For the past couple of days I have been in an email dialogue with my son who is away at college. We have been exchanging ideas on how best to assess learning. He is strongly opposed to the end of semester cumulative final exam and feels that periodic end of unit tests, if written well, are a sufficient way to measure learning. In fear that he just does not want to study for the big final, I pushed back and made a rather weak argument that this rite of collegial passage is not all bad, that there is nothing wrong with expecting you to know in May, what was taught in January. He of course saw right through me, knowing that cramming for a test rarely leads to long term retention. So what then, is the best way to assess student learning at the end of a semester?
There are several thoughts on this, but when you peel back the instructional layer, you will find that the answer lies not in the type of test offered, but in how the curriculum is designed. A curriculum that builds on itself will, at the end of the semester, assess through application what really matters. A curriculum that is a series of vaguely connected units of information may be stuck with a final test that simply measures how well you recall information. I don’t for a minute want to dismiss the importance of information-prior knowledge is after all, a key ingredient in the learning recipe. But with technology, our students are less and less in need of being able to recall that Franklin Roosevelt was the president credited with the New Deal (Google will find you this answer in less than 10 seconds), and more in need of taking a position on how Social Security (Roosevelt’s brainchild) can survive. The cumulative test that asks a student to recall a fact that was covered three months ago is in many cases, no longer needed. Challenging students to apply what was learnt three months ago with an open access to technology is needed. So while I still stubbornly want my son to know what it is like to cram for a test at 2:00 A.M., I realize that his more pressing need is being able to efficiently and wisely use technology to find information so that he can apply it to solve a problem or to explain why something took place.
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It is that very stubbornness in all of us (educators and parents alike) that hinders our ability to modify our educational system. Can it be that our need for the next generation to experience what we did in a personal way keeps education from applying business-like practices? The same practices many believe we should apply. Catch-22?
There is no question (in my mind) that our frame of reference for school created when we were younger works to limit our abilty to see what is next and implement change. Like it or not, because of content delivered by computer, we are at a crossroads with education. Our challenge is to utilize computers as a way to free up time for people (our classroom teachers) to provide enrichment, higher order thinking and application opportunities.
Our son is currently facing, ironically, a history course entitled US History from 1876 to the present. With finals rapidly approaching, he is challenged with recalling last January’s information 4 month’s later like most college students. History by default is the recollection of persons, places, dates and details. Attention to these facts is paramount to success. To know that WWI happened, is just as important as knowing when, where and why it happened. He was experiencing difficulties with his recollection based purely on notes and memory. One solution was to use his typing speed which approaches 120 words per minute. He now types almost verbatim what the lecture was about with the speed of a court reporter. His exams are based solely on what was discussed in class, so this has a beneficial result when cramming for the big one in a few weeks. High school came easy to him, and he has had to rely on a rebirth of good old fashioned hard work, good study habits and resiliency to remain competitive in college.
I agree that the more pressing need is being able to use technology wisely and efficiently to find information needed, but it doesn’t end there. Skills are also needed to evaluate and choose reliable sources of information from the overwhelming amount available. Librarians have historically been the information specialists, who better to teach how to navigate successfully in the information/technology world?