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New Realities, New Skills- new approaches to assessment in the 21st century -

Today's child is bewildered when he enters the 19th century environment that still characterizes the educational establishment where information is scarce but ordered and structured by fragmented, classified patterns subjects, and schedules.

(McLuhan 1967:222)Marshall McLuhan observed more than 40 years ago how children were bewildered when enteringtheir classrooms and finding information scarce. Today's students are growing up digital in the 21stcentury and are perhaps equally puzzled. In spite of this fact the existing education systems of the19th century in many instances still continue to persist and follow the same assessment practices.Why has there not been any radical shifts in assessment practices? Or have education indeed beentransformed to foster relevant skills? Dan Tapscott, author of

Wikinomics

(2006) and an advocate of mass collaboration, writes; "It's not what you know that counts anymore; it's what you can learn."(Tapscott 2009:127) in

Grown up digital - how the net generation is changing your world

(2009)and suggests that students' ability today to "think creatively, critically, and collaboratively" isessential in order to "respond to opportunities and challenges with speed, agility, and innovation"(Tapscott 2009:127). How can educators change their assessment practices to provide for new skillsfor new realities?In this essay I will investigate and discuss possible approaches to assessment practices for thedigital and connected era, which in many instances are defined by a chaotic infrastructure andtherefore both an overwhelming learning environment for teachers and students alike. Nevertheless,it is also marked by great opportunities for

connected

learning. Through presentation and followingdiscussions of existing research about learning and assessment in the light of

multiple intelligences

and

connectivism

I aim to conclude that we need to change from the teacher-centred pedagogyconfined to the classroom and the chalkboard to a more student-centred pedagogy reaching out of the classroom in order to equip the students for lifelong learning where discovery and collaborationare motivating factors for effective learning, which ideally should be the main objective of

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assessment.

Rethinking education

Researchers ranging from John Hattie to Paul Black and Dylan Wiliam all assert the fact thatschools need to change their assessment practices. As Professor John Hattie rhetorically observes;"The key issue is less how to change, but why we do not" (Hattie 2009:252). Traditional classroomshave usually been dominated by the lecturing form. Unfortunately, this practice appear to persisttoday. In the spring of 2007 professor in digital etnography, Michael Wesch, invited 200 students totell the world how they perceived their own education and by writing a script using collaborativewriting tools like Google Documents they helped Wesch creating a video which was posted onYouTube called "A Vision of Students Today".

The message broadcasted is "a stinging indictmentof the educational system" (Tapscott 2009:121) and it swiftly became a phenomenon and a widelydebated video in the blogosphere and among educators. Wesch observes in a blogpost thateducators identified with the message and thus helped "sparking a wide-ranging debate about theroles and responsibilities of teachers, students, and technology in the classroom" (Wesch 2008). Thestudy revealed information which demonstrated that we need to rethink learning and assessment.Tapscott argues that we simply need to shift our focus from the teacher to the student. Lesslecturing, and more interaction and facilitating learning for students (Tapscott 2009: 122).Assessment for learning is at the core of this shift. New realities call for new practices.In

Visible learning: a synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement

(2009) Hattieargues that it is what "teachers get the students to do in the class (...) rather than what the teacher,specifically, does" (ibid.:35). Teachers ought to involve students in their own teaching strategiesand planning in order to activate and motivate students to take interest and responsibility for their own learning. Effective assessment practices are related to effective teaching practices, and thestudents ought to take a more active role in their own education. This entails an active approach toassessment which is transparent and helpful to the student. The aim is to foster an awareness instudents in regards to good learning practices through self-assessment as well as peer assessment.After observing various teaching practices in his research Hattie points out that "(s)tudents must beactively involved in their learning, with a focus on multiple paths to problem solving." (ibid.:35)

http://mediatedcultures.net/ksudigg/?p=188

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Hattie noticed how interactions based upon questioning on a cognitive level during lessons wereeffective, but also the substantial role of the teacher with "considerable teacher planning," and "withstudents taking some responsibility for task definition" (ibid.:148). The shift from a less teacher-centred pedagogy to a more student-centred pedagogy does not mean

less

teacher-control, but infact a stronger focus on assessment as a tool for enhancing students' self-assessment skills, and howthey themselves can influence their own knowledge acquisition and thus develop their own self-assessment skills, which in essence is at the core of assessment for learning.In the recently published preamble of the Norwegian

Opplæringsloven

(Education Act, 2009)

it isstated that "Progressional assessment must be used as a tool in the learning process, as a basis for differentiated learning and help the student, trainee or candidate enhance his/her competence in thesubject." (2009:§3-2

Formålet med vurdering

)

Assessment, indeed, is a tool of measurement andfeedback to assist in equipping the student with skills to achieve and develop abilities to tackle"multiple paths to problem solving" (Hattie 2009:35). Wiliam presents five basic key strategies for assessment for learning, which include "finding out where the learner is", giving "feedback thatmoves the learner forward", be clear "about the success criteria" "activate students as teachingresources of one another" (peer assessment) and encourage "student self-assessment" (Wiliam).

If you are not implementing either of these strategies in your teaching as an educator you are not,according to Wiliam, doing

assessment for learning

. These five key strategies are acts of fosteringan awareness about the cognitive processes of learning in students themselves, and will beindispensable skills in their academic lives. Furthermore, the shift from

assessment of learning

assessment for learning

can be interpreted as a change in how we do not evaluate product as muchas we should assess process. Less emphasis on memorization and teaching for the test, but morefocus on developing skills such as self-assessment, critical abilities and collaboration appears to bea valid road to take. Professor in education, David Boud, stresses the importance of enabling"students to take responsibility for making judgements about their learning", and if we do not, "weare failing to equip them for learning in the future" (Boud 2009:8). We, as teachers and educators,need to enable students to develop skills for lifelong learning. Through meaningful teaching andassessment catering for different learners with different aptitudes and facilities we can emancipatenew learners and prepare them for

connected learning

in a demanding and often chaotic reality.

My translation

Assessment strategies

. Transcript and video to be found on Learning about Learning website. http://bit.ly/byXTfd