Digital Dialogues

What do you LOVE about learning?

'veI presented at 5 difference conferences and workshops over the last couple of  weeks - and collected some interesting data / responses to 2 questions:

1. What do you LOVE (or like) about learning?
2. What do you dislike (not hate - I didn't go there!) about learning?

Here are the collated responses:
1. What do you LOVE about learning?
new things, discussion, sharing ideas, discovery, different perspectives, sense of achievement, empowerment.

2. What do you dislike about learning?
time commitment (huge number of responses here), lack of interaction, rote learning, long texts, too much reading, feeling stupid, information overload, being spoon fed, over structured learning, tedious sessions.

What's missing??
No mention of assessments or assignments or competence?
Can we assume then that people don't consider learning in the same category as assessment?
Maybe I should have asked the additional questions: what do you love about assessment? and what do you dislike about assessment??

The other issue that glares out from these results: why, as designers of learning events, do we continue provide learning events that pretty much address all of the issues covered in by the dislikes?
Institutional boundaries?
Organisational metrics driven courses?
Legislative reporting commitments?
Actually - it beats me... perhaps it's just easier to keep doing what has been done before?
BUT - that's not a good excuse - and I won't be endorsing any learning designs I see reinforcing these strategies - so watch out, if I'm about to mark your assignments... there's a message here!

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Reframing Assessment #2

What is a deadline?

Considering the notion of deadlines in the context of the purpose of assessment almost seems an ironic contradiction... but let's just look at what a deadline is - or isn't:

What a deadline is not:

• it is NOT when you start your submission
• is NOT to be ignored
• you do NOT wait until after it's passed to request an extension
• you will NOT die if you do not submit on time (you may get penalised - but it's not fatal - probably!)

Who are deadlines for? A couple of perspectives:
Students:

• deadlines provide milestones to manage progress through subject matter,
• feedback to encourage,
• guidance for further development
• must be adhered to for your marks to be processed and submitted to the greater administrative systems

Lecturers:

• deadlines allow us to manage our time allocations / workloads (that's when assignments are submitted on time)
• provide the lecturer/educator some feedback on how students are grasping the content being studied
• is a compulsory part of the adminstration tasks

So - why do students not submit assignments on time?

• too busy? (doing.. something more interesting?)
• conflict between workloads - work versus studies
• lazy?
• not motivated?
• fear of failure? Or not achieving?
• don't understand the task clearly enough?
• not engaged with the content of the subject?
• don't care?

When was the last time you, as an educator, heard a student say how much they enjoyed an exam?
Although - I have had some students admit to really enjoy some of their projects that are assessable at the end of semester...
But - the final answer to the original question is clearly more complex than some of the tongue in cheek comments I've observed here! ;-)

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Reframing Assessment #1.1

Yet another provocation on assessment methods currently employed:

Learning Technologies 2008 - Call for papers

It's that time of year again....!
Time to submit a case study for the annual Learning Technologies conference in Mooloolaba, Queensland: 6 & 7 November, 2008.

This year's theme is Connections:

Technology has had an effect on how we live, how we communicate, and how we learn. The plethora of tools such as blogs, wikis, podcasts, social bookmarking, streaming, YouTube, Skype, Twitter, Facebook and many more.... form the basis of new approaches to, and means of, interacting with learners, each other, and information.

The Internet is not a network of computers it is a network of people! The new technologies are increasingly focused on connecting people. It's important for learners to create connections and develop their own networks - with other learners, with content, with teachers/mentors. It's also important for educators to create connections and develop their own networks.

We now recognise that learners want to be active participants and require a connection on a personal level. The development and provision of collaborative learning communities, communities of practice, meaningful learning opportunities and supportive learning environments engage learners and support their learning goals. Learners do not learn from technology, technology is a tool that enables knowledge construction, collaborations, cooperation and connections across the boundaries of space and time.

Full details on the call for papers .
Due - 10th June.

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Reframing Assessment #1

I'm doing some writing on/about assessment practices at the moment and relating it to some of my findings from my PhD research...
So rather than a 15k word essay I'm going to use the Tiny URL approach and condense the key issues into a series a posts.

To start the series, it feels appropriate to position my thoughts, in an attempt to outline where these posts may lead...
For those readers of this blog that also follow my social networking status (Facebook, Twitter etc) - you're already aware that I've been recently drowning in mounds of assignments and marking, marking, marking. How has this impacted on approach to assessment? Well... that's exactly why I'm compelled to start writing this series!

To get the ball rolling... this excerpt from David Boud and Nancy Falchikov (2007, p.3) provides a useful starting point:

"Assessment frames students' views of higher education. It is also a major concern and burden for those teaching them...
[ABB: yep - that's me!]

Assessment, rather than teaching, has a major influence on students' learning. It directs attention to what is important. It acts as an incentive for study.
[ABB: how many times do you hear the question: is this in the exam? Is this part of the assignment?]
Assessment also communicates to them what they can and cannot succeed in doing. For some it builds confidence for their future work; for others, it shows how inadequate they are as learners and undermines their confidence...

Assessment would be less of a problem if we could be assured that what occurs under the guise of assessment appropriately influenced student learning. However, when we look at the content and approaches used in the dominant assessment practices in higher education, we find that they are often focussed on students demonstrating current knowledge, generating material for grading and getting (often inadequate) feedback from teachers.... "

So, that's the starting point - my next posts will look at the What (is assessment)?, What is a deadline?, Why (assess)?, How (to re-frame our assessment practices)?, Designing assessment... and perhaps a few more in-between!
Any thoughts or feedback would be welcomed!

Boud, D. & Falchikov, N. 2007, Rethinking Assessment in Higher Education: Learning for the longer term, Routledge, London.

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