Read the story here: http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2008/s2341549.htm

 The theory behind this decision was that this would allow the school to assess skills that were relevant to the modern world. Rather than just sticking to 19^th century style pen and paper no-info-allowed-in-exams to test how good your memory is, this style of assessment aims to test students’ ability to find information, assess its reliability and cite it correctly.

This makes perfect sense. I remember a wonderful story about Henry Ford I once read. During the war, a Chicago newspaper published editorials calling Henry Ford (among other things) an ‘ignorant pacifist’. Ford objected and brought a suit for libel. The paper’s attorneys placed Ford on the stand to prove he was ignorant and fired off a rapid series of questions at him including things like ‘Who was Benedict Arnold?’, ‘How many soldiers did the British send over to America to put down the rebellion of 1776?’. Eventually Ford tired of this and basically replied (not exact sorry as from memory): ‘Look, if I really wanted to answer any of these foolish questions, I have a row of electric push-buttons on my desk and by pushing the right button I can summon to my aid men who can answer any question I might have. Why should I clutter up my mind with general knowledge when I have men around me who can supply any answer I need?’

And our ‘electric push buttons’ have come a long long way since Ford’s time.

Our assessment system in Australia needs a radical overhaul. Although the NSW Year 12 HSC exams do test more than just memory skills (you do have to be able to apply the information) there is still a large component of memorization necessary. So you may be a fabulous essay writer, but if you don’t have the content packed away in your head, if you haven’t memorized the dates and the quotes, then unfortunately your wonderful essay writing skills are all for naught.

The other issue teachers face is that the syllabus is packed to the rafters with content. It would be lovely to be able to go off on a tangent and explore more relevant skills but the reality is that in the senior years teachers have a duty of care to prepare students for what is essentially a set of university entrance examinations. It is a challenge to just complete the course in most subjects, much less do anything extra.

Something else that concerns me is that the university entrance mark is composed of 50% exam mark and 50% school based assessment. My understanding for this change (when I did the HSC it was 100% based on the final exam) is that it allows students who do not perform well in exams to showcase their abilities in other forms of assessment. It was also supposed to take the pressure off the one big final exam (although my observation is that all it has done is take the pressure that students used to feel at the end of Year 12 and spread it over the entire year so they are just as stressed as they were before but now it lasts all year long – but that is a topic for another day). There are guidelines in place to try and make sure that these assessments do not just become a series of additional exams – I would question how effective these guidelines really are. When we are so focused on the final exams it is difficult to make decisions (on what to teach, how to teach and how to assess) that are not influenced by the knowledge that students must sit these exams.

So hats off to PLC for being brave enough to take a risk and try something new. If the decision makers are not going to recognize the need for updating and innovation, then it is up to the grassroots to lead the way for change.

 I believe that true learning stems from curiosity. We want to find out something or know more about something.  That is why children have such an open mind to learning new things – they are curious about the world! Learning does not necessarily just mean acquiring knowledge – although it does include this – learning can be a new skill, a new attitude or opinion or a deeper understanding of someone else’s outlook. To me, deep meaningful learning has occurred when you make new neural connections that allow you to do or know or think something you did not know or could not do or think before.

The factor that I think is most important is motivation – wanting to learn something is the most powerful driver of success in learning. Other factors that come into play are your own personal experiences, attitudes and ability levels. While I believe anyone can learn anything, there are limitations probably based more on belief that anything else.

My current views of Technology-Mediated Learning:

Mediate is a funny word. To me it implies that technology is the intermediary between the
ttools and the learner, which isn’t really how I see it. I see technology-mediated learning as learning that is enhanced and enriched through the use of technological tools –  allowing you to experience something you would not have been able to without the technology or taking traditional methods of learning and making them more effective and efficient.

The best example of technology-mediated learning I have experienced so far is edublogs. By articulating my thoughts about what I was learning in a public forum it really helped me to clarify my thinking and points of view and looking back on my posts allowed me to make connections I had not previously recognized.

My current views of Teaching:

 I believe a teacher is a guide, we are there to help a learner make the most of the learning experience, we can provide assistance or direction when needed and support our students in their journey. But we need to remember it is their journey – not ours. I also believe a good teacher is one who can see things from lots of different viewpoints and explain things in many different ways. As an ex-Maths teacher I always felt that if a students didn’t understand a concept then I just hadn’t found a way to explain it yet that would make it ‘click’ for them.

With respect to technology, as the students sometimes know more than the teachers with respect to technological details, the role of the teacher is to suggest possible and interesting directions, ask stimulating and challenging questions so students reflect on their experiences and encourage the students to move beyond their comfort zone with technology.

Image Attributions:

Image: ‘La tentation est trop forte !‘
www.flickr.com/photos/11907589@N03/2545388425

Image: ‘Beautiful Tools‘
www.flickr.com/photos/49503154413@N01/100043823

Image: ‘meet me in the middle‘
www.flickr.com/photos/7321322@N06/1331168759