Ungrading + Alternative Assessment Ideas for Higher Education

Alternative grading practices often fail to scale. The issue isn’t lack of effectiveness—it’s the manual effort required, especially in large courses. If you attended our recent webinar on Ungrading with Dr. Susan Blum, you may feel like it’s time to rethink your assessment practices. By shifting the focus from “Do I have to know this for the test?” to genuine inquiry, educators are rethinking the limitations of conventional grading, moving toward approaches that emphasize ongoing feedback, demonstrated competency and deeper engagement with learning.

In this post, we’ll discuss four core alternative assessment and ungrading ideas, how they work and how you can use Top Hat to apply these practices without adding to your workload.

Four alternatives to standard letter grades

Dr. Susan D. Blum, author of Ungrading: Why Rating Students Undermines Learning (and What to Do Instead), highlights several frameworks designed to focus on learning as a journey rather than just the final score.

Specifications and standards-based grading: This model moves away from partial credit and averaging, which often penalizes early mistakes. Instead, it uses a binary “met or not met” threshold for specific learning objectives. Because it encourages re-dos and revisions, a student who masters a concept in May receives the same credit as one who understood it in February, accurately reflecting their final level of competency.

Labor-based grading: Primarily used to foster a “good faith” effort in process-heavy disciplines, this approach rewards the time and energy a student invests rather than their innate talent. By valuing the act of “putting in the work,” it creates a safe space for students to take intellectual risks and practice new skills—like a novice artist attempting a complex technique—without the fear that a failed experiment will ruin their grade.

Contract grading: This model empowers students by giving them a clear roadmap and a sense of agency over their final results. At the start of the term, the student and instructor agree on a specific set of tasks (such as the number of assignments or depth of research) required to reach a particular grade level. This reduces anxiety and “grade chasing” by making the path to success transparent and predictable.

Portfolio and project-based learning: Rather than relying on a single, high-stakes snapshot of memory, this method treats assessment as a cumulative collection of evidence. By documenting a student’s journey through various artifacts—from video reflections to coding projects—it provides a far more informative and “authentic” look at what a student can actually do in a real-world context.

A common thread across these models is their emphasis on regular feedback, self-reflection and low-stakes interactions that shift the focus from compliance to demonstrated competence, critical thinking and continuous improvement.

Practical steps for transitioning your course

Ungrading doesn’t have to be an all or nothing approach. Here are four simple ways to start incorporating these practices into your course.

1. Develop the “question habit”

Spark curiosity at the start of or throughout class by using low-stakes activities like “Question Parties,” speed dating with index cards, or exit tickets. These approaches encourage students to become active seekers of knowledge rather than passive recipients.

Make it work in Top Hat: Top Hat’s discussion feature and long-form answer questions allow students to submit questions during or after a lecture. They can upvote peers’ questions or responses, giving you instant insight into which concepts require clarification or deeper review.

2. Implement self-assessment and reflection

Metacognition is essential for deep learning. Encourage students to reflect on their journey over time (from the beginning of the semester to the end) and ask for specific feedback on their work rather than just a general “Is this good?”

Make it work in Top Hat: Use in-class polls and quizzes as low-stakes knowledge checks to help students self-assess their progress in real time. These tools embed reflection and iteration directly into the learning experience, providing instant feedback that helps identify learning gaps as they arise.

3. Use low-stakes knowledge checks to guide learning

Replace reliance on high-stakes exams with frequent, low-stakes opportunities for students to check their understanding. This helps students see where they stand early and often—before it impacts major assessments.

Make it work in Top Hat: Top Hat’s auto-graded questions provide immediate, in-the-moment feedback that students can use to correct misconceptions on the fly. This allows students to adjust their approach as they learn, rather than waiting until after an exam to understand what they missed. Top Hat quizzes, polls and knowledge checks can also be graded for completion, reinforcing a focus on participation and learning rather than point accumulation.

4. Count on education technology for practice

Utilize technology to provide high-frequency practice opportunities and actionable data without the pressure of a high-stakes exam. The goal is to move toward “assessment for learning” rather than just “assessment of learning.”

Make it work in Top Hat: Top Hat Ace, our AI-powered assistant, supports alternative assessment through engaging, low-stakes scenarios grounded in real-world applications. For example, a student in a financial planning course can receive real-time feedback while making recommendations for a complex investor scenario, allowing for safe practice and immediate improvement.

To kickstart or build upon your ungrading journey and explore more practical resources, please refer to this comprehensive resource guide prepared by Dr. Blum.