While grading is a necessary part of what we do at UW, I want to focus
this class on learning. The following policies are meant to encourage
that. **There will not be quizzes, or a midterm or final exam this
quarter**. Instead, your knowledge will be assessed via a combination
of peer feedback, course staff feedback, and your own reflections. In
addition, course staff will be looking for and marking down when you
achieve competency with basic requirements such as presenting
accessibly and turning in accessible documents.
## Grading Approach
We’ll be using competency based grading for most elements of this
class. We have a set of core learning goals in this class. For each of
them, you may be "competent" or "excellent". If you excel at them all,
and participate in the class, you get an 4.0. Various combinations of
"competent" "excellent" and "not competent" result in other grades.
Many of these competencies are assessed repeatedly. I don't care if
you get them wrong at first, as long as you eventually learn them.
Some are assessed less frequently. For those, you have the opportunity
to request a regrade if you feel you've improved on them.
this class on learning; and to ensure that my approach to assessment
is inclusive and focuses on a justice based approach. There has been a
lot of [innovation in
assessment](https://online.suny.edu/innovativeassessments/) in recent
years, driven partly by COVID-19. We have tried to learn from this in our grading.
**There will not be quizzes, or a midterm or final exam**. Instead, your knowledge will be assessed
[Competency based
grading](https://aurora-institute.org/cw_post/cbe-in-practice-grading/) is in alignment with the disability justice focus in this
course. It separates out *how* you learn a skill from *whether you
know it.* Many of these competencies are assessed repeatedly. *I don't
care if you get them wrong at first*, as long as you eventually learn
them. If you learn them all, and participate fully in the class, you
will get an A.
In the image below, you can see how traditional grading assigns a score
for each assignment and adds them together. If you score badly on your
first assignment, that negatively affects your grade, *even if* you demonstrate that you've
learned everything you needed to know in it during later assignments. In contrast
competency-based grading is structured around learning goals. All of the different
things you do that demonstrate progress on those learning goals are grouped together
to help assign a score on that learning goal.
## Grading Breakdown (tentative)
Grades will be assigned approximately as follows:
Grades will be assigned in three categories: Assignment completion, effort, and competencies.
## Grading Approach
### 80%: Competencies
The competencies needed for this course are listed on the [assignments
page](assignments/index.html), and can all be found in canvas as well.
There are three categories of skills: (1) Accessible Media and
Documents (2) Accessibility Compliance and (3) Disability Awareness
and Justice. Accessible videos is a "bonus" meaning it can add a
competency, but won't count against you if you don't do it.
There are three categories of Competency, each with four skills you
need to learn: (1) Accessible Media and Documents (2) Accessibility
Compliance and (3) Disability Awareness and Justice. There is one
"bonus", Accessible Videos, meaning that it is not required but can
replace any other competency if you want to use it.
Your highest score on each skill *in any assignment* determines your
grade on that skill. In addition, you may request regrades. When you
are graded on a skill, we rate yoru skill as "no evidence" "below
competent" "basic knowledge" or "excellent". Various combinations of
"basic" "excellent" and "below competent" result in other grades.
The table below shows how scores will be converted to a grade. Note
that if even 1 skill in a competency category is below competence
(**!Comp**), the highest possible grade is 75% in that competency
category. Assuming that you are at least competent in all skills, your
grade is based on how many skills are excellent versus competent. You
have to be excellent in all 4 skills to get to 100; at least 3 to get
to 95%; and at least 2 to get to 85%. Your final score on your
competencies is an average of your competence in each category.
Your grade in each skill category is calculated based on the table below. Your final competency grade is the average of these three categories. You can view your progress on each competency in Canvas. Open up the category to see individual competencies; and click on the competency to see details on whether you are "competent" or "excellent". Further comments on each competency can be found in the grading on the individual assignments where it is assessed.
Assuming that you are at least competent in all skills, your grade is based on how many skills are excellent versus competent. You have to be excellent in all 4 skills to get a 4.0; at least 3 to get a 3.8; and at least 2 to get a 3.4.
You can
view your progress on each competency in Canvas (Excellent is called
"Mastery" there). **Open up the category to see individual
competencies; and click on the competency to see details on whether
you are "competent" or "excellent"**.
### 10%: Assignment Completion
Assignment completion is 10% of your grade. This is listed as the "participation" competency for each assignment in canvas. The weight of each assignment is simply the number of weeks long it is, so a longer assignment would contribute more to your assignment completion grade than a shorter one.
...
...
@@ -250,7 +274,7 @@ Assignment completion is 10% of your grade. This is listed as the "participation
Your effort grade will reflect your participation in the class across
multiple dimensions such as whether you participated in discussions
and exercises in class (self reported) and whether you participated in
discussions outside of class (based on your submissions)
discussions outside of class (based on your submissions).
