Date Published: 2026
Context
I’ve used this assignment and grading method in various undergraduate writing courses including First-Year Writing, workplace writing, digital writing, and across course modalities from in-person to online synchronous and asynchronous formats. I use elements of ungrading in my courses, and my assessment structure is based on weighted categories; engagement as a category is weighted heavily. This is designed to center engagement (participation) and self-assessment in learning, resisting hierarchical grading. I start the first week of class by assigning reading/watching/listening materials that challenge traditional ideas of grading and writing assessment. I situate this material in an “orientation to the course” module (or unit), so it sets the tone/frame for the rest of the course along with other orientation-type activities. The students write their “engagement contracts” during that first week and engage in their selected methods throughout the semester. The “engagement essays” are assigned during midterms week and finals week as a first-half semester evaluation and then again as a second-half semester evaluation, respectively.
Reflection
Labor-based grading contracts may support some students’ languaging practices, but they still exclude many disabled students by relying on ableist assumptions about time, energy, and even a body’s capacity to move in normative ways. These contracts reinforce assessment practices that privilege those who work linearly, consistently, or within physical environments that are built for an assumed able-bodied individual, while disadvantaging students who need flexible timelines or cannot sustain predetermined levels of engagement—such as people with ADHD or ADD, chronic illness, or long-term effects of COVID-19. These practices also overlook students balancing caregiving or employment alongside coursework. In response, this engagement activity offers a more accessible, human-centered approach by prioritizing flexible participation, positioning students as partners through regular self-assessment, and emphasizing collaborative meaning-making among peers and instructors.
I’ve used this activity in several undergraduate writing courses, but because it centers on engagement, it can be applied across disciplines. Since most students are new to ungrading—and because my course design draws on disability and linguistic justice—I begin each course with an “orientation module” that introduces scholarship grounding my pedagogical praxis, especially around engagement. This module frames the course and includes a low‑stakes activity asking students to engage with the syllabus, where course values, traditionally referred to as policies, are outlined. It’s also where students first encounter the engagement contract and, in online courses, a discussion board about engagement and ungrading so they can collectively understand what engagement means in our context and what will be expected of them. Throughout the term, I reference the contract and engagement essays in feedback and conversations to reinforce their importance to our course. Through this scaffolding, the contract and essays become central—not supplemental—to the learning experience.
I’ve consistently seen this activity succeed because it prompts genuine self‑assessment, with many students expressing appreciation for an approach that honors their needs and lets them show up more fully through flexible timelines and an emphasis on learning as an individualized process rather than on an instructor’s assumed timeline. Students often share insights about their learning that exceed what I anticipated, teaching me where and how learning actually happens for them throughout the term. The main challenge—beyond the universal difficulty of students participating in any assignment—is helping them identify engagement methods that work for them, since many have been taught that only frequent verbal participation “counts.” They often need options to guide their choices for their contract. In the essays themselves, the most common issues involve meeting the basic completion requirements, such as providing evidence for their claims (i.e., screenshots) or remembering to propose a grade at the end of their self-assessment as it relates to their engagement contract.
