Ann Stebner Steele, a professor in the Honors College at the University of Wyoming, is experimenting with a “gradeless classroom” for her classes, where her students are able to decide their own grades at the end of the semester.
“It allows me to connect with my students more as people, and find out where you are and give you feedback that is specific to the work that you’re doing—as opposed to fit it into a rubric that I have written,” said Steele.
Steele has taught Colloquium, a First-Year Seminar and a Modes of Understanding course that explores the morality of hunting.
“It feels so much more interactive, and I like that part a lot,” said Steele.
Steele’s unconventional path to becoming a professor started as an advisor in the Honors College. This is where she learned of the competitiveness of securing a tenured position as a creative writing professor.
When Steele was in Graduate school at UW, the university was looking for a new poetry professor.
“There were over 200 applicants and the top 50 on the list had at least two publications,” she continued “I realized how competitive it was,” said Steele.
“A couple of years ago I made a switch to part-time at the Honors College, and it was a split between advising and instructing”
“While I enjoyed advising, it was much more administrative, and it felt like I was tracking towards a career in higher education administration, except what I really enjoyed was teaching,” said Steele.
Steele no longer advises and now teaches two courses in Honors. She said she has more time to write in her free time as a part-time professor, than she did when advising.
Steele also said online learning on Zoom this semester doesn’t allow for the same interactions as face-to-face learning.
“I miss the interaction you get in the 5 or 10 minutes before or after class. You can kind of do it on Zoom, but it is not the same,” said Steele. She continued, “it doesn’t feel as organic”.
“I think Spring is probably going to look like Fall, and then we’ll see what happens next year,” said Steele.
