Assessment, but not as we know it... #EduTechAU

Eric Mazur's keynote presentation at the opening session of EduTech Australia was predictable, but welcome none the less. He spoke on the purposes of assessment and exposed the roots of the examination regime that many of us in schools, colleges and universities are oh so familiar with. Harvard physics professor Eric Mazur is well known for his rejection of traditional educational models, so his attack on assessment was anticipated by many of the large audience of several thousand educators, who nodded sagely, but probably won't be able to do much to change things. What do we assess for? he asked. For Mazur, assessment today is simply to give grades, for as he pointed out, students don't study to learn, they study to earn their grade. What is in a number? How can something as complex as learning be reduced to a single figure? Why doesn't assessment provide more to the learner than a grade? Because it was established at a time when knowledge was the main currency for education, and where employers demanded knowledgeable workers. That has changed now, and the new, transferrable skills employers demand go beyond the recounting of facts, but the education system has lagged behind, he argued.


Mazur then moved on to the subject of testing and cheating, declaring that it is not the student that is the problem, it is the assessment regime we impose that causes the issues. Testing exerts huge pressures on students, who are expected to perform flawlessly in high stakes examinations, which they endure in isolation. No wonder there is cheating, he argued, but we should not blame the students. Children who learn to tie their shoe laces, or feed themselves with a fork don't cheat, he pointed out. And neither do students who own their learning, and who see specific, daily purposes for it. Why can't assessment be made more relevant to the new requirements of learning in an age where students need to be problem solvers, inventive and creative. Assessment destroys creativity he declared, and again his audience of educators nodded sagely.

With the advent of wearable technology, he mused, will students soon be required to sit their tests naked? It was a throw away remark, and the audience laughed politely, but the underlying thought was quite serious. Should students now be allowed to enter the exam room with devices? (This is a question I also recently posed on this blog) After all, should we be testing their knowledge of facts, or should we be testing their ability to use these facts in particular contexts, such as problem solving and critical analysis of daily activities? Our grading and testing practices, said Mazur, are incompatible with creativity.

Generally, although Mazur's presentation was predictable, it was also a useful set up for three days of dialogue around the future of learning in all sectors - primary, secondary, tertiary, vocational and corporate learning are all represented at this event. EduTech Australia is a large event, probably the largest of its kind in the whole of Australasia. This Brisbane based conference would be a nightmare for traditional educators, but is a strong affirmation for those of the more progressive persuasion.

Photo by Steve Wheeler


Assessment, but not as we know it... #EduTechAU by Steve Wheeler was written in Brisbane, Australia and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.