Share

cover art for Ungrading

Teach Talk Listen Learn

Ungrading

Season 1, Ep. 1

Transcript of this episode is available here.


Our first episode is all about grades – or lack of them to be more precise. 


We chat with Kary Zarate (Special Education) and Billy Huff (Gender & Women’s Studies and Communication) about Ungrading, and why they're Ungrading in their classrooms, and the educators who inspired them to try. 


Huff and Zarate share what Ungrading looks like in their classrooms, challenges they’ve encountered, and the impact it’s had on student learning—and themselves, including, as Zarate says, bringing back “the joy of teaching.” 

 

Did you enjoy this episode, or do you have a story to share about your experience with Ungrading or another teaching topic? Drop us a note at ttll@illinois.edu

 

This podcast was produced by the Center for Innovation in Teaching & Learning at the University of Illinois. Episodes can be found on our website and major podcast platforms. We hope you’ll find us there and join the conversation! 

 

About the guests 

Kary Zarate is a Teaching Assistant Professor in the Department of Special Education. Learn more at Kary's profile page.

 

Billy Huff is a Lecturer in the Departments of Communication and Gender & Women’s Studies. Learn more at Billy's profile page.

 

View Huff’s Art of Teaching: Lunchtime Seminar Series presentation on “Teaching for Social Justice in the Classroom.” 

 

Jim Wentworth is Associate Director of Instructional Spaces and Technologies at CITL.

 

Other resources 

Jesse Stommel is a faculty member in the University of Denver’s Writing Program, co-founder of Hybrid Pedagogy: The Journal of Critical Digital Pedagogy and Digital Pedagogy Lab (2015-2021); and co-author of An Urgency of Teachers: the Work of Critical Digital Pedagogy. He is online at www.jessestommel.com

 

Jen Newton is an associate professor in special education at Ohio University. View Newton's profile page.

More episodes

View all episodes

  • 5. An Entertaining and Effective Engineering Lab

    29:47
    Transcript of Season 2, Episode 5 Landing page for the Show  About the guests Blake Everett Johnson is a Teaching Assistant Professor in the Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). He is also the Director of Undergraduate Instructional Laboratories  Lucas Anderson is a Specialist in Education at CITL. Check out his blog where he writes about developing a teaching philosophy statement and other teaching topics. Episode Summary Who says engineers can’t have pizazz?! Ether through sheer silliness or deeply rooted pedagogy (or both – or neither!), Blake Johnson made low effort decisions to infuse some style into the pressure cooker situation of converting engineering lab courses into an online modality within a week to accommodate pandemic response in March 2020. Here’s a link to a sample of these lab videos sent to students in lieu of them being in the facility: Stylized Remote Lab Procedures Example - ME 320 Lab 5.  Listen to his reflections on the process of converting labs under impossible circumstances all while maintaining his fun - yet rigorous - teaching affect.  Did you enjoy this episode, or do you have a story to share about your teaching? Drop us a note at ttll@illinois.edu.  This podcast was produced by the Center for Innovation in Teaching & Learning at the University of Illinois. Episodes can be found on our website, citl.illinois.edu, and major podcast platforms. We hope you’ll find us there and join the conversation! 
  • 4. Metacognition and the Learning Process

    39:35
    Transcript of Season 2, Episode 4 Landing page for the Show  About the guests Daniel J. Simons is a Professor in Department of Psychology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.  Emelie Mies is a Technology Support Specialist at the Center for Innovation in Teaching & Learning at UIUC.  Episode Summary Thinking about one’s thinking is a rather unintuitive and fraught process, especially if we’re in a learner/student context! But this conversation, and Prof. Dan Simons research, might be a big help to jumpstarting that metacognition analysis. Hope you enjoy some connections between scam artists, signal to noise, pattern bias, incentive structures and a student’s journey through higher education.  Did you enjoy this episode, or do you have a story to share about your teaching? Drop us a note at ttll@illinois.edu.  This podcast was produced by the Center for Innovation in Teaching & Learning at the University of Illinois. Episodes can be found on our website, citl.illinois.edu, and major podcast platforms. We hope you’ll find us there and join the conversation! 
  • 3. Departmental Approach to Online Offerings

