Autonomy-Supportive Teaching

So there's this thing I've been doing called Autonomy-Supportive Teaching. I thought I invented it. I didn't name it. I'm not that bright or with it. Well, there is nothing new under the sun I guess. 

Here is what I've been doing. 

1. I've asked students to realize something or things in History that interest them. But something broad like gender, war, or pop culture. 

2. I ask them how they plan on demonstrating to me that they've learned about that aspect or those aspects of History.

3. I help them come up with readings. We have an OER textbook as an anchor. To give them context. But, I have a collection of 11 OER textbooks from which they may choose. 

Here's why I have been doing this. First, I like choice. I believe that people like choice and if people are allowed the freedom or room to make choices they are more likely to succeed. If they can create "their class" they are more likely to stick to that type of class.  

Second, I support ungrading, and therefore students will occasionally draft short essays reflecting, in a holistic manner and demonstrating metacognition, to give themselves their earned grade. Students should be the subjects, not the objects and thus I hand over control of grading to them. 

Finally, I enjoy a variety of ways to bring information to students (instead of lecturing) and so in a class that affords such wide choices, I am able to experiment.

The whole course is about experimentation. I experiment with the basic framework of the class. Students experiment with how they will demonstrate understanding of History. I am there to support their work. And together we create a space of mutual understanding and respect for our goals.  

Ultimately, I do not want to take my students by hand to the Promised Land. Nor do I want to even lead them there. First, their Promised Land might be different than mine. Second, their path or journey is theirs, not mine. They need to chart their own path. They need to figure things out themselves. And when real trust is there, they will come to me when they are stuck. 

Well, this is called Autonomy-Supportive Teaching. I did not know it was a thing. It is. And I guess I am an adherent of AST. I like it. Students like it. Like Jon Stolk says: Tools. Choices. Trust. Here he is:

The New Traditional Student

It's time to reevaluate what is a "traditional" student. 

I was an undergraduate and a grad student during the Clinton administration (most of the 1990s) at the University of Washington. The economy was good. Jobs were plentiful. Tuition was affordable. My favorite wife, Jennifer, attended the University of Arizona. Tuition was so affordable that her parents, who were both retail workers, were able to pay for her tuition. She worked to pay for her books.

Books were so affordable that when I went to the University of Washington's bookstore to buy my required books, I routinely wandered into the area of other disciplines and picked out a book or two. Because I could. The GI Bill and Pell Grants also had roles to play, but that's another story. 

When I was an undergrad, I was considered a "non-traditional student." I was 29, an Army veteran with a disability, divorced, and had no idea what I was going to do with the rest of my life. I was surrounded by traditional students: 18-year-olds who has just graduated high school.  That was in 1994.

Now nearly 30 years later I find myslf on the other end of the class, but seeing more of me in the students then I do of my classmates of the 1990s. 

Today, more and more, my students are the veteran, the 32 yo trying college for the second time, the divorced person starting a new life, the retiree taking classes for personal enrichment, or the adult who is married with children looking for a better career -all participating in their household income. More and more those are our traditional students.

It's time to reevaluate what is a "non-tradtional" student. 

"Hot Town, summer in the city . . . "

I had both on-campus and online classes this summer. Having Summer on-campus students were much to my amazement and pleasure. There was a big push of enrollment in the last few weeks. So now I have a good way to compare and contrast things such as ungrading, peer review, and group work. 

It took a bit for these Summer students to get the hang of ungrading. More prompting, leading, and pushing than students in the long semesters. Not sure if it's because students have more time over a 15-week semester vs these five-week semesters or if it's because the students have different characteristics. I had more younger students and returning university students in the Summer than in the Fall and Spring. Not sure how that would translate into taking longer to get the hang of ungrading. But I have my ideas. 

Anyhow, by the second ungrading essay online students were on board and heading in the right direction, thinking holistically, and writing metacognitively. They were performing solid research with minimal assistance (such as help with providing a primary source document or a JSTOR article). Interestingly enough, on-campus students were behind. Normally that is reversed. Was it a question of preparation? Higher level of expectations? A rigor question? Maybe maturity had something to do with it. Some discipline issues. Falling behind. Not reaching out for help -not recognizing the need for help even when help was offered.

