Specification Grading – Media & Community

What is Specification Grading?

In this course, we’ll use an unconventional approach to assessing student learning called specifications grading. Specifications grading is designed to alleviate the stress associated with grades, to give you more choice and control over your final grade, and to more fairly measure the extent to which you meet course learning outcomes.

I heard about this approach from Dr. Mark Sample, who heard about it from Jason Mittel, Professor of American Studies and Film & Media Culture at Middlebury College (my alma mater). If your curious about specifications grading, read Mittel’s blog posts on the subject:

I’ve borrowed Mittel’s ideas and a great deal of his language (with his permission), adapting his procedures to our course. Whereas his course goals involve mastering specific content, Media & Community is focused less what and more on how — how to read, analyze, and become savvy critical consumers of various forms of media.

Instead of grading each assignment on a scale of A-F, your work for the course will be assessed as Satisfactory / Unsatisfactory based on whether the work meets the assignment specifications. Work that exceeds these expectations may earn the additional designation of Sophisticated. Assignments will be “bundled” into three tiers that reflect a hierarchy of learning goals for the course. Final grades will be assigned based on which bundles of assignments you satisfactorily complete.

Note that this is a new system for me—I agree to take however much time is needed to ensure you understand expectations and practices, and are poised to succeed to your desired level within the system. My goal is to help each of you achieve Satisfactory levels of learning on all components of the course, and to be transparent about expectations for learning throughout the semester.

How will Specification Grading work in this course?

All assignments in the course will be assessed as Satisfactory / Unsatisfactory, with the specifications required for Satisfactory articulated for each assignment. In general, Satisfactory should not be viewed as “minimally competent” (as is typical for a C grade at Davidson), but rather as a mark of having achieved the assignment’s learning goals and specifications (probably more like a B grade in an average Davidson course). Either an assignment meets the goals, or it does not—there is no gradation of assessment. Students who meet the goals and demonstrate a higher level of mastery, originality, and analytical insight may earn the designation of Sophisticated.

The only letter grade that will be given in the course will be your final grade, and it will reflect the “bundles” of assignments and requirements you have satisfactorily accomplished in the class. That final letter grade is not an assessment of your intelligence, your abilities, or your value as a person. As I explained in an open letter to my first-year writers, I never will grade “you” directly, and grading is never a reflection of who you are as a person. Rather, the grade reflects what you demonstrated that you learned in the course: no more, no less.

Built into this system is a good deal of choice as to how much you wish to learn and how hard you want to work to demonstrate and apply that learning. You might choose that passing the course with a C is sufficient for your goals—it is perfectly appropriate and worthy of respect for you to make that choice, especially if it allows you to proactively allocate your time to other endeavors at Davidson or beyond. If you strive to get an A in the course and maximize your learning, you should know that you are taking on that work and challenge yourself, and should make sure you are in a personal and academic situation to achieve that level of engagement.

Course Grade Bundles

C Bundle – Students who complete the following will pass the course with a grade of C:

Prepare for and participate in all course meetings, with up to 5 absences, per the attendance policy
Complete an About Me post and comment on at least 3 of your classmates’ About Me posts.
Complete at least 5 of the 6 required analytical posts to a Satisfactory level
Complete at least 4 of the 7 required comments on your classmates’ analytical posts to a Satisfactory level
Create an original book to a Satisfactory level
Build a website on your domain to display your book to a Satisfactory level
Co-lead at least one student-run discussion
Complete a community audit to a Satisfactory level

B Bundle – Students who complete the following will pass the course with a grade of B:

Prepare for and actively participate in all course meetings, with up to 4 absences, per the attendance policy
Complete an About Me post and comment on at least 5 of your classmates’ About Me posts.
Complete all 6 required posts to a Satisfactory level, with at least one Sophisticated mark
Complete at least 5 of the 7 required comments on your classmates’ posts to a Satisfactory level
Create an original book to a Satisfactory level
Build a website on your domain to display your book to a Satisfactory level
Co-lead at least one student-run discussion
Complete a community audit to a Satisfactory level
Complete at least one Community Scoop post to a Satisfactory level

A Bundle – Students who complete the following will pass the course with a grade of A:

Thoroughly prepare for and actively participate in all course meetings, with up to 3 absences, per the attendance policy
Complete an About Me post and comment on at least 7 of your classmates’ About Me posts.
Complete all 6 required posts to a Satisfactory level, with at least 4 Sophisticated marks
Complete all 7 required comments on your classmates’ analytical posts to a Satisfactory level
Create an original book & build a website on your domain to display it to a Satisfactory level, with at least one Sophisticated mark for the book or website.
Co-lead at least one student-run discussion
Complete a community audit to a Satisfactory level
Complete at least two Community Scoop posts to a Satisfactory level

Modified grades of + and – will be used when a student’s Satisfactory activities fall between the bundles. For instance, a student who met the requirements for the B Bundle, and received up to 3 Sophisticated marks would receive a B+, while a student who fell just short of the B Bundle requirements would likely receive a B– final grade. Grades of D will only be given in rare cases where a student meets most of the C Bundle requirements but falls short in one area.

Tokens & Flexibility

Since every element of the course is assessed on an all-or-nothing basis, it might be stressful to strive for Satisfactory given that the stakes for not meeting that threshold may be significant. To ease stress, to allow for flexibility—and most of all, to maximize opportunities for learning—every student starts the course with 3 virtual tokens that can be “exchanged” for some leniency or opportunities for revision. Using a token will allow a student to do one of the following:

Eliminate an absence from your attendance record
Revise an Unsatisfactory post as Satisfactory
Publish a post or comments up to 1 week late

I will track tokens throughout the semester. Exchanging them for absences, unsatisfactory posts, or missed will happen at the end of the term. You may also earn an additional token by publishing an extra conversation or community scoop posts (beyond the required # for the grade bundle you want), or by a detailed “tips” post or a “black hole” post that meets all the post specifications for a “satisfactory” designation.