Gradebooks and Ungradebooks

Growing Success has been around in Ontario education for more than a decade.  That means for more than a decade, we have been asked to differentiate assessment for, as, and of learning.  For more than a decade we have been asked to determine grades on most recent, most consistent for the student, and not to rely on averages and individual marks for skills that only get assessed once.

For more than a decade, and yet most of our popular grading tools still rely on weighted averages.  Using Google Classroom?  The incorporated gradebook relies on averages.  Using Brightspace? Still averages. In fact, it is difficult to find any grading tool that gets away from the dreaded weighted average.

So, some design thinking to the rescue.

First, is this a problem? Yes, very much so.

That's not to say that this isn't a complex problem.  Grades have been a part of institutionalized education for a long time. Administrators, parents, teachers, and students all easily understand and are familiar with grades. In fact, for some, grades are a motivating factor in success.  Some teachers will even tell you that if they are not grading an assignment, the students will not feel compelled to complete the work. And this is a system that is highly resistant to change of any kind.

Some teachers will also tell you that grades, while useful in some cases, constitute the end of the conversation in many cases.  We have all had that moment, handing back an assignment, feedback and rubrics dutifully filled out, only to find the paper packages dumped into the recycling as soon as the students read that overall mark for their work.

Approaches to this problem in the past have included not giving out overalls on assignments, but instead focusing on separating out the achievement chart for the class and giving marks in the appropriate categories (KTCA).  Definitely a better approach, and most likely a more representative grade at the end of the course as well, especially if the teacher is calculating down the categories rather than the individual assignments.  But you run into the sticky problem on weighting with this as well, and of not comparing apples to apples as all 'K' category grades don't necessarily point to the same skill set, and so on.

I wanted to make something that really focused on the overalls in the curriculum. I wanted a gradebook that I could adapt for each student, adjust for their learning needs, and involve the students in designing their own learning experience.

Second, making the tool.

It was surprisingly simple to conceptualize this project. Using Google Sheets and Forms -although I am sure I could just as easily have used Excel and Forms- I set up a sheet with all of the overalls connected to the form, as well as the student names, work (assignment), and type.  In separate sheets, I have a space for students, work, type, and levels.

Now I can enter in grades, through the Google Form, for the curriculum overalls connected to each assignment.  The assignments do not need to line up, which means that each student could theoretically be working on their own projects, their own learning paths.

Finally, making the tool interactive.

Most of this would be useless if the students could not interact with it.  This leads me to the next leg of the journey, working with students to make sense of the tool.

More on that soon.