Comments on: Going To Mobile During Exams? Yes for One Australia School

By: What’s a test when you have a Pocket Encyclopedia? Literally.

What’s a test when you have a Pocket Encyclopedia? Literally. — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 14:02:11 +0000

[...] if I had a mobile device? In fact, why should I not have a mobile device available to me, as some Australian schools are now allowing? In terms of authentic tasks (see previous post), is remembering specific dates, facts, or [...]

By: John Larkin

John Larkin — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 11:07:21 +0000

The news article in the Sydney Morning Herald regarding the task generated a number of interesting repsonses, for and against. Two letters stood out from among the rest. They were writen by students from the school, for and against. Scroll down through the respective letters page to read the thoughts of Kimberley Hew-Low and Lillian Specker.

By: Alan Levine aka CogDog

Alan Levine aka CogDog — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 14:20:48 +0000

@Matthew Allen: Absolutely. And I’d also propose that the sky is blue.

By: Matthew Allen

Matthew Allen — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 13:48:13 +0000

Surely assessment needs to be appropriate to what is being assessed and to who is being assessed and should be done as well as it can be within the eternal limits of available resources.

We need to strive to be inclusive so that none are disadvantaged (just disadvantaging a different group is no better – in fact worse as it sets you up as judge and jury).

We need a much more holistic approach to accessible learning, teaching and assessment.

By: Andre Malan

Andre Malan — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 15:12:59 +0000

Could this be the start of the revolution? Could school start to become more like the real world. In real world academia there are basically two ways to cheat, plagiarism and fudging results. That is what school should be about.

Also, being able to develop a strong network within your field is a critical skill that school doesn’t teach. Maybe this will change it. Maybe the kid that says “I don’t have any friends” deserves to do worse than the kid who says “I can’t commit these large chunks of data to memory”.

I feel like the modern idea of cheating has a lot to do with assessment. You can’t have an open textbook, or Google-friendly multiple-choice exam. But, multiple-choice exams require a few seconds each to grade, whereas the approach that you outlined above takes a lot more time to grade (and thus is really scary to educators).