Dr. Knowles
Teaching Interests and Methods
Courses Taught At Berklee College of Music
- Psychology of Music
- Music Cognition
- Psychoacoustics
- General Psychology
- Abnormal Psychology
- Biopsychology
Teaching Methods
Taking the specifications Grading plunge
After lots of reading and debate, I made the decision to overhaul the grading method in one of my courses. I choose to experiment with Specifications Grading, a grading method developed by Dr. Linda B. Nilson.
Below I have included my slides from a talk given at Berklee’s Teachers on Teaching 2020 meeting as well as some additional resources that were helpful in developing a specifications grading-based course.
Nilson, L. (2015). Specifications grading: Restoring rigor, motivating students, and saving faculty time. Stylus Publishing, LLC.
Presentation Slides and Syllabus Examples
Additional Resources
- Nilson, L. B. (2018). Yes, Virginia, there’s a better way to grade. Inside Higher Ed.
- Talbert, R. (2017). Specifications grading: We may have a winner.
- Mittell, J. (2016). Rethinking Grading: An In-Progress Experiment.
- Mittell, J. (2016). First Update on My Specifications Grading Experiment.
- Kirkpatrick, M. S. (2018). Specifications Grading. Teaching Toolbox – Center For Faculty Innovation.
bpmresearchlab.org 