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John Baglow

Goodbye to assessment and the curriculum?

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This was an interesting talk by Dave Cormier (Embracing Uncertainty: Rhizomatic learning in Formal Education 2012). What I liked:

  1. trust the teacher to measure effort, engagement and connections because this kind of learning is hard to measure formally.
  2. start without a curriculum:the community can be the curriculum
  3. we need to make students responsible for their own learning

But:

  1. we are a long way away from a situation where the teacher alone will be left to measure the learning process. The pressure for standardised qualifications is increasing, not decreasing
  2. having no formal curriculum might work with some students and professionals. If 'the best teaching prepares us for uncertainty', maybe rhizomatic learning can be an element of a course
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Paige Cuffe

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John, from your experience in your working context, do you think we should be stepping back from standardised assessment altogether?  Is this a question that can be given a sinlge answer applicable to all levels and ages of learning?