Learn more the impact of current grading practices on student learning and wellbeing.
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Getting a good grade is supposed to be a marker of excellence, but research shows that grades diminish our intrinsic motivation and emphasize the outcome rather than the process that leads to what researchers refer to as deep learning. Grades also mirror and magnify many of the systemic inequities that are a part of higher education. Further still, rates of anxiety and depression have spiked dramatically, and academic stress tied to grades is a leading factor in this escalation. In this seminar as part of our CTE Speaker Series, Josh Eyler will offer a range of strategies we can try, both in our classrooms and at the institutional level, in order to be more equitable in our classrooms by mitigating the damaging effects of grades.
Later in the day, Eyler will offer the workshop A Toolkit for Grading Reform. Learn more and register.
About our Speaker
Josh Eyler is the Director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching & Learning and Director of the Think Forward Quality Enhancement Plan at the University of Mississippi, where he is also Clinical Assistant Professor of Teacher Education. He previously worked on teaching and learning initiatives at Columbus State University, George Mason University, and Rice University. A sought-after speaker for his expertise about the science of learning and about compassion in education, especially in connection with students, grades, and mental health, he has spoken at college and universities across the country, including Yale University, University of Texas, and Johns Hopkins University.
Eyler is the author of the new book Failing Our Future: How Grades Harm Students and What We Can Do about It and the acclaimed book How Humans Learn: The Science and Stories behind Effective College Teaching, which in 2019 Book Authority named one of the “100 Best Education Books of All Time”. Called a “splendid repository of ways to rethink how we teach college” by the Los Angeles Review of Books, it was named a “Book of the Year” in the Chicago Tribune.