For the last several years, I have implemented a flexible assignment system: students choose on which occasions to submit low-stakes assignments. These assignments are designed to pace students through the course material while giving me a little glimpse into what they are understanding – or misunderstanding – as we go. I want to incentivize submitting the assignments without nudging the students towards perfectionism (or generative AI, for that matter!). Catching misunderstandings as they arise helps guide my teaching. Timely feedback helps the students correct their misunderstandings before they move on to higher stakes assessments.
Pedagogically, it is more important that students submit these assignments honestly and regularly than that they “get it right”. That means that I want them to submit work that represents their understanding without being penalized for it.
Drop the lowest score
Dropping the lowest score – including dropping any zeros – is a great way to do this, and it’s built in to most Learning Management Systems (LMS), as well as any decent spreadsheet program. If students underperform on a low-stakes assignment, they can complete an extra assignment in that category to make up for it. If the student is unable to complete the assignment in any given week, the zero will be dropped provided that they complete enough assignments throughout the term. This will vary from LMS to LMS, but the structure of what you have to do will be the same.
The first step in most Learning Management Systems is to create an ”Assignment Group’ (Canvas) or ‘Grade Category’ (Blackboard and D2L/Brightspace and Moodle).
The next step is to calculate how many assignments will need to be dropped. If there are 10 opportunities to submit 5 assignments, you will set up the Assignment Group/Grade Category to drop the lowest 5 scores. If there are 12 opportunities to submit 10 assignments, you will set up the Assignment Group/Grade Category to drop the lowest 2 grades.
The final step is to link the Assignments to the Gradebook, making sure to designate the assignment and grade within the defined group or category.
Manage grades and troubleshoot
Gradebooks might need to change as the term progresses. Don’t panic if you have skipped a step, or if you find that you have to change a previous step. Most LMS allow limited editing of assignments, quizzes, and gradebooks even after they have been published to students. Using the ‘create grade’ tool, you can create new categories of grades or create new grades and add them to existing categories. Using the ‘manage grades’ or ‘edit’ tool, you can add existing grades to an existing category, or change the total number of grades to drop.
If you are looking for more personalized help with setting up your own gradebook, feel free to reach out.