Multiple Methods of Assessment

WE MAY LEARN ABOUT:

·      Phenomena (things that can be observed or experienced) – plants [botany]; people’s behaviour [psychology, sociology]; historical events [history]; bridges or rockets [engineering]; literature [English, drama], etc.  This results in a change in our KNOWING.

·      Ideas (interpretive perspectives that explain or predict) – evolution [biology]; Marxism [history, economics, politics], the Romantic style [Humanities] This results in THINKING: critical, creative, and practical thinking

·      Self (understand selves better, want to change in some way – through content or approach) HUMAN DIMENSION

·      Others (interaction with others: how to understand others, how to communicate better, how to work with others on a common task)  HUMAN DIMENSION

·      Learning Itself (perform better as a student, how a particular subject pursues knowledge {scientific method}, how to keep on learning after a course is over, what one can or should learn next) – capability for long-term continuation of learning – LIFELONG LEARNING

Thinking about Thinking [Metacognition]  Thinking about our thinking to improve our thinking

WE MAY THINK OF LEARNING AS A CHANGE IN:

·      Knowing: what we understand and remember

·      Reasoning: applying and using ideas and information: practical thinking [problem solving and decision making]; critical thinking [analyzing & evaluating - assessing the relative merits of different idea, products, or solutions to a problem; creative thinking [imagining & creating something new]

·      Connecting: within and across subject disciplines and between one’s educational life, profession or work life, and/or personal life.

·      Doing: a physical activity, a distinct skill, a complex integrated task

·      Caring: way we feel or degree to which we value something – positively, negatively, or just differently – about phenomena, ideas, themselves, others, or learning

·      Learning Itself:  how we go about learning itself; how we approach learning, learning to learn

·      Thinking about our thinking [metacognition]: examining our thinking to see what went well, what could go better, and how.

KINDS OF SIGNIFICANCE:

Foundational: basic knowledge that we understand and remember about a subject

Application:  taking foundational knowledge and learning how to think about issues with critical, creative, and practical thinking or how to do something with it.

Integration:  integrating subjects or realms of their lives.

Human Dimension:  better understand selves or how to interact with others either because of the content or process used or both

Motivation/Caring:  change in way we feel about something: the subject, ourselves, learning, etc.  When we care about something, than and only then do we have the energy necessary to learn about it in a lasting way.  Without this, little of significance happens.

Generativity: learning how to learn; generating the capacity for lifelong learning