034/365 exam week is here again, originally uploaded by rosipaw.
Our school year is divided into 5 grading periods. After each period there is an exam week, during which students take one 3-hour exam a day with possible free days here and there. All students follow their individual study plan and schedule, so their exam weeks are also different.
For a teacher, the beginning of the exam week provides a welcome change to the daily routine. No lessons to teach and working days end at noon for a week, luxury! It’s easy to forget, though, that after the week there will be the piles and piles of papers to mark and grades to give with tight deadlines, all together with starting new courses again.
This picture tells you what the routine is before any exam starts – students have to leave their mobile phones on a desk in front of the classroom. All the shiny new technology abandoned on one side, while the students sit on the other side using nothing but the ancient paper-and-pencil method to demonstrate what they have learned (memorized?!).
I am still in two minds about this strict separation of the world of ubiquitous media and that of schooling… Although I do believe that new ways of assessment are urgently needed, I am not convinced that the mobile phone will be the answer.
There is a lot of talk here about assessment of learning and assessment for learning. In the latter the student also plays a role in assessment, reflecting on their learning, their strategies and setting goals.
Interesting, Susan. Finnish educators are discussing exactly the same topics in their online social networks. Must be a sign of the times in education!
Unless I’ve missed something, I don’t hear anything here about assessment for learning. Some talk about the need for change, but I don’t see anything on the horizon. Someone correct me if I’m wrong.
Sinikka, like you, I’m not sure how mobile/cell phones will make a difference, except that they indicate social connections, a lifestyle which could work in schools too I think. Just a couple of days ago I set up a ning for students (studying Year 12 literature). Within 24 hours the one question posted for discussion inspired a frenzy of discussion that continued late into the night. At one point, one of the boys said – hey, I just realised I’m doing homework! The discussion was much deeper than a typical class discussion, so maybe mobile phones just represent a different way of communicating, and we have to find ways to use technology to facilitate learning beyond that of pleasing the teacher and receiving good grades.