Abstract
In this chapter we consider how applying Borgman and McArdle’s (2019) recommendations for being a responsive and strategic online instructor to labor-based grading contracts in online writing instruction (OWI) can help us develop a strategy for response aimed at making our courses more equitable for all students. Labor-based contract grading, which makes student labor in the course the basis for assessment, has been identified as a more equitable method of assessment for diverse learners, and this method of assessment also works against the assumption that some students bring to their online courses that they are “correspondence like” (Borgman & McArdle, 2019, p. 30). For these reasons, labor-based contract grading can be an appealing response strategy to use in OWI. Nevertheless, this strategy can be difficult to implement effectively in OWI due to students’ unfamiliarity with contract grading and the constraints imposed by learning management system (LMS) technologies. These challenges can lead to user experience problems for students and instructors that leave students confused about course grades and instructors discouraged from using grading contracts. We contend that a student-centered design approach is necessary to use grading contracts as an effective response strategy in OWI, and we share the grading contract documents we use in our own online classes and discuss how these are designed around students and their needs.