Pedagogy Oct 2024

Hostile and Hospitable Programmatic Architectures

Megan K. Von Bergen

Abstract

Abstract Much of the conversation about ungrading has thus far focused on its impacts in the classroom, improving student learning and addressing ongoing inequities. Yet addressing the administrative structures necessary to sustain ungrading is equally important, especially considering the labor conditions of contingent, minoritized, or otherwise vulnerable faculty. This article proposes hostile/hospitable programmatic architectures as a framework for understanding how institutional ecologies may be configured in ways that undermine or support the use of equitable assessment practices. Where hostile programmatic architecture neglects the risk vulnerable faculty take on in using a new assessment practice, a hospitable programmatic architecture, deliberately attentive to faculty labor conditions and institutional locatedness, relies on supportive, cross-hierarchical relationships and ample material and affective resources to open institutional spaces for the effective use of ungrading. The article closes with a brief heuristic for writing program administrators and other departmental/university leaders interested in assessing the hospitality of their own program.

Journal
Pedagogy
Published
2024-10-01
DOI
10.1215/15314200-11246383
CompPile
Open Access
Closed
Topics
Export
BibTeX RIS

Citation context

Cited by in this index (2)

  1. Tang et al. (2026)
    Beyond the grade: Reimagining second language (L2) writing assessment through u…
    Assessing Writing
  2. Corrigan (2025)
    Antiracist Reading as a Problem
    College English

References (27) · 6 in this index

  1. Adsanatham (2012)
    Integrating Assessment and Instruction: Using Student-Generated Grading Criteri…
    Computers and Composition
  2. Barrios (2023)
    Labor-Based Hope: Three Counternarratives on Complicating Antiracist Grading Practices
  3. Chellew Cara . 2021. “How Removing Public Seating Creates New Civic Barr…
  4. Craig Sherri . 2021. “Your Contract Grading Ain't It.” WPA Journal44, no…
  5. Danielewicz et al. (2009)
    A Unilateral Grading Contract to Improve Learning and Teaching
    College Composition and Communication
Show all 27 →
  1. Edbauer (2005)
    Unframing models of public distribution: From rhetorical situation to rhetorica…
    Rhetoric Society Quarterly
  2. Gries (2015)
    Still Life with Rhetoric: A New Materialist Approach for Visual Rhetorics
  3. Inoue Asao . 2015. Antiracist Writing Assessment Ecologies: Teaching and…
     ↗
  4. Inoue (2019)
    2019 CCCC Chair’s Address: How Do We Language So People Stop Killing Each Other…
    College Composition and Communication
  5. Inoue Asao B . 2022. Labor-Based Grading Contracts: Building Equity and …
     ↗
  6. Inoue Asao B . 2023. Cripping Labor-Based Grading for More Equity in Lit…
     ↗
  7. Inoue Asao B . “Labor-Based Grading Resources.” Last modified 27February…
  8. Klotz Sarah , and ReardonKristina. 2022. “Crafting a Writing Response Co…
  9. Laflen Angela , and SimsMikenna. 2021. “Designing a More Equitable Score…
     ↗
  10. LaFrance (2019)
    Institutional Ethnography: A Theory of Practice for Writing Studies Researchers
     ↗
  11. Litterio Lisa M . 2016. “Contract Grading in a Technical Writing Classro…
  12. Litterio (2018)
    Contract grading in the technical writing classroom: Blending community-based a…
    Assessing Writing
  13. Lynch-Biniek Amy . 2017. “Don't Rock the Boat: Curricular Choices of Con…
  14. McCloud Laila . 2023. “Keeping Receipts: Thoughts on Ungrading from a Bl…
  15. Perryman-Clark (2016)
    Who We Are(n’t) Assessing: Racializing Language and Writing Assessment in Writi…
    College English
  16. Petty (2016)
    The London Spikes Controversy: Homelessness, Urban Securitisation, and the Question of ‘H…
    International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy  ↗
  17. Quinn Ben . 2014. “Anti-Homeless Spikes Are Part of a Wider Phenomenon o…
  18. Sackey (2012)
    Ecology, Ecologies, and Institutions: Eco and Composition
  19. Shor (2009)
    Critical Pedagogy Is Too Big to Fail
    Journal of Basic Writing  ↗
  20. Vander Lei (2014)
    Introduction
  21. Von Bergen Megan . 2023. “(Un)Grading as Institutional Ecology: How (Alt…
  22. West-Puckett (2023)
    Failing to Be Reproduced
CrossRef global citation count: 1 View in citation network → Build reading path →

Related articles

  1. Pedagogy Apr 2024
    To Reimagine . . . To Start Again ↗
    Zachary C. Beare; Jessica Masterson; Shari J. Stenberg
    rhetorical criticism first-year composition writing pedagogy graduate education teacher development argument assessment writing program administration professional writing labor and working conditions multimodality race and writing gender and writing affect and writing editorial matter
  2. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication Jan 2024
    Implementing a Continuous Improvement Model for Assignment Evaluation at the Technical and Professional Communication Program Level ↗
    Michelle Sonnenberg; Carolyn Gubala; Justiss Burry; Jessica Griffith; Tanya Zarlengo; Lisa Melonçon
    writing pedagogy assessment writing program administration technical communication professional writing labor and working conditions empirical research
  3. College Composition and Communication Dec 2025
    Money Machine: Gig Writing, Automation, and Labor Troubles in Composition ↗
    James Rushing Daniel
    assessment labor and working conditions artificial intelligence
  4. Pedagogy Oct 2024
    Contributors ↗
    rhetorical criticism first-year composition writing pedagogy basic writing writing across the curriculum graduate education two-year college service learning teacher development revision argument collaborative writing assessment writing program administration multimodality multilingual writers literacy studies race and writing disability studies community literacy editorial matter
  5. Computers and Composition Jun 2024
    Personalizing first-year writing course design and delivery: Navigating modality, shared curriculum, and contingent labor in a community of practice ↗
    Mary K. Stewart; Andrew Kelly Stewart
    first-year composition writing pedagogy curriculum design graduate education teacher development writing program administration labor and working conditions online writing instruction editorial matter