I spent lecture time holding office hours to give them time to work on their research essays, allowing them to see me if they needed help. Not one student took me up on my offer. I did that twice. 

The final ungrading essay asked all students to take a holistic look at what they learned this semester and how they would take that into their future studies. The online students got it. The on-campus students overwhelmingly did not succeed at the same level as the online students, even though they had more access to me and spent more time writing and evaluating drafts. This raises more questions than it answers. 

So, anyhow, about AI

Overall, AI is evil. At least in my little world. This semester I caught numerous students who used ChatGPT to create their essays. I found it really easy to spot these examples of plagiarism. Very little detail. General statements. Not many specifics. No analysis. Just dull, linear narratives. 

I may be gruff, but I am lovable, so I gave my students the opportunity to fall on their swords. If they did, if they confessed their sins to me, I gave them an opportunity to do the assignment the correct way. Interestingly everyone I identified as using AI to do their work acknowledged doing so. Which included a profession of disappointment in themselves and a promise to never turn to the dark side again (at least in my class).

We had to take three professional development classes this semester. I took one on AI and how to use it successfully. We were shown how AI in various fields or disciplines but in the Liberal Arts and Humanities, AI can be easily abused.

So many of my colleagues reported students plagiarizing their work this semester by using ChatGPT. Some came down hard by reporting them for their deviance, while others gave students the opportunity to redo the work. What we had in common was the need to stop our students from using AI. We were introduced to AI programs that can tell us if the work was written by ChatGPT, or some other AI. Those are remarkably accurate, such as GPTZero. This article covers various detection software.

Well, ChatGPT might not be here to stay but harder-to-detect AI is on the horizon and those will indeed write more thoughtful, meaningful, and insightful papers. At that point, we are in deep kimchi.

However, I think what we cannot do with AI is ignore it, sweep it under the rug, police it into a SuperMax, or exile it to Guantanamo Bay. There are ways to bring AI into the classroom without degrading the academic integrity of the course or its rigor. 

Students are using AI to cheat. So why not bring the Trojan Horse within our classroom walls, this time knowing what to expect? AI is not necessarily the enemy unless we treat it as one and when we do, we look upon students' use of AI as something "criminal." 

Let us identify the positive or beneficial aspects of AI and put those to the test. Inevitably, we will have to live by the words of Rodney King who in 1992 asked "Can't we all get along?" 

 

Ungrading, according to ChatGPT.

 ChatGPT wrote the following on 24 Jan 2023 at approximately 10:40AM:

Ungrading is a growing movement in education that advocates for a shift away from traditional grading systems in favor of more holistic and student-centered approaches to assessment. The basic premise of ungrading is that traditional grading systems, which rely on letters or numbers to indicate a student’s performance, do not accurately reflect a student’s understanding or progress. Instead, ungrading advocates for using a variety of assessment methods such as self-reflection, peer evaluations, and portfolio assessments to evaluate student learning.

One of the main criticisms of traditional grading systems is that they can be overly punitive, encouraging students to focus on getting a good grade rather than on learning and understanding the material. Additionally, traditional grading systems can be divisive, creating a competitive atmosphere where students are pitted against one another. With ungrading, the focus is on learning and growth, rather than on a final grade. Instead of a single letter or number, students receive feedback and guidance on their progress and areas for improvement.

Another benefit of ungrading is that it allows for a more individualized approach to assessment. Students have different learning styles and abilities, and traditional grading systems do not take this into account. With ungrading, students are able to demonstrate their understanding and progress in a way that is meaningful to them, rather than being limited by a one-size-fits-all grading system. This can lead to increased motivation and engagement in the learning process.

While ungrading is not without its challenges, it is clear that it has the potential to revolutionize the way we think about and approach assessment in education. By shifting the focus from grades to learning and growth, ungrading has the potential to create a more inclusive and student-centered learning environment.