The Grading Podcast 143 - Barrier or Breakthrough? Course Coordination and the Future of Grading with Deb Carney
In this episode, Sharona and Boz are joined by Deb Carney to explore the complex role of course coordination in the adoption of alternative grading practices. What emerges is a nuanced tension: coordination can act as a barrier when individual instructors lack autonomy, but it also offers one of the most powerful levers for large-scale change when coordinators embrace reform. Deb shares her journey into outcomes-based grading and reflects on how collaboration, community, and shared structures made that shift possible. The conversation highlights the importance of communities of practice, either through formal coordination or PLC-like structures, as essential spaces for sustained instructional change. Ultimately, the episode argues that meaningful grading reform is not just about individual instructors making different choices, but about building systems, support, and collective momentum to make those choices viable and scalable.
Links
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- Mastery-Based Testing in Linear Algebra: An Entry Point to Alternative Grading, by R. Swanson, A. Bingham, M. Sanders and C. Moulton
- Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education Conference
- Project EMBER: Eliminating Mathematics Barriers through Evidence-based Reforms
- Join EMBER on Zulip
- Course Coordinator Orientations Toward Their Work, by A. Martinez, J. Gehrtz, C. Rasmussen, T. Latona-Tequida and K. Vroom
- TPSE: Transforming Post-Secondary Education in Mathematics
Resources
The Center for Grading Reform - seeking to advance education in the United States by supporting effective grading reform at all levels through conferences, educational workshops, professional development, research and scholarship, influencing public policy, and community building.
The Grading Conference - an annual, online conference exploring Alternative Grading in Higher Education & K-12.
Some great resources to educate yourself about Alternative Grading:
Recommended Books on Alternative Grading:
- Grading for Growth, by Robert Talbert and David Clark
- Specifications Grading, by Linda Nilsen
- Undoing the Grade, by Jesse Stommel
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Music
Country Rock performed by Lite Saturation, licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.