Comment:

In the video: “ Assessment in the Old School”, students were tasked with challenge to read a teacher’s mind to come up with the correct answer. During an exam they had to access their long term memory to delve for previously stored knowledge. Application of this knowledge was rarely the objective of the assessment. As Bill Cope pointed out, rote exercises and ability determine a student’s proficiency in a given content area.

This trend can be overcome by having the students respond to investigatory challenges by conducting research, collecting and organizing data and information collected, creating an effective ways to demonstrate or present their finding, and to actively present their finding to peers and experts. They become problem solvers and producers of information, rather than simple efficient input / output devices of some old stale knowledge that fails to provide understanding, or practical, beneficial value to the student.

Update:

The aspect of big data in education that intrigues me is use the of multiple evaluators to assess,

Argument-defined processes involve nonformal reasoning (Walton, 2008) that allows

scope for a range of more or less plausible conclusions. (from Big Data)

The use of big data technology would support a process which provides feedback from many points of view. Novel ideas, not located in a computers database would be considered if the writer provides convincing evidentiary support. The Big Data article explains how current technology makes this type of assessment possible:

Using a single, cloud-located source, it is possible to manage what is other-wise a

difficult-to-administer process of anonymization, ran-domization, and simultaneous

review by multiple reviewers interacting simultaneously. Such spaces are also designed

for the collection of quantitative and qualitative data, distri-bution of feedback, and

synthesis of results. Reviews can also be moderated and aggregated from multiple perspectives—

peer, self, expert/teacher—and different reviewer ratings calibrated. Computer-mediated review

processes manage social complexity, including multiple reviews, multiple reviewer roles,

multiple review criteria, quantitative rating plus qualitative rating, and tracking progress via

version his-tories. As a consequence of these processes of machine mediation,

rigorous multiperspectival review

A student would submit their written work, a team of peers, instructors, and possibly others who would be able to evaluate the work based upon a rubric and their personal unique perspectives. The technology would be able to capture the evaluators’ scores, comments, and recommendations. The student would also be able to self-assess, make updates based upon recommendations and be reassessed based upon their willingness to accept and integrate the suggestions. The student would also may be able to dialog with evaluator to support their works or engage in deeper discussions related to their work or development as a writer. Technology breaks down limitations of space and time to allow for this type of interaction providing benefits for both the writer and evaluator. The effects therefore positively impact both the student being assessed and the evaluator. The evaluator gains the satisfaction of having a developmental influence of the student. The student sees the assessment as a pathway to progress skills and abilities.

Some of the effects would be great ownership for one’s work and products, since they will be both dynamic and permanent. They are examples of their continuous ability over time, since they are stored and hopefully owned by the producers. I would like to see a system where the student owns their works, not publishers, academic institutions, or their purveyors of assessments. Another effect would be the compilation of many types of assessments, projects, and other creations by the students forming a portfolio, solely owned by each individual student with assurances of the work and scores which are valid and produced by that individual. Such a portfolio would be part of that student academic brand. That branded portfolio could be used for college admission, program or project application, and ultimately job applications. The portfolio would become personal accomplishment identification.