Teaching and Scholarship Hub

**Due to low registration numbers, this event has been postponed to a future date.**

Consider attending an upcoming workshop in a related topic instead:

• “Getting Started with Alternative Assessment” – Friday, August 15 from 10:30-11:45am in the Faculty Hub
• “The What & Why of Specifications Grading” – Thursday, August 21 from 12:15-1:30pm in the Faculty Hub

Please reach out to Kylie Korsnack (kkorsnac@richmond.edu) if you have questions or would like to schedule a 1-1 consult.

---

In Grading for Growth (2023), Clark and Talbert ask: “What if there was a way to think about grades built on growth over game-playing, learning over letters and numbers, and productive relationships over adversarial ones? What if we could address, if not entirely repair, so many of these problems, through a quiet revolution in the everyday task of grading?” (3). As they suggest, alternative grading systems that emphasize growth and feedback provide one such way. Moreover, alternative grading creates more inclusive and equitable learning experiences for students by mitigating some negative outcomes associated with traditional grading (see for example: Covington et al, 2017; Feldman, 2019; Kohn, 2011; Malouff & Thorsteinsson, 2016). However, for many faculty, making the leap from traditional grading to alternative grading requires significant investment of time and labor.

This three-day course design institute (CDI) provides faculty (& instructional staff) with the structure, support, and resources they need to take the first step towards alternative grading. Informed by Specifications Grading (Nilson, 2015) and Grading for Growth (Clark & Talbert, 2023), our CDI is designed to help participants design or redesign a course using specifications grading.

The institute* will run from 9:00am to 12:30pm on Monday, August 11, Tuesday, August 12, and Friday, August 15, with optional time for independent work and/or individual consultations throughout the day on Wednesday and Thursday and from 1-3pm on the days that the institute takes place. Lunch is available on Monday, Tuesday, and Friday for those who register here.

*Note: This CDI was developed as part of an ACS (Associated Colleges of the South) Summer Grant and in collaboration with Dr. Nancy Chick (Director, Endeavor Foundation for Faculty Development and Professor of English, Rollins College) and Dr. Nisha Gupta (Director, Center for Teaching and Learning and Assistant Professor of Education, Gender Studies, and Philosophy, Centre College)