And now, I will be teaching the first ‘ungrading’ course (Law, Gender, Race and Intersectionality) in Leiden Law School! Moving to see this change happening in a bureaucratic place like university – thanks to the support of like-minded colleagues – who believes in acting for bettering the higher education system. Even when the way to the change we aspire seems far, long and sometimes impossible, it does happen sometimes, by sharing ideals and spreading ideas – like a ripple effect.
What I want my students to do within my course is to learn with curiosity instead of for getting a good grade, and to make the progress that they want to see instead of what teachers expect. There is pass/fail assessment, to ensure minimum standards, but for the rest there is no ‘measurement’ taking place, but only feedbacks to assist their projects and assignments. No doubt that there will be challenges implementing this approach, but I do believe it opens up opportunities for the kind of learning I want to make happen for my students.
Hoko Horii 