Assistant Professor Benjamin Woo has received a 2019 Carleton University Teaching Achievement Award. This award is intended to enhance teaching and the quality of instruction at Carleton University, while recognizing outstanding achievements in teaching.
As part of his application for the award, Professor Woo developed a proposal to advance teaching excellence at Carleton University. His proposed project, Does Specifications Grading Add Up? Evaluating Alternative Approaches in University Assessment will assess specifications grading and the benefits it could have on students. His proposal is based on Linda B. Nilson’s book, Specifications Grading: Restoring Rigor, Motivating Students, and Saving Faculty. The book suggests a new approach to assessment that promises to give students greater responsibility in their learning. This practical and innovative approach to grading is intended to help motivate students, save faculty time relating to grading, and raise academic standards.
Over the next two years, Professor Woo will work with a group of colleagues and faculty members to pilot this new assessment approach and will report back to the university community. “The book is full of examples of ways to improve the grading approach,” Woo says. “I’m going to work with a group of faculty members, have them read the book, and figure out ways to implement some of the findings in real life classes, using the methods as a new way to grade students.” The first pilot of this project will begin in fall of 2019. “This will be a forward-thinking project about grading students. We’ll learn about measuring learning in a meaningful way, and assessing what we want to teach our students.”
Professor Woo says he’s thrilled with this recent recognition award: “As a faculty member, you spend a lot of time writing applications for things, and what surprised me most about winning this was all the positive reactions I have received. People have been congratulating me on this achievement, which is really nice. I feel people are excited about this project and the work we can do together—not just in Communication and Media Studies, but across the university. This new assessment approach could be used by anyone teaching on campus. It feels good knowing that winning this award could change the way we grade students.”
All Achievement Award recipients will be honoured at a University celebration on Tuesday, April 16th at 3 p.m.
Monday, February 25, 2019 in Communication News, News
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