Ungraded Classrooms: A Pattern for Learning in Engineering Modeled after Expert Practitioners

Abstract

Practitioners have knowledge bases in the subject matter that can be both deep and broad, while researchers often have knowledge bases that are very deep yet narrow. Interestingly, practitioners develop a deep and broad mastery of the subject matter most often during their practice rather than in the University setting that they were educated in. Most experts in academia will also readily concede that their mastery of the subject matter came not in a conventional classroom but in the daily struggle to study their subject in great detail, i.e., in the course of their practice. How can we help students learn in the University classroom setting like practitioners learn and develop both deep and broad knowledge bases? In our view students can best learn in much the same way that experts learn (as Marshall M. Lib strongly suggested in 1996 to ASEE). We propose that conscious implementation of ungraded classrooms is an ideal means to deepen engineering formation. This paper examines the impact of ungraded classrooms in geotechnical engineering classrooms at the junior and senior undergraduate levels. Throughout this time period student opinion surveys and student learning outcomes data have been collected to evaluate the effectiveness and reception of ungraded classrooms. These classrooms have a final grade, but the individual homework, quizzes, projects, and exams are treated as assignments in the engineering office. They are submitted, reviewed, and then revised. Revisions occur as many times as needed until mastery is demonstrated, or the semester ends. At the end of the semester, the final grade is determined by instructor and student in one-on-one conference, in which the student's overall learning and effort are evaluated holistically rather than an accumulation of points. This approach has help shift student attitudes away from "the grade is what matters" towards "it's the learning that matters." The ungraded approach has been well received by the students, while student final exam scores have significantly risen as a consequence of semesterlong mastery of content rather than point accumulation.