Grading Bundles present an opportunity to reduce time spent grading while increasing the meaning of each activity in our courses. I am testing a Grading Bundle framework for my upper-division applied technique course in the Spring, and I feel optimistic about the learning experience it will create.
For the Spring 2022, I am teaching a heavily applied course: Public Relations Techniques (380). The course teaches PR students what strategies are common practice while they serve an on-campus client. I explain the plan in my syllabus.
Assignments in this course will not be graded in the typical “point” way (because what do 6 points even mean). Instead, every activity will graded pass/fail and the Bundle of activities that you pass determines your final grade. To earn an “A” you must successfully complete every activity. Earning a “B” requires completing the Project, Progress Reports, Summaries, and either the Presentation OR Quizzes/Exam. If you complete only the Project and Summaries you will earn a C. You can choose to complete only the Summaries and Presentation OR Quizzes/Exam for a passing D in the course. You get to choose your grade by passing activities within the Bundle.
My course has five learning outcomes, based on cognitive operation hierarchies, that are paired with an activity type for assessment.
By focusing on the learning verb in my outcomes, I was able to see what types of assessment (therefore activity) quickly and clearly would be meaningful. For example, recalling information is easily assessed through a quiz while planning/evaluating projects can be measured through progress reports and reflections. Once I had the framework of learning outcome and assessment, which did go through at least 5 iterations and tweaking, the Grade Bundles came into play.
Grade Bundles comes from the strategy of Specifications Grading, where we specify how each activity and outcome relate to the final grade and often with Pass/Fail schemes for individual activities. Dr. Linda B. Nilson explains the approach with excellent examples in “Specifications Grading” (2015). For my course, I took the five activities—thus the five outcomes—and aligned the final grade with the demonstration of PR skills.
The process took a bit of thinking time, so I outline my thought process below as it might help you organize your own courses. I start with the questions to ask and the answers for my course.
Download the course planning template to follow along in course design.
Is there a keystone skill that everyone should do?
Yes… in a 300-level course, every student should demonstrate analysis by synthesizing the information from industry outlets. No matter where these students go in their careers, the skill of learning and processing industry news and practices should be valuable.
Mark a “Yes” in all the Grade Bundles
What does earning an A mean?
Are there any activities that could be substituted or are closely related in skillset? Can I give students an option anywhere?
What does earning a C mean?
What if a student isn’t interested in being a PR professional but does want to know and learn the business?
Does this scheme make sense? Do I have enough “helpers” to scaffold the learning?
Last, I audited the scheme with a loose (what if I graded this traditionally) check. Based on the points I would have assigned each activity, the framework did line up well with a traditional grade. For example, if a student received a 0 on the Client Project but did the other activities, they would be a “D” range for points. And same for completing everything but earning a 0 on the exam could put a student in the upper C, lower B range. So, I feel confident the skills and milestones line up in a logical and rigorous way.
Conclusion:
Adopting a new way of grading and organizing my class was intimidating at first. After I answered those six questions, everything fell into a logical place that centered my teaching philosophy values. My vision as a professor is empowering students to adopt more curiosity, self-efficacy, and discipline over their goals. The Grading Bundles speak to that vision as students can make a decision about which activities fit into their goals and lives with upfront knowledge about the grade they will earn.
Plus, I genuinely expect grading to be faster, higher quality, and overall more efficient on my end. Those factors are important as I am teaching this class on an overload contract while working full-time on campus elsewhere.
How is your grading set up? Share in our community what grading and outcomes you set up for your classes! Download the course planning template (.xls file) to organize your own course.