generative failure
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Grade Inflation is a Symptom, Not the Disease (Part 4): Alternative Grading’s Role in Compression
In this series, I have been arguing that grade inflation, or the allegation that widescale grade increases have occurred absent corresponding learning and achievement gains, is a red herring. Whether grades are going up (and there is compelling evidence, if not definitive, that they are going up overall in higher education) because teaching techniques are… Continue reading
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Assessment is a Wicked Problem (Part Five): Performance Zones and Exploration Zones
As someone who has enjoyed psychologist Adam Grant’s writing on themes including epistemological humility and the benefits of generosity over selfishness, I was taken aback by his New York Times opinion piece “No, You Don’t Get an A for Effort.” In this essay, Grant resorts to tired kids these days complaints like, “In the past,… Continue reading
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Identifying Pedagogical Values
Backward course design is a commonly used practice in which teachers begin course planning by determining their intended learning outcomes, and then they develop learning modules and assignments in correspondence with those outcomes. I like backward design, but I think it overlooks a crucial first step, which is to identify what pedagogical values are guiding… Continue reading
Teaching Inquiry 