Jesse Stommel, executive director of the Division of Teaching and Learning Technologies

Jesse Stommel, executive director of the Division of Teaching and Learning Technologies, was quoted in an article entitled “When Grading Less is More” on Inside Higher Ed. “There are a surprising number of faculty questioning grades in productive ways, and experimenting with alternative modes of assessment,” said Stommel, an early proponent of ungrading. “If, as teachers, we just ask students why, when and how they learn, what we can get back is way more valuable than any standardized assessment mechanism can reveal.” Ungrading “creates space for that kind of honest reflection and dialogue,” he said. Read more.

Jesse Stommel, executive director of Teaching and Learning Technologies

Jesse Stommel, executive director of the Division of Teaching and Learning Technologies, was quoted in an Inside Higher Ed article that focused on whether discussions boards are valuable or overused in university courses. Stommel offers the following tips for using discussion boards: Build a community of care; Ask genuine, open-ended questions; Wait for answers; Let conversation wander; Model what it looks like to be wrong and to acknowledge when you’re wrong; Recognize that the right to speak isn’t distributed equally; Make listening visible.

Read more.