EduTECH Day One: Eric Mazur - Assessment: The silent killer of learning
Eric Mazur is a physicist and educator from Harvard University Mazur kicked off with an anecdote about meeting a woman on a plane who developed flash cards...for phones. It was clear from the outset that this man doesn't value memorisation and rote learning - I think we are going to get on. He was quick to point out that memorisation is only about passing the test. After a few days only 35% of that information. Today he is arguing something I feel passionate about - our assessment practices are outmoded and outdated. Really only designed for ranking students. What is the purpose of assessment? He gave us 90 seconds to list purposes of assessment...I got: Checking understanding Monitoring progress Needs for future learning Others might value: Ranking students Personally really only value assessment FOR learning. His list: Will post when I have better wifi! He identifies a key issue. It is often inauthentic problem solving. Couldn't agree more! This is my problem with external...