Author: Rissa Sorensen-Unruh

Ghost Post Day 0 (https://stem.dpl.online/day-0/) We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time. (T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets, Little Gidding (V, 239-242)) Welcome y'all to the STEM-H and Critical Digital Pedagogy track at DPL 2020! Let's start out … Continue reading DPL 2020 #STEMDigPed Day 0 (Orientation) →

Ghost Post Day 1 (https://stem.dpl.online/day-1-2/) “Teaching is a radical act.” (Jesse Stommel, The Human Work of Higher Education) The classroom remains the most radical space of possibility in the academy…Urging all of us to open our minds and hearts so that we can know beyond the boundaries of what is acceptable, so that we can think and … Continue reading DPL 2020 #STEMDigPed Day 1 (Introduction to Critical Pedagogy) →

I have been actively planning my DPL track - "STEM-H and Critical Digital Pedagogy"- for the last two months at least. But I've been thinking about it since last year when Sean asked me to lead the first STEM track at the DPL. And while you might say I should be ready by now (since … Continue reading Embracing the Sinusoidal March Towards DPL 2020 →

I've been meaning to write this blog for awhile. Maybe even years. Time is difficult to conceptualize now in the same way we did before COVID-19 isolation. But what I know is this - this blog has been on my to-do list for awhile. And it doesn't come a minute too soon. Remote learning is … Continue reading So you wanna #ungrade? The Practical Guide →

I have spent the last three weeks shirking responsibility for grading my students' exam 1's in General Chemistry II and Statistics. Exam 1's (I think we're on Week 6 or 7 out of 12!?!?)! [To be fair, I sent out a solutions key to the exam a week and a half ago, but still...] And … Continue reading “I can’t ever go back…” Adventures in #Ungrading →

I just finished my own personal 3-week hell. It was spent in an online class (on Moodle for those who are wondering) for a U.S. nonprofit group that certifies Online Courses based on their own extensive rubric (and that *may* go by the abbreviation QM). I was taking the class to become a peer reviewer … Continue reading Can hell be measured with a Rubric? →

It's 5am MDT and I'm struck by song of the birds who have nested in the wreath on my door. The song is constant and far lower in pitch than it has been for the last several weeks, as the five baby birds in the nest grew from hardly functional to fairly independent. What's striking … Continue reading Trauma, COVID-19, and Birthdays →

Jesse captured the reason to #ungrade best when he wrote this tweet recently: • Grades are not good incentive or effective feedback • Grades are not good markers of learning • Grades encourage competitiveness over collaboration • Grades pit students and teachers against each other • Grades are mechanisms of institutional control • Grades aren’t … Continue reading Ungrading: Prototype III (Envisioned Large Lecture Implementation in General Chemistry I) →

I decided to try ungrading in my general chemistry classes this past Fall (2019), but I wanted to give my students the power to have a say (i.e. vote) for the ungrading if they wanted to try it. The vote was administered via a google form: The vast majority of my students (97%) agreed to … Continue reading Ungrading: Prototype II (General Chemistry II) →

I wished for better health and a steady recovery. I wished for continued time with friends and family. I wished for insight into the little things that make my life so much better. I wished for understanding, compassion, and a willingness to listen closely, especially to those who are marginalized. I wished for more energy. … Continue reading What I wished for in 2019 →