iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Jesse Stommel (Jessifer) @jessifer.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

“The honest work of education was helping students see that most of education isn’t honest work. And then helping them to thrive regardless.” ~ Sean Michael Morris www.seanmichaelmorris.com/my-selfie-wi...

seanmichaelmorris.com

My Selfie with Paulo Freire; or, Honest Work

Education spins on the axis of reputation which spins on the axis of influence...so much so that the desire to simply help people learn can get very, very lost in the mix.

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Jesse Stommel (Jessifer) @jessifer.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

“He also pans the use of Turnitin as a scare tactic. ‘We see this with the criminal-justice system,’ he said. ‘Deterrence doesn’t actually work.’ What does work, he argues, is building trusting relationships with students. ‘Turnitin immediately fractures that relationship with students.’”

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Jesse Stommel (Jessifer) @jessifer.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

“Stommel said faculty members often believe cheating is on the rise and that detectors are one of the only ways to keep students honest. But he shares evidence that cheating rates have long remained largely flat, even post-ChatGPT.”

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Jesse Stommel (Jessifer) @jessifer.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

“He then encourages students to ask him if they have questions about how to properly cite sources and directs them to an essay he co-wrote if they want to learn more about Turnitin or how to protect their intellectual property.”

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Jesse Stommel (Jessifer) @jessifer.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

“In his syllabus, he tells students, ‘It is my commitment to you that I won’t submit any of your work to Turnitin. Plagiarism-detection software like Turnitin monetizes student intellectual property and contributes to a culture of suspicion in education. I trust you. I trust your work is your own.’”

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Jesse Stommel (Jessifer) @jessifer.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

“Jesse Stommel, a professor @uofdenver.bsky.social, started speaking out about the company’s database of student papers in 2011, when he discovered his dissertation was in it. As a writing instructor, he takes issue with schools unquestioningly handing over student work to a for-profit company.”

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Jesse Stommel (Jessifer) @jessifer.bsky.social · 30/05/2025

Agreed on the blue checkmarks. I was eliding a bunch of complicated thoughts about those into that line.

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Jesse Stommel (Jessifer) @jessifer.bsky.social · 30/05/2025

Ooh. I better go back over there for a bit. I need some plastic plants. 🪴 😜

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Jesse Stommel (Jessifer) @jessifer.bsky.social · 30/05/2025

Just hit follow all. The menswear guy is one of my favorites, if you don’t follow him already.

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Jesse Stommel (Jessifer) @jessifer.bsky.social · 30/05/2025

Also definitely old and cranky here! :)

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Jesse Stommel (Jessifer) @jessifer.bsky.social · 30/05/2025

Yes, to it all being better if everything were not on fire. And I totally agree with you about the short form. I miss the 140 characters actually! :)

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Jesse Stommel (Jessifer) @jessifer.bsky.social · 30/05/2025

Just grabbed a link to your timeline cleanse list. <3

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Jesse Stommel (Jessifer) @jessifer.bsky.social · 30/05/2025

Good point. I'll be clear, not making a case for Bsky to not exist, just still wondering what I can get from it. I'm gonna keep working to curate it as a newsfeed and then hope for random exchanges like this one! :)

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Jesse Stommel (Jessifer) @jessifer.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

Yeah, I think I’m struggling with the doom scrolling thing a little, which definitely wasn’t my experience when I first signed up here. Kind of a state of the world problem, but also this isn’t really the place I want to go to process that,

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Jesse Stommel (Jessifer) @jessifer.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

I’ll work the lists approach. I often didn’t feel like I needed to use my lists on Twitter cause I’d curated my main follow list so carefully over the years.

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Jesse Stommel (Jessifer) @jessifer.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

I was gonna ask you to send that link!

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Jesse Stommel (Jessifer) @jessifer.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

Agreed on the international, ideological breadth. I’ve been finding this site successful as a newsfeed. That’s the piece that still mostly works for me, but it took solid curation to get it there (OG Twitter did too).

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Jesse Stommel (Jessifer) @jessifer.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

I may also just need to post more. The implosion of Twitter (and the bullying that became rampant there in its final years) kinda turned me shy on social media.

