Ungrading as a Pedagogy for Teaching Qualitative Research Methods in Computing
Year: 2025
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: The process of learning research methods is complex, often propelling students to shift their worldviews as they work to understand concepts and develop skills. We argue that a pedagogy of ungrading, which eschews points-based grading for feedback-based assessment, is well suited to helping students shift their worldviews because it centers engagement over measuring outcomes. We-a faculty instructor and five PhD students-present this experience report detailing the design and implementation of ungrading in a graduate qualitative research methods course in an informatics PhD program. We explain the course design and present self-reflections that illustrate how a pedagogy of ungrading facilitated meaningful learning experiences among students whose research interests span the epistemological and methodological spectrum.
Authors: Priya C. Kumar, Jeffrey Samuel Schulman, Fatimah Albargi, Sree Bhattacharyya, Hongyi Dong, Zehao Liu
Institution: Pennsylvania State University
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4407771479