Emily Pitts Donahoe
@empittsdonahoe.bsky.social
Associate Director at the University of Mississippi's Center for Excellence in Teaching & Learning. Pedagogy, alt grading, teaching writing and lit. Substack: Unmaking the Grade. Opinions are my own. https://t.co/8ABfZoim4C
not only was this the first truly decisive election in 15 years, not only was it the first real repudiation the MAGA Republican Party has experienced, but it is an earthquake in the South. with investment — and with laws protecting the right to vote — the whole region could be blue.
ICYMI Two new books in the Teaching, Engaging, and Thriving in Higher Ed series from @oupress.bsky.social "Classroom Mindscapes: An Introduction to Neurodiversity for Educators" by @sarahesilverman.bsky.social "UDL at Scale: Whole-Campus Universal Design for Learning" by @thomasjtobin.bsky.social
Join @cjdenial.bsky.social @josheyler.bsky.social @thetattooedprof.bsky.social and me for a free webinar on Resisting the Use of AI in Education on October 13, 1:00-2:00 pm ET. Register now! olemiss.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
Have you ever wanted to hear @cjdenial.bsky.social, @thetattooedprof.bsky.social, @liznorell.bsky.social, and me talk about the need for resisting AI in education? If so, you're in luck! On October 13th, we're doing a reprise of a session on this topic, and we're hosting it on Zoom FREE OF CHARGE.
This week, I'm back to blogging after a short break, with some opinions about grades at Harvard, Michigan, and MIT: emilypittsdonahoe.substack.com/p/three-grad...
Three Grade-Related Responses to Educational Polycrisis
MIT is right; Harvard is wrong.
emilypittsdonahoe.substack.com
Major kudos to MIT, who just put out a report about AI on their campus that lucidly explains the threat posed by AI to cognition and the student experience, while at the same time prioritizes learning, students, and the value of education. 1/x aiandeducation.mit.edu/report/
Report – AI and Education
aiandeducation.mit.edu
getting rid of grades entirely would be much more effective at curbing surreptitious use of genAI than any amount of surveillance, would do vastly less harm to the pedagogical relationship at the heart of education, and wouldn't be another massive economic windfall for the creepiest people you know
The Spook Who Sat by the Ring Doorbell@hypervisible.blacksky.app · 5mo ago“At UCLA, students in a recent sociology class said they were told in an email to ‘procure a mirror large enough to fully reflect your entire desk-area work space,’ and turn on their laptop camera so the professor could watch them during an online test.”
This week, I'm back on social media after a short break. I'm excited to share some news on my book project *How to Grade*: my colleagues @derekbruff.bsky.social and @lindsaymasland.bsky.social will be joining me as co-authors! emilypittsdonahoe.substack.com/p/some-book-...
Some Book News
Updates on two alternative grading projects
emilypittsdonahoe.substack.com
I owe a major debt of gratitude to @drtink.bsky.social & @writandrhet.bsky.social for giving me the push I needed to use negotiated grading this semester. I used a collaborative version (props to @empittsdonahoe.bsky.social) & it worked so well I don't want to ever go back to traditional grading.
Jessamyn Neuhaus@geekypedagogy.bsky.social · 12mo agoWell, thanks a lot @drtink.bsky.social and @writandrhet.bsky.social. Your amazing #POD25 session, "Building Support for Negotiated Grading," has inspired me to completely rework my spring syllabus. Will be thinking of you both as I tear down & rebuild my Blackboard site!
1. I think it's 100% fair to be critical of the idea of being asked to spend extra time on AI Literacy as a teacher/professor 2. I think this is an absolutely ridiculous/unfair characterization of Mark's work, as he's consistently emphasized labor concerns for teachers/professors
Sonja Drimmer@sonjadrimmer.bsky.social · 8mo agoMark Watkins of the Chronicle of Higher Ed says faculty should spend 90 mins a week to teach ourselves about AI & unis are now sending out emails w his recommendation. I write here about the gift of having someone admit that automation intensifies labor sonja-drimmer.squarespace.com/blog-1/2026/...
Hey you - yeah you! See below and then go write an abstract to join us in June. It's all online, and full of great ideas and inspiration.
Emily Pitts Donahoe@empittsdonahoe.bsky.social · 9mo agoFriends, if you're doing cool things around alternative grading in your classroom, your research, your teaching center, or your institution, we want to hear from you at The Grading Conference! It's held virtually June 16-18, and abstracts are due tomorrow. Link in the comments.
I'm so ... relieved? excited? nervous? (yes^3) ... to share this piece with the world. I've been wanting to do so for years, but I needed (a lot of) time to find some peace around these events first. #ActuallyAutistic #HigherEd engagedlearningcollective.substack.com/p/being-huma...
