As the academic year in schools and colleges is drawing to a close, there is some introspection among teachers about the way in which assessment continues to be implemented at different levels and whether it really reflects the learning methods, or even the aims of young learners today.
Traditionally, exams have been the only trusted way of giving out marks and grades. This begins at kindergarten, where toddlers are given smileys or stickers as recognition for completing tasks like identifying colours or numbers.
The reward and implied punishment formula suggests that knowledge on its own is important, and the only way to sieve the wheat from the chaff.
This system continues through secondary and tertiary education. The much feared final exams stresses students into insomnia, depression and other forms of mental health issues which, at least now, get to be talked about, unlike earlier when they remained taboo.
What this form of assessment does not consider is the changing face of the learner, and indeed, even the purpose of learning today.
Information per se is not at a premium anymore.
Everybody has access to facts, dates, definitions and formulae at the end of their palm, on their smart phones. It doesn’t even take a minute to know the historical dates of a war, or the chemical symbol for water. And yet, this is what we continue to demand students to remember and memorise.
What is more important today is what we do with the information we have. The application of a historical date, for example, to other events at that time in different parts of the world and the way they all, together, contributed to a larger event would help learners understand the complex connections in the world.
The Open University, UK, defines innovative assessment as 'something that enables the learner to transfer knowledge, skills, competencies and dispositions between learning and assessment.'
It suggests that, even between 2015 and 2020, the skills required in the workplace have shifted from people management and decision making to critical thinking, flexibility, and service orientation.
This suggests that traditional ways of assessing through repeatedly asking for retrieval of information is no longer enough. Whether continuous (formative) or end-of-term (summative), exams still test facts and data, both of which can be easily accessed in the real world without much trouble.
The challenge today is what to do with the surfeit of information we have and how this information could be used. The application of an idea or a theory is more important than knowing the theory. So is being able to work together to create new ways of understanding.
We all know that education is more impactful when done through doing, not passive learning.
Yet, traditional methods of assessment continue to be used to test learners on what they have learnt, not what they can do with what they have learnt.
Collaboration, application through transference and developing competencies, not knowledge per se, will help to prepare learners for their future.
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