It’s that point in class planning where I have great, big, giant goals—but I’m not at all sure that I can design a course to meet them. Zoomed out, the big targets are better discussion posts/student interaction, solutions for group…
Category: Teaching Prof Comm
A Policy for the Groups I Want
The dreaded hour has come: Folks in my Tech Writing course have reported group members who they cannot contact or who are not responding and other group members who are not contributing to the projects. Now I have to figure…
The Challenge of Ethics Discussions
For the third week of Technical Writing, our template focuses on ethical considerations, asking students to respond to two online discussions. One of the discussions asks students to find the code of ethics for their field and then discuss what…
Visual Outline of Group Work for the Fall
Today is the last day of the second week of classes. I got my groups set up yesterday, using the Group Preferences Form that I developed a few years ago. I ended up aiming for five people per group, but…
Wrapping Things Up
After writing yesterday’s post, I read up on group assessment, reviewed some materials on contract grading, and revisited some information on ungrading. I’ve been collecting references in Zotero for years now, so it was relatively easy to pull up the…
Temporary Signs of Progress
On Friday, I ordered Ellen Carillo’s The Hidden Inequities in Labor-Based Contract Grading (2021). It arrived today, and I read it quickly. It’s a short but very useful book. I was especially pleased to have some of the questions that…
A Tentative Effort Expectations Contract Chart
I’ve spent the day reading (and rereading) on contract grading, including all of these resources: Inoue, Asao B. (2019). Labor-Based Grading Contracts: Building Equity and Inclusion in the Compassionate Writing Classroom. The WAC Clearinghouse and University Press of Colorado. https://wac.colostate.edu/books/perspectives/labor/…
Weighing Student Work
I’m definitely doing too much thinking about contracts and how to set up the expectations fairly. So much so that I’ve realized that I’m stuck on the very essence of grading. I’m no where near ungrading. I’ve lost all track…
Like or Dislike? Assessment for this Fall
I’m focused now on the last big decision for my fall classes: How I will make the assessment system work with all these new assignments. The many collaborative writing tasks and related homework impact the system dramatically. Specifically, I’m trying…
Late Policy & Grace Period Options
I seriously hate having to change my late policy. I had more than a few students thank me for it last term. Several even said that they would have had to withdraw without it. That said, I understand that members…