2024 Volume 12 Issue 2 - Evaluation of Self-Assessment “Ungrading” Practices in a STEM Course

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Đào

This study evaluates how “ungrading” through a self-assessment practice influences student performance in a civil engineering STEM course for undergraduate students. Educators increasingly explore ungrading to enhance engagement, equity, and inclusion while addressing concerns related to students’ mental health. The midterm used optional self-assessment; student overall course performance and feedback were compared between participants and nonparticipants. Results show improved grade performance and increased course engagement among participants.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages23

Reading Time58 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Background

Study Design and Data Collection

Self-assessment for the midterm

Performance and feedback comparison

Findings

Grade performance improvement

Increased course engagement

| | Ad | vances in Engineering Edu | cation | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 2024: VOLUME 12 ISSUE 2 Evaluation of Self-Assessment “Ungrading” Practices in a STEM Course MINERVA BONILLA Department of Construction Science Texas A&M University DANIEL FINDLEY Institute for Transportation Research and Education Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering North Carolina State University ABSTRACT Educators and institutions have considered and continue to explore alternatives to measure students’ learning and track their performance. An alternative that started to gain popularity due to its effectiveness in promoting learning engagement, equity, and inclusion, and helping mitigate concerns due to mental health was “ungrading.” Ungrading is a pedagogical approach that does not necessarily eliminate grading, instead, it promotes frequent feedback and engagement with students on their work to ensure the course learning goals have been met. Unfortunately, studies measuring the effectiveness of this method targeting STEM majors with a significantly large number of students enrolled have not been published. Therefore, this study evaluates how students’ performances are impacted by the incorporation of “ungrading” in a civil engineering course offered to undergraduate students. This study utilized an “ungrading” practice, known as self-assessment, for the midterm examination and students’ participation was optional. To track students’ performance, and the effectiveness of the method, the student’s overall course performance, and student feedback were evaluated to see if there was any difference in grading between those students opting to participate compared to the ones who did not. Findings indicated that grade performances and course engagement improve by participating in “ungrading.” Key words: Ungrading; Students Performance; Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; STEM Courses BACKGROUND In 1785 institutions decided to introduce a grading scale system to measure students’ performance in a more structured method (Espinola 2018; Gorichanaz 2022) . However, when grading systems 82 2024: VOLUME 12 ISSUE 2 ADVANCES IN ENGINEERING EDUCATION Evaluation of Self-Assessment “Ungrading” Practices in a STEM Course were introduced, these could not aid students’ development of intellectual character (Schneider and Hutt 2014) . Researchers like Elbow (1993) and Kohn (1993 and 2018) argue that our current grading system focuses on including ranking, sorting, rewarding, and punishing students which discourages students from challenging themselves intellectually (Milton et al. 1986; Pulfrey et al. 2011, Schinske & Tanner 2014; Supiano 2019; ATL 2020; Gorichanaz 2022) . Other researchers consider grades to be problematic for not incentivizing learning, are vague, often inconsistent, provide little valuable feedback, and inaccurately assess students’ learning (Brennan & Magness 2019; Blum 2020; ATL 2020; Stommel 2021) . In a traditional grading system, instructors provide students with formative rather than summative feedback (CITLS 2022) . These traditional grading system practices are considered damaging to students’ mental health (Eyler 2018; ATL 2020; Supiano 2022) . Studies performed by Bloodgood et al. (2009) and the American Institute of Stress (2019) reported that 8 out of 10 college students in the United States report stress that negatively impacts their sleep and health, which affects their ability to learn. This stress can lead to mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, substance abuse, and suicide (Pascoe et al. 2020; Aslanian & Roth 2021) . In addition, other studies such as the one published by Bouchrika (2020) have suggested that the traditional university grading system can be a source of stress and anxiety for students, which can negatively affect their physical and mental health.” Traditional grading systems also promote an

FAQs

What does “ungrading” mean in this study?

It refers to a pedagogical approach that does not necessarily eliminate grading, but emphasizes frequent feedback and student engagement so course learning goals are met.

How was the self-assessment “ungrading” practice implemented?

The self-assessment practice was used for the midterm examination, and students’ participation was optional.

What were the main findings on student outcomes?

Grade performances and course engagement improved for students who participated in the “ungrading” self-assessment.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Đào