winfrey SAMHSA’s 6 Guiding Principles to a Trauma-Informed Approach (infographic) Mays Imad Janice Carello Bryan Dewsbury Tracie Addy and PAITE (Personal Assessment of Inclusive Teaching for Effectiveness) Education Northwest — research on trauma and attendance (Shannon Davidson) Teaching Solidarity: Critical Race Reading, by Malini Johar Schueller The Essential Gwendolyn Brooks Episode 357: Sandie Morgan and Warren Doody on Elizabeth Leonard’s interdisciplinary legacy Bread and War: A Ukrainian Story of Food, Bravery and Hope, by Felicity Spector Flour Power (Felicity Spector’s Substack) The Gap (Ira Glass), video by Daniel Sax on Vimeo The Gap — PKM in Action, by Bonni Stachowiak Poll Everywhere

Malini Johar Schueller unpacks critical race reading and the role of discomfort in the classroom on episode 625 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode Racism is a permanent structural feature of American society, and law alone, as now we have it, cannot deal with racism because racism is also part of law. -Malini Johar Schueller Critical race reading takes off from that, and it asks, is there a way of reading… that can awaken us to questions of racial privilege and hierarchy, but without us imagining that we have taken over somebody’s place? -Malini Johar Schueller Critical empathy, where you feel for others and you feel the injustice of others, but you also feel differently, you know, differently. -Malini Johar Schueller Some level of discomfort is fine for learning, because if learning doesn’t produce any kind of discomfort, you haven’t moved outside your zone of what you already know. -Malini Johar Schueller Resources Teaching Solidarity: Critical Race Reading, by Malini Johar Schueller Malini Johar Schueller’s personal site Kimberlé Crenshaw Patricia Williams Disparate treatment vs. disparate impact The 1619 Project Shoshana Felman Pedagogy of the Oppressed, by Paulo Freire Teaching to Transgress, by bell hooks Defy: The Power of Saying No in a World That Demands Yes, by Sunita Sah Jesse Stommel on Episode 320 Journey through infertility (Pudding, March 2026)

Denise Maduli-Williams shares how to engage learners in online courses on episode 624 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode The very first thing I saw was the online instructor posting this video where she was roller skating in this roller Derby rink and welcoming us online, and that just changed everything for me. -Denise Maduli-Williams When we design with accessibility in mind, we support everyone, all students. -Denise Maduli-Williams Students who are quieter, whether it’s synchronous on Zoom or synchronous in person, they have the opportunity to participate when they’re ready and to prepare. -Denise Maduli-Williams Resources Denise Maduli-Williams at San Diego Miramar College Denise Maduli-Williams on LinkedIn Supporting ADHD Learners, With Karen Costa (Teaching in Higher Ed Episode 384) Reach Everyone, Teach Everyone: Universal Design for Learning in Higher Education, by Thomas J. Tobin and Kirsten T. Behling The Joyful Online Teacher: Finding Our Fizz in Asynchronous Classes, by Flower Darby Rutgers Online Learning Conference (RUOnlineCon) California Community Colleges Online Network of Educators (@ONE) Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Guidelines Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) Program The Correspondent: A Novel, by Virginia Evans The Passion Planner Poll Everywhere

Rebecca Fordon unpacks vibe coding and the eight AI teaching tools she built in a single semester on episode 623 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode Vibe coding, I think of being able to describe the kind of application or website that you want in just words, a narrative, rather than having to code it, knowing coding language. -Rebecca Fordon I think the easiest place to start is in ChatGPT, or Gemini, or Claude Code. -Rebecca Fordon Many of my students have not used it for anything related to law school. Until they get into my class, and then they see there actually are some good, legitimate uses. -Rebecca Fordon If you want to mess with things on your own, you can really just ask AI: How do I do that? Where should I look? -Rebecca Fordon Resources Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop: One Semester, Eight Vibe-Coded Teaching Tools AI Law Librarians TokenExplorer NPR’s Driveway Moments David Colarusso Lovable Replit Video: Bonni Shows Jon Ippolito’s Connect Random Things Exercise Jon Ippolito’s Connect Random Things Exercise SongLink (Odesli.co) Wolf Worm, by T. Kingfisher Snipd Artificial Intelligence and Human Legal Reasoning, by Bednar, Cleveland, Erbsen, and Schwarcz

Jennifer Wallace shares about her book, Mattering: The Secret to a Life of Deep Connection and Purpose on episode 622 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode Mattering says you belong at the table, but it goes even further, and it says you would be missed if you weren’t here. You are adding value, and we would notice if you weren’t here. -Jennifer Wallace We have so much input and so much output being demanded of us today that often we go through life on autopilot. -Jennifer Wallace Mattering is not another thing to add to your to-do list. Mattering is a way of looking at your to-do list. -Jennifer Wallace When you look at the data on what drives performance, it is engagement. And what drives engagement is mattering. -Jennifer Wallace Resources Mattering: The Secret to a Life of Deep Connection and Purpose, by Jennifer Wallace Never Enough: When Achievement Culture Becomes Toxic—and What We Can Do About It, by Jennifer Wallace Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community, by Robert D. Putnam Jennifer Wallace’s Website Mattering Movement Gallup-Purdue Index Report Nancy Schlossberg’s Transition Theory World Spins Madly On WeRateDogs – This is Sadie. Sign up to be a Mattering Ambassador

David Perry shares about his new book, The Public Scholar, on episode 621 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode Teaching is the most important form of public engagement that any of us do. -David Perry If we are really practiced at teaching, and as we develop our skills as teachers, those are the skills that can also take us into other spaces outside of the classroom. -David Perry Academia is structured around all kinds of failure. Once you recognize that, and then bring yourself into another context where you’re going to experience rejection, you already have the skills to cope with it. -David Perry I think all writers, and certainly in academia, worry a lot about our worst faith readers. How do we not get ripped apart? You have to write for your best faith reader. You have to really shift your focus. -David Perry Resources The Public Scholar: A Practical Handbook by David M. Perry Tressie McMillan Cottom Kevin Gannon — The Tattooed Professor Irene Maweu Higher Love Pluribus The Drop Kick Murphys ‘Streets of Minneapolis’: 32 protest songs inspired by the Twin Cities’ ICE resistance The Neighborhood Kids, “Breaking News”

Flower Darby shares about being a joyful online teacher on episode 620 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode Higher education doesn’t do a great job of preparing faculty to teach, generally speaking, that’s not new, but especially online teaching. -Flower Darby If you’re not a meme person, don’t do that. Something that isn’t authentic to your personality is not going to be effective. -Flower Darby Sometimes you don’t need all the latest bells and whistles; you don’t need the latest iPhone. We can be effective with simpler tools. -Flower Darby We can’t be joyful if we’re always working. -Flower Darby Resources The Joyful Online Teacher: Finding Our Fizz in Asynchronous Classes by Flower Darby Michelle Pacansky-Brock The Spark of Learning: Energizing the College Classroom with the Science of Emotion, by Sarah Rose Cavanagh Dave Ghidiu Denise Maduli-Williams TextExpander Thor: God of Thunder gets a library card A Starting Point for Seth Godin’s Blog Feel Good Inc., by Gorillaz Muddiest Point Handout from Purdue Revitalizing the Muddiest Point for Formative Assessment and Student Engagement in a Large Class, by Amy Mackos, Kelly Casler, Joni Tornwall, and Tara O’Brien Poll Everywhere