Being human at work isn’t unprofessional
How an email from my dean and a forced office move inspired a days-long crying jag and the discovery that I’m autistic.
engagedlearningcollective.substack.com
Friends, if you're doing cool things around alternative grading in your classroom, your research, your teaching center, or your institution, we want to hear from you at The Grading Conference! It's held virtually June 16-18, and abstracts are due tomorrow. Link in the comments.
If you are working on course design this week, and you teach a lot of students, let me recommend this guest post on my blog from three fantastic instructors who are pursuing innovative grading methods in their large lectures. It's a lot of work, but alternative grading can be done in big classes!
Jayme Dyer, PhD 🏳️🌈@youtoobio.bsky.social · 10mo agoI co-authored a post with @katiemattaini.bsky.social and Eden Tanner on @empittsdonahoe.bsky.social blog about Alternative Grading in Large Classes: emilypittsdonahoe.substack.com/p/alternativ...
The “free speech” and “cancel culture” panics have led to overt state censorship because that was always their purpose. (Gift link) www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
It's me! I wrote about how I use IBL, collaborative grading, and much more all together in my favorite course: Euclidean Geometry.
PRIMUS@readprimus.bsky.social · 11mo ago"Do All the Things: Inquiry-Based Learning with Teams, Collaborative Grading, and Individual Goal Setting in Euclidean Geometry for Future Teachers" by David Clark about intentionally integrating pedagogical choices that appear separately in the literature. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
The semester is finally over, so now it’s time for my annual celebration of Festivus. Liz Norell and I are getting together to air our grievances on a podcast, and we’d like to discuss yours as well! More details on how to share your grievance here: emilypittsdonahoe.substack.com/p/air-your-2...
Air Your 2025 Grievances
Plus more on AI, and alternative grading in large courses
emilypittsdonahoe.substack.com
Excited to share a guest post on my blog this week by Jayme Dyer, Katie Mattaini, and Eden Tanner about alt grading in large classes. This is something I get asked about all the time, so I'm glad to have an opportunity to share their work on the topic! emilypittsdonahoe.substack.com/p/alternativ...
Alternative Grading in Large Classes
How to implement pedagogical values within logistical constraints
emilypittsdonahoe.substack.com
Really enjoyed this conversation with Tricia Bertram Gallant on academic integrity and alternative grading. Give it a listen to hear me tell a story about myself as a high schooler and also lament the lack of support for grad students in higher ed! www.theoppositeofcheating.com/post/episode...
Episode 40: Emily Pitts Donahoe
"It’s not: do you have integrity or do you not. It’s: are there conditions in place that allow people to act with integrity?” “One of the things that alternative grading can do is to help shift studen...
theoppositeofcheating.com
I'm being made to understand that grades don't "mean anything anymore" but I'm hoping someone can point me to the time when they were meaningful.
I'm working on a genealogy of alternative grading practices for the book @empittsdonahoe.bsky.social and I are writing for Princeton UP. We're calling the book *How to Grade: Alternative Models for the College Classroom*. 1/x
They broke the republican supermajority in the Mississippi state senate respect to the organizers and power to the people
Stiked to be visiting 'Ole Miss to give a talk on #SnafuEdu! @josheyler.bsky.social, @empittsdonahoe.bsky.social & @liznorell.bsky.social are my awesome hosts. But I already made a mistake: ordered toast instead of grits for breakfast this morning. www.oupress.com/978080619546...
Snafu Edu - University of Oklahoma Press
No matter how skilled, thoughtful, and well prepared professors are—or how motivated and engaged their students might be—things sometimes go wrong. In th...
oupress.com
Please do not use AI to grade. If demands on your time are such that you cannot provide students with timely and substantive feedback, that is a labor issue, and you should join your union. open.substack.com/pub/marcwatk...
The Dangers of using AI to Grade
Nobody Learns, Nobody Gains
open.substack.com
Only one week left to apply for the Center for Grading Reform's Alternative Grading Institute! This two-day, hands-on, virtual experience offers opportunities to connect grading with your values and design an alt grading system for one of your courses. www.centerforgradingreform.org/alternative-...
Alternative Grading Institute
centerforgradingreform.org
Really honored to be included in this list!
Alfie Kohn@alfiekohn.bsky.social · last yr.1/2 My new essay on AI (www.alfiekohn.org/article/ai/) includes quotes from, or links to, writings by @emilymbender.bsky.social, @palan57.bsky.social, @stopgenai.com, @ddmeyer.bsky.social, @zachczaia.bsky.social, @lutzfernandez.bsky.social, @empittsdonahoe.bsky.social, @garymarcus.bsky.social ....