    39:57
    Transcript of Season 2, Episode 3 Landing page for the Show  About the guests Christine Shenouda is a Teaching Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC).  Liam Moran is a Systems Specialist in the Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning at UIUC. Episode Summary These days, higher ed institutions and whole degree programs are thinking about their strategy for building online offerings. We invited someone who’s been deliberately building online offerings at a department level since well before our global experiment with online ed. Christine shares some of their story from Psychology, and also their rationale behind those choices.  Did you enjoy this episode, or do you have a story to share about your teaching? Drop us a note at ttll@illinois.edu.  This podcast was produced by the Center for Innovation in Teaching & Learning at the University of Illinois. Episodes can be found on our website, citl.illinois.edu, and major podcast platforms. We hope you’ll find us there and join the conversation! 
  • 2. Flip on Purpose

    28:45
    Transcript of Season 2, Episode 2 Landing page for the Show  About the guests Soo Yeun-Lee is a Professor in and the School Director of the School of Food Sciences at Washington State University.  Cheelan Bo-Linn is a Senior Specialist in Education at the Center for Innovation in Teaching & Learning at UIUC.  Episode Summary Flipping the classroom is nothing new. We wont win any awards with this conversation about what’s become a tried and true method for increasing engagement and improving learning outcomes for certain college curricula. But... hearing Soo’s purpose, methodology and advice to others is sure worth a listen! If you want to reprioritize your course to better prepare your students for life beyond school (where timed exams rarely exist and team-based projects are everywhere), then we think you’ll get lots out of this conversation!  Did you enjoy this episode, or do you have a story to share about your teaching? Drop us a note at ttll@illinois.edu.  This podcast was produced by the Center for Innovation in Teaching & Learning at the University of Illinois. Episodes can be found on our website, citl.illinois.edu, and major podcast platforms. We hope you’ll find us there and join the conversation! 
  • 1. Engaged Pedagogy

    46:40
    Transcript of Season 2, Episode 1 Landing page for the Show  About the guests Victoria T. Fields is a Doctoral Student and Instructor of Record in the Department of Communication at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC).  Nicole A. Cox was a PhD student at UIUC and a CITL Graduate Affiliate. She’s now Faculty at Amhust College. Episode Summary Graduate students with higher ed teaching experience, Victoria Fields and Nicole Cox, share their stories and strategies from time in roles of an Instructor at UIUC. They connect much of their work to the Engaged Pedagogy of bell hooks, and it’s a helpful and hopeful conversation about connecting and leading classrooms spaces. Victoria holds credit for our inaugural email to the podcast, so do consider reaching out!  Did you enjoy this episode, or do you have a story to share about your teaching? Drop us a note at ttll@illinois.edu.  This podcast was produced by the Center for Innovation in Teaching & Learning at the University of Illinois. Episodes can be found on our website, citl.illinois.edu, and major podcast platforms. We hope you’ll find us there and join the conversation! 
  • 11. Tearing Down the Garden Walls

    45:37
    Episode SummaryData Science Discovery website.  Microproject created for the podcast listeners! Data Science with Python for beginners in under an hour!Professors Karle and Wade spin their tale of rapid course development, co-teaching, iterative course design, big ideas with manageable steps, and tearing down the garden walls. The project in discussion, Data Science Discovery, is available on the open internet and ready for you to explore!We referenced the 2022 Faculty Retreat and more info is here: https://facultyretreat.citl.illinois.edu/Did you enjoy this episode, or do you have a story to share about your teaching? Drop us a note at ttll@illinois.edu.This podcast was produced by the Center for Innovation in Teaching & Learning at the University of Illinois. Episodes can be found on our website, citl.illinois.edu, and major podcast platforms. We hope you’ll find us there and join the conversation!About the guestsKarle Flanagan is a Teaching Assistant Professor in the Department of Statistics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC).Wade Fagen-Ulmschneider is a faculty in the Department of Computer Science in the Grainger College of Engineering at The University of Illinois (UIUC).Eric Schumacher the Media Production Coordinator at the Center for Innovation in Teaching & Learning. 
  • 10. Community Building in the Classroom

