I Meant What I Said and I Said What I Meant

I attended Gardner Campbell’s talk regarding assessment of these 21st century tools in a classroom setting.

The main questions he sought answers for were:
What indicates that deep learning is taking place?
How can we craft thoughtful qualitative and quantitative assessments without breaking the bank?
Can students be involved in crafting their own assessments of learning?

Mr. Campbell first began the talk by discussing some of the history of the assessment of learning. Originally it was done in a setting in which oral examinations were given in a public setting and everyone was allowed and encouraged to ask questions of the examinee. This is similar to what is done for graduate school defenses, and is still practiced in Italy. Due to space and time constraints, this is no longer a viable testing situation and written alternatives were adopted. These examinations are no longer the social events they once were.

As the way that we teach changes, so does the way we assess learning. In the wake of standardized testing, can we properly assess learning versus a deeper understanding? What are we, as teachers, working to produce- rote test takers or students that are capable of more critical thinking? I’d argue to say that in many cases, we’re producing the latter and hoping that we can interest them into looking deeper. With the advent of Web 2.0, can we move more toward the deeper understanding side of the continuum? I’m hesitant but hopeful that the answer to this is yes. Because of the “Read and Write Web” we can move back into the space where the public can comment and question what is “correct” and can challenge the students to look deeper into the work they are producing. It will no longer suffice just to know something, but will instead focus on the why and how behind that something.

Mr. Campbell also talks about how Web 2.0 can allow for greater creativity and cross-domain learning. Allowing students to broaden their horizon and turn a subject they may not be particularly fond of and modify it slightly into something that interests them will allow for students to be more willing to learn. I’m interested in applying this sort of idea to my general chemistry class this upcoming year. I’d love for the students to each be assigned an element from the periodic table and use their creativity to write a fictional story, produce a piece of artwork, write an essay, or do an experiment that can be documented using an online blog.

With all of this new technology, the main question that is broached is how do we prove this learning is taking place? Campbell suggests that we use the students and allow them to assess the conditions of learning. I think this is a very good, yet challenging, idea. I’m sure after a few attempts, a good grading scale will come about, but more often than not, my students are scared to “grade” each other because they’ve never had the opportunity to assess one another. I’m hopeful to see how this all turns out!