Examining The Points-Based Grading System

Recently, I came across this article on point-based grading systems. The ideas in the article were nothing new, and I’m sure you’ve heard most (if not all) before. This includes things like:

• students expect and are used to points

A Student’s Reflections on Grading

Today I bring you a guest post from a recent student. In this post, the student reflects on what it’s like to be in a class that uses gamification and XP as a form of grading. I’m thrilled to be able to share this with you because it’s always helpful to get a…

Before we get to far down the rabbit hole about designing and teaching online classes, I want to share something I’ve had great success with in my face-to-face classes (and I imagine a version could be useful in an online class). It’s the discussion charter.

Technology Use in Higher Education

Recently, I read this great post/document on the challenges of advancing digital literacy in higher education. You can see the blog post here and get access to the full report here. There are a number of important points the report makes, but the one that struck me the…

What Story Does Your Syllabus Tell?

Recently, a colleague of mine shared a a post with me, “Steps Towards a Big Idea Syllabus.” The larger blog that this seems to be a part of, My Teaching Notebook, doesn’t seem to be getting regular updates. Too bad. It looks like it has tons of good content to sift…

The Problems with Competencies

I’ve been reading College Disrupted: The Great Unbundling of Higher Education. Because I am in the middle of reading it, this post isn’t meant to be a review of the book (which I am thoroughly enjoying). The point of this post is to bring us back around to discussing issues…

Teacher as Designer

I’ve just finished reading Reality is Broken: Why Games Matter and How They Can Change the World by Jane McGonigal. I was inspired to read it to further my thinking on gamification in teaching. It’s not about gamification in education specifically — although there is a bit on it in the book —…

Taking An Online Course: Lessons Learned

While I am in the early stages of planning my online course, I am also in the middle of taking two of them! It made me wonder how many people who teach online courses have gotten the opportunity to take one? We’ve all taken plenty of face to face classes for…