    17:01
    About the guests Sarah Rose Cavanagh is a psychologist, professor, and Senior Associate Director for Teaching and Learning at Simmons University, where she teaches classes on affective science and mental health, researches the intersections of emotion, motivation, and learning, and provides educational development for faculty.  Tyler Schanck is an Instructional Media Producer at CITL.  Episode Summary Sarah Rose Cavanagh (Simmons University) was the Keynote speaker at the 2022 Reimagining the Classroom Symposium. From the Symposium website: As we emerge from the pandemic it’s time to celebrate our progress and look optimistically toward the future as we try to discern the evolving needs of faculty, students, and staff. Plans that are on the drawing table today will become the classrooms of tomorrow. Let's work together to build teaching and learning spaces that our faculty and students need to succeed.  The Reimagining the Classroom Symposium has been evolving from the first Flexible Learning Summit in 2013 to the first virtual Breaking New Ground webinar in 2021, but our mission remains the same: to support the Strategic 150 goal of promoting transformative learning experiences for our students by exploring the complex relationships between physical classrooms, teaching pedagogies, and emerging technologies.  Did you enjoy this episode, or do you have a story to share about your teaching? Drop us a note at ttll@illinois.edu.  This podcast was produced by the Center for Innovation in Teaching & Learning at the University of Illinois. Episodes can be found on our website, citl.illinois.edu, and major podcast platforms. We hope you’ll find us there and join the conversation! 
  • 9. Digital Natives and Primary Sources

    38:46
    Episode Transcript available here. About the guests D. Fairchild Ruggles is the Debra L. Mitchell Chair in Landscape Architecture and Professor teaching in that Department, which is in the College of Fine and Applied Arts.   Ava Wolf is an assistant director at the Center for Innovation in Teaching & Learning.  Episode Summary Prof Ruggles teaches about architecture and landscapes in the Islamic world, the Mediterranean, and South Asia. She also teaches across three levels of instruction on our campus; undergraduate, graduate and doctoral. Ava Wolf and Bob Dignan at CITL sit down with Dede to explore some guiding thoughts on teaching history, especially teaching with and through primary sources. In the age of the meme, digital native students are quick to assemble and remix media, but how might teachers help translate those energies into the academic traditions of critical analysis. And even further translate those skills and energies into perceptions of story all around us – even in architecture and landscape.  Did you enjoy this episode, or do you have a story to share about your teaching? Drop us a note at ttll@illinois.edu.  This podcast was produced by the Center for Innovation in Teaching & Learning at the University of Illinois. Episodes can be found on our website, citl.illinois.edu, and major podcast platforms. We hope you’ll find us there and join the conversation! 
  • 8. Mini-Project Magic

    24:03
    Episode transcript available here. About the guests Leon Liebenberg, Teaching Assistant Professor in The Grainger College of Engineering.   Ava Wolf is an assistant director at the Center for Innovation in Teaching & Learning.  Resources Conference Presentation slide deck by Leon Liebenberg and Taylor Tucker: “Implementing Mini-Projects to Build Community and Improve Student Engagement.”  Webarticle: “ENGINE team evaluating teaching methods that effectively engage students”   Episode Description In this episode, Ava Wolf (CITL) and Leon Liebenberg (ENG) join host Bob Dignan to dispel Leon’s recipe for magic in his engineering courses. Combining the head, the heart and the hands, Leon’s students have been raving about this team-based, project learning structures for a few years now. We explore the needs and attitudes of students at Illinois, and how Leon’s passions for engineering education are translating into highly motivated, self-regulated, creative, imaginative, pragmatic graduates.  Did you enjoy this episode, or do you have a story to share about your experience with creating a graphic syllabus or another teaching topic? Drop us a note at ttll@illinois.edu.  This podcast was produced by the Center for Innovation in Teaching & Learning at the University of Illinois. Episodes can be found on our website, citl.illinois.edu, and major podcast platforms. We hope you’ll find us there and join the conversation!