When Grading Becomes a Festival: Public Self-Assessment w/Heloisa Pait
What if grading could become a celebration of learning? Brazilian sociologist Heloisa Pait shares how public self-assessment invites university students to evaluate their own work, participate in an intellectual community, and develop independence from academic authority. From her parents' contrasting grading philosophies to a surprising metaphor involving the Brazilian dish vatapá, Heloisa offers a distinctive perspective on assessment, rigor, and student voice.
Navigating Ungrading and Workshop in a Graded World
For more than four decades, educator and writer P. L. Thomas has been rethinking the relationship among grades, feedback, writing, and learning. In this episode, he explores ungrading, writing workshop, grade contracts, revision, and the challenge of creating more humane learning environments within systems that still require grades.
No Grades, High Stakes: The New College Story
At New College of Florida, narrative evaluations and other alternative assessment practices helped create a deeply relational, student-centered culture. In this roundtable, former faculty reflect on what made that model distinctive, what was lost during the college’s transformation, and what educators elsewhere can carry forward.