For her graduate level Statistics and Research design courses, Alyssa Counsell chose to do away with numeric grades for coursework.
Counsell appreciated having a small cohort of familiar students to try out this approach. Since she had taught these students in a previous course, she was able to use the relationships she had already built with them as a foundation of trust and understanding for this alternative grading strategy.
With grades no longer the focus, this approach allowed students to pursue projects they might otherwise have avoided.
While alternative grading strategies can make some students uneasy, Counsell found her students appreciated the experience of ungrading and embraced challenges as an opportunity for learning.