The Lab on Ungrading
Coming Spring 2026
About the Lab
Reimagine assessment beyond traditional grading, fostering a learning environment where intrinsic motivation, authentic learning, and student agency flourish through dialogic and critically reflective approaches aligned with humanizing pedagogical practices.
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This lab is perfect for:
  • K12 Teachers
    Develop assessment strategies that nurture students' love of learning while meeting core competencies and supporting meaningful growth.
  • Instructional Designers
    Integrate ungrading principles into course designs to balance learning outcomes with human-centered assessment practices..
  • Higher Ed Faculty
    Transform your assessment philosophy to center student agency and authentic demonstration of learning across diverse disciplinary contexts.
  • Administrators
    Support faculty in implementing sustainable ungrading approaches that enhance student engagement while maintaining academic rigor and institutional integrity.
Some Essential Questions
  • How do traditional grading systems impact student motivation, equity, and the human dimensions of learning?
  • What assessment alternatives might better support authentic learning while honoring students' diverse strengths and needs?
  • How can educators navigate institutional constraints while implementing meaningful ungrading practices in their specific contexts?
  • What shifts in power dynamics, student-teacher relationships, and classroom culture emerge when moving beyond traditional grading?
Learning Outcomes
  • Articulate a personal philosophy of assessment that aligns ungrading principles with your educational context and values
    01
  • Design at practical ungrading strategies tailored to your teaching that center human connection and student agency
    02
  • Develop an ungrading statement that addresses potential challenges and communicates the value of ungrading to students, colleagues, and/or administrators
    03
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Jesse Stommel
Lead Facilitator
Jesse Stommel is currently a faculty member in the Writing Program at University of Denver. He is also co-founder of Hybrid Pedagogy: the journal of critical digital pedagogy and Digital Pedagogy Lab. He has a PhD from University of Colorado Boulder. He is author of Undoing the Grade: Why We Grade, and How to Stop and co-author of An Urgency of Teachers: the Work of Critical Digital Pedagogy.

Jesse is a documentary filmmaker and teaches courses about pedagogy, film, digital studies, and composition. Jesse experiments relentlessly with learning interfaces, both digital and analog, and his research focuses on higher education pedagogy, critical digital pedagogy, and assessment.
Schedule for the Lab
Coming Spring 2026
Week 1: Foundations
  • Examine how traditional grading systems shape learning experiences and explore ungrading frameworkss
  • Activity: Reflective dialogue journal
Week 2: Designing Ungrading Approaches
  • Develop practical ungrading strategies that center student agency
  • Activity: Ungrading strategy workshop
Week 3: Practical Implementation
  • Build a comprehensive implementation plan
  • Activity: Implementation blueprint
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