Experience with ungrading in online instruction in automatic control

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.2525-376X.v10i1p47-65

Keywords:

automatic control education, remote instruction, ungrading

Abstract

We present our experience with ungrading in courses in automatic control taught at  Escola Politécnica da Universidade de S. Paulo, and also at Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, emphasizing aspects relevant to the challenge of remote teaching during the pandemic. The goal of the article is to argue that many of the problems caused by teaching focused on exams, grades, and supposedly objective evaluations are aggravated by the complications of online instruction, and conversely that ungrading practices are particularly effective in minimizing the learning losses in this situation.

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Author Biography

  • Felipe Pait, University of São Paulo

    Docente da Escola Politécnica da Universidade de São Paulo - USP

References

BLUM, S. D. (ed.). Ungrading: Why Rating Students Undermines Learning (and What to Do Instead), with a preface by Alfie Kohn. West Virginia University Press, 2020.

GRAEBER, D. Trabalhos de Merda - Uma Teoria. Coimbra: Edições 70 – Almedina, 2022.

KIRSCHENBAUM, H., NAPIER, R., SIMON, S. B. Wad-Ja-Get? The Grading Game in American Education. “50th Anniversary Edition” with a new introduction by Professor Barry Fishman. Michigan Publishing, 2021.

SCHNEIDER, J., HUTT, E. Making the grade: a history of the A–F marking scheme. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 2014, v. 46, n. 2, p. 201–224.

https://doi.org/10.1080/00220272.2013.790480

SMALLWOOD, M. L. An historical study of examinations and grading systems in early American universities: a critical study of the original records of Harvard, William and Mary, Yale, Mount Holyoke, and Michigan from their founding to 1900. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 24; 1935.

Published

2026-06-17

Issue

Section

Reports

How to Cite

PAIT, Felipe. Experience with ungrading in online instruction in automatic control. Revista de Graduação USP, São Paulo, Brasil, v. 10, n. 1, p. 49–67, 2026. DOI: 10.11606/issn.2525-376X.v10i1p47-65. Disponível em: https://revistas.usp.br/gradmais/article/view/216443. Acesso em: 10 oct. 2026.