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Jesse Stommel (Jessifer) @jessifer.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

I was also an early adopter of both but haven’t felt at home here yet. Seeing you pop up in a reply is a nice help, though. 😊 Engagement, ephemerality, and happening across happy things is what I’m missing. But I’m still working on it. I worry Bluesky is moving toward being more algorithm-centric.

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Jesse Stommel (Jessifer) @jessifer.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

It definitely feels bizarre to find myself telling people that LinkedIn feels like the social media most conducive to human life.

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Jesse Stommel (Jessifer) @jessifer.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

What killed Twitter: - Algorithmic feed - Blue checkmarks - People who called people “blue checkmarks” - Harassment at scale - Bullies with impunity - Academics shitposting about students - Racism, ableism, transphobia, etc. - J K Rowling - Donald Trump Most of these feel alive and well here…

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Jesse Stommel (Jessifer) @jessifer.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

So far, my review of Bluesky is that it is everything that was unpleasant about 2015 Twitter and not much of what was truly great. I’m still not sure why it ever made sense to clone the structure of a platform that had so thoroughly combusted. I’m here for now, and will attempt to remain open.

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Danielle St Hilaire @docsthilaire.bsky.social · 24/05/2025

“The work, though, is not to imagine that the hierarchy doesn't exist (it does), but to work together with students to dismantle it. That work starts by talking frankly about how these systems work and how the culture of grades impacts us.“

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Drew Lewis @drew-lewis.com · 23/05/2025

A lovely read ahead of #TheGradingConference in a few weeks. I especially loved "a bunch of quantitative legalese masquerading as pedagogy" as a turn of phrase—perhaps because it so accurately describes where I, and probably many others, started.

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Jesse Stommel (Jessifer) @jessifer.bsky.social · 22/05/2025

It’s been almost two years since I’ve written something entirely new about ungrading. Really glad to have this out in the world. It’s a simple piece but it gets to some incredibly practical aspects of this work that I haven’t written about before.

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Jesse Stommel (Jessifer) @jessifer.bsky.social · 22/05/2025

This piece is adapted from my afterword to a recent collection of essays about ungrading from the Journal of Cinema and Media Studies. quod.lib.umich.edu/j/jcms/teach...

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Jesse Stommel (Jessifer) @jessifer.bsky.social · 22/05/2025

"The work of ungrading is to push back on the culture of grades and quantitative assessment that reinforces hierarchies between students and teachers, while reducing both to a set of crude (often inscrutable) data points." www.jessestommel.com/the-practice...

jessestommel.com

The Practice of Ungrading

Ungrading inspects the inequities of schooling, asks hard questions of the structures of our schools, and offers a critique of the labor conditions for teachers at all levels of education.

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Jennie @unabridgedopinions.com · 20/05/2025

There are no shortcuts, to learning or to digging ourselves out of what feels like a very deep hole. But there are small steps. We do have choices!

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Jesse Stommel (Jessifer) @jessifer.bsky.social · 20/05/2025

“If education is going to prevail in its mission, it will require those who teach to lead the way. And I believe it can start with small things, like the choices you make when designing your next class, or the sentences you write on your syllabus…” seanmichaelmorris.ghost.io/the-pedagogy...

seanmichaelmorris.ghost.io

The Pedagogy We Practice

On May 20, 2025, I was invited to keynote the Spring Pedagogy Institute at Plymouth State University. The text of that keynote is below, followed by the slide presentation. It’s been awhile since I’v...

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Lisa Jacobson @lisawj.bsky.social · 10/05/2025

Part II of our JCMS teaching dossier on ungrading is here! Check out my intro, "Risky Business." Thanks, as ever, to my wonderful co-editor @jennblaylock.bsky.social! I'll shout out some of our terrific contributors in the comments below. quod.lib.umich.edu/j/jcms/teach... #ungrading #teaching

quod.lib.umich.edu

Journal of Cinema and Media Studies - TeachingmediaFind us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterFollow us on Instagram

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Jesse Stommel (Jessifer) @jessifer.bsky.social · 01/05/2025

“Rather than focusing on financial education on the ‘Big Three,’ this study suggests improving financial well-being by helping students access public benefits and other material supports.” educationnorthwest.org/publications...

educationnorthwest.org

Financial Knowledge and Basic Needs Insecurity Among Undergraduate Students

Can increasing financial knowledge among college students reduce basic needs insecurity? Explore our findings from nationally representative data.

