Since I took a class with Laura last semester I had already watched the videos on Carol Dweck. I instead read the chapter that Laura wrote for a book on ungrading. This was fascinating and I actually wish I had more experience with class that did not grade!
I recall at least one experience with writing a paper - I received a score of 99 out of 100 possible points. Why? I have NO IDEA. No feedback was given, no notes were provided on why the score was 99 vs 100 or even 95 or 85. The score felt entirely as if it was assigned by chance - the professor read the paper, decided it was pretty good but maybe didn't want to hand out "perfect" scores?
Another professor once graded a large paper after the end of the semester. The score on that paper was a disaster. Why? Again - no real idea. Based on the instructions given the paper was solid. Perfect? Probably not. But worth only 55 out of 120 points and a large percentage of the course grade? Apparently. This was another case where it was unclear why the score was given. Style differences? Disagreement with the research hypothesis? Who knows!
My preference in both of these situations would have been for feedback, revision and ungrading similar to what this class does. I know this would require some thought and change in the structure of certain classes. It might be well worth it - even in more research oriented fields, publishing usually does not happen on the first try!
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