2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This study investigates the hypothesis that ungrading a capstone engineering design course will foster student confidence. By “ungrading” we mean an emergent approach to assessment that seeks to address the ineffectiveness of and potential harm caused by traditional grading practices (Stommel 2020). Ungrading can take many forms, but in this case involves replacing points-based grades with a system of narrative and peer evaluations that prioritize qualitative feedback on student work, collaborative agreements which allow the professor and students to develop rubrics and assessment criteria together, and collaborative assessment whereby students self-evaluate, justify, and discuss their final course grade using evidence from their work throughout the semester. In this work in progress submission, we ask: If grade-oriented environments promote a fear of failure and risk-taking even in high-achieving students (Pulfrey et al. 2011; Schultz-Bergin 2020), how might ungrading impact student confidence?

An extensive body of work related to the efficacy of alternative grading has been published over the past few decades. Butler and Nisan published a seminal article in 1986 showing that an alternative grading method – nonthreatening, task-related evaluation – helped maintain intrinsic motivation in students. They found that traditional points-based grading led students to emphasize the importance of grades, disincentivized creativity, and decreased interest in learning as a process. Alternatively, students that received qualitative feedback without a grade attached performed significantly better on problem-solving tasks (Butler and Nisan 1986). A review by Alfie Kohn states that students tend to think less deeply, avoid risks, and lose interest in learning when they are graded (Kohn 2006). Another study found that grades negatively affect student confidence, and that uncertainty around grades can perpetuate anxiety and disincentivize collaboration (Howitz, McKnelly, and Link 2021). Particularly for courses that emphasize problem solving and creativity, like engineering design, grading in its traditional sense does not provide effective feedback and does not tend to change students’ future efforts (Schinske and Tanner 2014).

The course evaluated is a bioscience-focused engineering capstone design class. Confidence in various course learning outcomes were measured through a mixed methods design that consisted of surveys, open responses and five-point Likert scale questions. Participants’ responses to surveys addressed the hypothesis by providing quantitative and qualitative data surrounding confidence in the context of ungrading. Qualitative data included students’ commentary on free response survey questions that addressed confidence in their own learning. Overall, findings demonstrate that alternative grading techniques were well-received by students. Students agreed with statements of value related to ungrading. Students also reported a high degree of confidence in course learning outcomes and in their ability to complete a client-centered design project.