Josh Luckens interviews Dr. Susan Blum, who shares how she uses “ungrading” principles and practices to reinvigorate her role as a college professor and empower her students to be lifelong learners.

Dr. Blum is a professor of anthropology at The University of Notre Dame and the author of nine books, including her 2016 publication "I Love Learning; I Hate School: An Anthropology of College,” and her 2020 instant classic “Ungrading: Why Rating Students Undermines Learning (and What to Do Instead),” which she both edited and contributed to alongside higher education experts from across the world.

Ungrading is a process of pedagogical inquiry that calls conventional assessment practices into question and continually searches for instructional strategies that work better to promote deep engagement and lasting learning.

Dr. Blum shares a constellation of teaching practices applicable to a variety of disciplines that de-center grading and re-center genuine feedback and student growth.

In her words: “Students in my classes have shifted their focus from getting good grades to meaningful and authentic learning.”

Additional resources:

• TLC blog post: Asking the Big Questions in Learning Design

• Teaching What You Don’t Know by Therese Huston

• Carl Wieman Science Education Initiative

• Syllabus example that employs grading while integrating ungrading principles (from Professor Mark Sample of Davidson University)

(August, 2022)