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Brendan W. Sullivan @professorbrendan.bsky.social · 26/04/2025

Letter to the editor in today's NY Times advocates for gradeless education! She even links to relevant articles and research, including posts by @jessifer.bsky.social and @alfiekohn.bsky.social #edusky #ungrading www.nytimes.com/2025/04/26/o...

I’m being overly simplistic, of course, but so is Mr. Brooks. I would love to have a conversation with him about how students today feel pressured to spend more time pursuing that elusive A+ than perusing their local library. I would love to have a platform half the size of his so I could advocate gradeless education — so I could point to evidence that rating students on a letter scale ruins their passion for reading.

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Jesse Stommel (Jessifer) @jessifer.bsky.social · 11/04/2025

Yes, exactly. So much work to do. Sending support your way.

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Jesse Stommel (Jessifer) @jessifer.bsky.social · 11/04/2025

When 30% of students have accommodations requests, I think: 1) why are disability services units so underfunded? 2) can we make radical decisions to reimagine the pedagogy of our courses to meet the needs of all students? 3) what funding can we advocate for to support faculty development efforts?

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Jesse Stommel (Jessifer) @jessifer.bsky.social · 29/03/2025

Super excited to be a part of this collection. Lots of amazing folks and perspectives represented. Thanks to @lisawj.bsky.social and @jennblaylock.bsky.social and many many others who contributed! (My own piece comes out soon in part two.) #ungrading

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Jennifer Blaylock @jennblaylock.bsky.social · 28/03/2025

I am happy to announce the publication of the first part of a 2-part @jcmsjournal.bsky.social Teaching Media dossier on #ungrading that @lisawj.bsky.social and I co-edited. Please check out "Part I: Critical Reflections on Ungrading" here: quod.lib.umich.edu/j/jcms/teach... Part two coming soon!

quod.lib.umich.edu

Journal of Cinema and Media Studies - TeachingmediaFind us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterFollow us on Instagram

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Jason Mittell @jmittell.bsky.social · 28/03/2025

Check out this dossier of reflections on #ungrading from a range of Film & Media Studies faculty (including me) - thanks to @jennblaylock.bsky.social for co-editing! quod.lib.umich.edu/j/jcms/teach...

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Lisa Jacobson @lisawj.bsky.social · 28/03/2025

The wonderful @jennblaylock.bsky.social and I co-edited a 2-part Teaching Media Dossier for @jcmsjournal.bsky.social on #ungrading. "Part I: Critical Reflections on Ungrading" is now live, and we couldn't be prouder. Huge thanks to our contributors and editors! Look out for Part II soon! #teaching

quod.lib.umich.edu

Journal of Cinema and Media Studies - TeachingmediaFind us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterFollow us on Instagram

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Jess Calarco @jessicacalarco.com · 16/03/2025

Academia's culture of competition breeds this kind of cruelty. Too often, faculty who've suffered in these systems believe that suffering is what made them successful. So, they perpetuate that suffering with their own students, rather than seeing that success doesn't have to be wrought that way.

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Jesse Stommel (Jessifer) @jessifer.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

Yeah, three day workshop so full every day, but I should come back. I love Vancouver!

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Jesse Stommel (Jessifer) @jessifer.bsky.social · 06/02/2025

On Wall-E: It knows we're watching it now, 17 years later. It winks at our nostalgia. The movie knew it would become a relic of the past about the future. The cynicism and hopefulness remain intact. It still asks us to listen, even if we didn't the first time.

media.tenor.com

wall e from the movie wall e is standing on a rocky surface

ALT: wall e from the movie wall e is standing on a rocky surface

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