Whoa! What happened to this semester? 15 weeks of fun and love and good times just flew right by. I had so many things I wanted to say. So much I needed to cover. Oh well, I guess it's better to remain quiet and be thought of as an idiot than to speak up and prove yourself so. Or, something along those lines by Mark Twain.
First, ungrading has been a rousing success this semester. I was much more clear about the expectations. Much more focused on what I needed the students to address. The results were ungrading essays that were around 750 words each (3x throughout the semester). They were holistic. They demonstrated metacognition. And the students used specific and detailed evidence to support their positions regarding their earned grades.
Second, students thoroughly enjoyed OER classes. One student said offering OER demonstrates I have an understanding of their economic realities. Another student remarked that she felt stronger ties to her professors when they use OER because doing so shows "they are thinking about us."
They said the OER textbook, Our Story, was equally rigorous as any for-profit textbook they've used. They felt the OER textbook we used was written with them in mind. Sounded like someone speaking to them (this is a comment I've heard many times before).
Students said they particularly liked the use of student content. Some said the student content raised the bar -made them become better writers. Some said the student content made them "happy" to read because it was a goal of theirs to be added to the student voices. There were many comments about the student content. Much of this concluded with the excellence of their past colleagues, especially when the content came from groups. Students were not excited about having to do group work, but some noted when they read student content was created by groups, then made them pause to think about how groups might work well together.
Third, except for the self-reflections (those ungrading essays), everything else was completed in groups. There was much disappointment across the rooms when I noted this on Day 1. But then I introduced my strategy of group-building: playing Dungeons and Dragons.
I created the groups upon the students completing a short thinking and writing exercise:
1. What is your superpower and why is that your superpower?
2. What is your most prized possession and why is that so?
Then I build groups based on the results of their responses to those two questions. While I'm going over their responses, students are reviewing some of the rules for D&D.
Those groups start off by playing a single character. We will do that for a week or two. They learn about each other, learn how to work together, learn about each other's strengths and weaknesses, how to solve problems, and how to make decisions, all as a group. Then, the class begins and the groups start working on their first assignments.
Only 1 student dropped. One. Uno. Eines. I have never had so few students (well, a student) drop.
I am going to call this semester a success in the classroom. One comment I got from a student is that the student would like a Glossary for the book. I don't know if the student meant "glossary," which is a list and definition of unusual, rare, or obscure terms, or if the student meant an index. A glossary is unnecessary, however, an index would be a good idea. It could not be a traditional index with page numbers because the book is edited/changed routinely. However, an index with chapter numbers might work. Maybe I will work on that over the break. Maybe I will just go skiing. I'll let you know in the next installment, in January.
