Read, explore new tools, and hear from one of our speakers
Both of our keynote speakers have new books out!
Get your copy of our speaker’s books, either in digital or hard copy.
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- Remi Kalir’s book Annotation was just published with MIT Press. Get a hard copy here.
- Susan D. Blum’s edited volume was published with WVU Press last year. Get a hard copy here.
You can access digital copies through our library here:
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- Blum book: https://delcat.on.worldcat.org/oclc/1200197206
- Kalir book: https://delcat.on.worldcat.org/oclc/1202406755
Perusall @ UD: Collaborative Annotation tool-
Keynote speaker, Remi Kalir, will be introducing the benefits of using annotation tools to facilitate collaborative, open, and equitable learning. Did you know that UD educators have access to a collaborative annotation tool called Perusall? Perusall allows students to annotate readings and asynchronously respond to each other’s comments and questions in context. Perusall proactively engages students with automated personalized guidance, ensuring continual motivation. Keep track of student progress at a glance, and utilize the “student confusion report” to help plan class time. Explore the tool before learning about social annotation strategies at SIT, visit UD’s Perusall website.
3 Questions for Susan Blum
What was your impetus to write Ungrading: Why Rating Students Undermines Learning (and What to Do Instead)?
- I had thought I’d more or less invented the practice of ungrading in conventional universities but discovered a huge community of educators, scattered throughout both K-12 and higher ed, and wanted us to speak to each other
- I know that this unfamiliar practice can seem to need justification. Many vulnerable faculty may not feel able to do something “radical.” I thought that if there were a peer-reviewed collection published by an academic press, faculty in more precarious situations (because of their own identities or their institutional roles) might be able to use this to support their own innovations.
- K-12 teachers are trained in pedagogy much more than college faculty are. They have been doing ungrading more robustly than most college faculty. I wanted to indicate my respect for them by including them in this conversation (published in a series called Teaching and Learning in Higher Education)
Alternative grading practices are increasingly common here at UD, but it can be difficult to adopt a radically new scheme for many. What advice do you have for instructors who are interested, but cautious?
- Start small!
- Talk honestly with your students about grading
- Design fascinating assignments with authentic outcomes and responsibility
- Don’t focus on points
- Develop as soon as possible an atmosphere of trust, where everyone can be as vulnerable as they want, without fear of being punished for that
How can alternative grading schemes increase access and equity in our courses and our curricula?
- Grading often assumes uniformity. We know that our students are not uniform.
- Who are your students? Why are they there? What are their assets? What are their needs, goals, preferences? How can you value all of this?
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