Learning for the sake of learning

Two professors were yanking chairs and tables out of their neat rows when Daley Kouchar Farr entered the classroom one morning. "What," she said, pressing the word, "are we doing this time?"

It's that kind of class.

About 50 Augsburg College students are deep into a semester-long experiment for which they'll receive credit for five courses, but no grades.

The handful of professors who co-teach the Integrated Term hope that by using different disciplines -- religion, sociology, English, history -- to address a problem, students will discover a new kind of learning. The course is "Fate of the Earth: Food, Fuel and Consumption."

There are few non-graded terms in U.S. colleges and universities. The popularity of such programs has ebbed and flowed through the years, but the idea is new to Augsburg, where this fall's term is the first of a three-year pilot.

Evaluating students with "narrative" feedback, instead of an A-F scale, is essential to a complex course with a diverse group of students, the Augsburg professors said.

"It's ludicrous to have a course titled 'Fate of the Earth' and then give students grades," said Colin Irvine, an English professor. "You've noted there's this problem, you're working hard to address it, and I think the seriousness with which you've approached it is about a B-minus." He laughed.

"To me, that right away reduces the experience and sets it right back to what they're familiar with," Irvine said.

Came back excited

Work on the course began in 2007, when a group of Augsburg professors and staff attended a conference on alternative learning in Washington and returned a little too pumped.

Augsburg had expected the group to bring back ways to revamp an ongoing program for first-year students. Instead, they dreamt up an entirely different model.

"We had drunk the Kool-Aid," Irvine said. "The irony was they had sent us. Then, when we came back, they said, 'Oh, you seem awfully excited. We didn't think you'd get this excited.'"

Fitting their course ideas into the set structure of the school was a challenge. The professors compromised on some things. But A-F grades? No way.

"Grades get in the way," said Lars Christiansen, a sociology professor who is researching grades and five colleges that decided to do without them. "They become this extrinsic goal that ... can be in conflict with trying to cultivate students' intrinsic interest in what they're learning."

Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wash., embraces that stance and awards its graduates unusually thick transcripts.

Spokesman Jason Wettstein said employers love the qualitative feedback as much as the students.

The University of California, Santa Cruz has used narrative evaluations in place of grades since it opened in 1965. They're still given, but in many courses, so are A-F grades. The university's web site breaks down the pros and cons.

On the pro side: "Narratives encourage students to pursue learning for its own sake." On the con: "Narrative grading is expensive, time-consuming and tough to translate into job applications."

Contribution and confusion

At Augsburg, students helped create the criteria by which they'd be evaluated. Participation, improvement, transformation and impact all made the list. They also had a hand in how the semester would proceed.

Kwame Collins, 19, thought that was a little weird.

"In the beginning, it seemed like the teachers didn't know where they were going with the class," Collins said. "I later found out part of that was purposeful. But it was too different for me, too big of a change."

Collins attended Humboldt High School in St. Paul. On a campus visit, an Augsburg staffer told him about the "Integrated Term," and he was hooked.

Collins has found the term to be rigorous and effective. Plus, it promotes "an intrinsic way of learning," he said, echoing his professor. "You have to be self-motivated."

History professor Phil Adamo is convinced that not having grades has brought more students to his office. On every paper he's ever graded as a professor, he writes, "Come see me if you have questions."

For the first time, multiple students are taking him up on the offer, he said. "I'm giving much more detailed information, maybe a page of comments... and people are coming in to learn even more," he said. "It's just shocking.

"Of course, I know some of them just want to say, 'Well, is this kind of like a B-plus?'"

Lively debate

The professors often teach in twos and threes, splitting the group and then merging it for panel discussions, activities and trips to museums.

In one recent class, Adamo and Irvine led two dozen students in a discussion about heroes, relating it to "Star Wars" on one hand and their reading, "A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters," on the other. English professor Bob Cowgill sat in back and tried to keep quiet.

"One of the challenges is restraining myself when I'm not the teacher," he whispered.

Then came a PowerPoint slide connecting the discussion to the prior week's tour of Great River Energy's environmentally friendly headquarters in Maple Grove. "Is Great River Energy a hero?" the slide asked.

A few students were dubious, using ideas about consumption and discourse they had picked up in past weeks.

"They're using this to hide the other stuff that they're doing," Collins said.

"Really?" Adamo said. "Tell me more."

"Coal power. It pollutes the air," Collins said.

Another student argued that unlike other power companies, at least Great River Energy was moving in the right direction. Discussion ensued.

From three corners of the room, the professors beamed.

Jenna Ross • 612-673-7168