Brianna (Bria) August-Rae
Courses
COMM 2045: Public Speaking (oral communication Gen Ed)
COMM 4356: Intercultural Communication
COMM 5300: Qualitative Methods in Communication Research
Reflection on Using High-Impact Teaching Practices
I implemented “un-grading,” a high-impact teaching practice in which students evaluate and grade their own work. Key lessons I took away from the Gen Ed Instructor’s Institute were the values of 1) Meta-cognition, i.e., thinking about thinking and learning & 2) Orienting towards growth and process. Un-grading provides students opportunities to reflect on their learning and focus on their growth, rather than focusing on achieving a grade.
I love un-grading and I’m never going back. Students rarely inflated their grades and were generally honest and authentic in their self-evaluations. One of my favorite pieces of feedback came from a student who wrote the following in an anonymous feedback survey for my COMM 4356 class:
“Grading our own work has been the most helpful thing by far. As an instructor, you only have what has been submitted. As students, we know the effort we put into assignments. As you said at the beginning of the semester, we are harsher critics than you might be. I know I am capable of doing the least amount of work to submit something that technically fulfills the requirements on a rubric. I know that I am capable of doing work last-minute that will still receive an A. I have done those things many, many times. Under a traditional grading structure, that habit has been rewarded. I have so much to process and remember at any given time and I feel no need to keep any of that knowledge in my brain once a grade has been attained. Under your grading structure, things are different. I know I will be okay if I do just enough to get a good grade. I've been noticeably less anxious about this class knowing that I have that safety net. However, I'm not satisfied by getting a good grade. I'm satisfied by knowing that I have prepared well for in-class discussions, group work, and other activities. Even then, I'm more focused on things I can improve than on feeling awful about getting a bad grade. Without the pressure of a traditional grading system, I have had the mental space to process and engage with the material. Absolutely do that again going forward.”
Reflection on Gen Ed Scholars Institute
The greatest gift I gained from the Gen Ed Instructor’s Institute was an interdisciplinary community of passionate educators. I loved meeting and interacting with faculty from different disciplines, as well as from different colleges across the university. I gained inspiration as well as concrete strategies from both the CTE faculty members as well as my peers.
I was able to take these lessons back to my department-- a fellow Gen Ed Instructors Institute attendee and I presented a short workshop introducing our departmental colleagues to HITPs [High-Impact Teaching Practices] and showcasing some of the strategies we learned during our department’s Advance at the start of term.
Finally, I greatly appreciate that we were provided stipends for our participation in the Institute. I love working at a university that values teaching and puts its money where its mouth is. Thank you for the opportunity to participate in this incredible program!