My suggested explanation for your reported
comments, above, and your support for technological
solutions, is that you have an insight into the following:
Harness
The Power Of Technology!
The education system
needs to be able to track ALL learners from their first class
to the day they die.
A bold statement, but
why is this needed?
Because currently, teachers or employers
can only obtain, at best, a "snapshot" of an
individual’s interests, ability, aptitude or attitudes,
often expressed in subjective or vague terms, and in little
real detail.
I maintain that all parties with an
interest in education desperately need an objective,
comprehensive system of tracking. This tracking should
encompass the learning material(s) encountered, the teaching
given and the results of both formative and summative
assessment. Computer analysis of this data can be carried out
in order to provide a profile of the individual and an
insight to the long-term progress and trends for each
individual.
We need, in effect, to stop using the
blunderbus and adopt a sniper’s rifle when targeting
teaching. Using the computer analysis described above, it
should be possible for an intelligent computer programme to
plot a "critical path" (or paths) for future
learning for each individual. This means teaching more
specifically what the student needs to know - at the level at
which they need to know it, and perhaps within a variety of
contexts. The adoption of standardised and modular learning
and assessment systems, linked to a technological support
system of the type outlined above, would make this task
possible.
But How
Do We Obtain And Use Suitable Data?
Currently, a teacher's Scheme of Work,
Lesson Plans and registers are not used in the evaluation of
the learning outcome. This data is routinely discarded at the
end of the year, and yet it is a very valuable record of what
the learners (should) have experienced and learned. If
this data was routinely collected for each class, its use for
analytical purposes when evaluating the learning outcomes
could prove invaluable as it provides a benchmark from which
to begin assessing the learning that took place.
It is essential to know what the learner has seen and had access
to, and in what volume and over what time scale, in order to
judge whether they have sufficiently covered the learning
objectives and range required for each learning outcome.
Meta-Data of this type can be entered by individual teachers
via. their Scheme of Work, or following a weeks lesson(s).
The use of Computer Aided Learning (CAL) systems, could also
track the learning experience for each individual.
Formative assessment is essential
in all models of effective teaching and learning. The old
adage that:
'practice
makes perfect'
is incorrect. What is it should say is:
'practice,
the results of which are known, makes perfect'.
For all that, formative assessment is a
practice that is used less and less as time, pressure of work
and resources are cut. At the same time, the use of summative
assessment (often carried out repeatedly in vocational
training, and therefore of a semi-formative nature) has
increased greatly with the introduction of modular
programmes.
From this you can see
that assessment results are very important for targeting
future learning required (a deficiency model of
training/education). Computer
systems that "know" what teaching has been provided
and the learning material each student has accessed can,
based on this, deliver highly effective assessment, formative
or summative, with virtually no additional work burden on the
teaching staff.
By using
- the results of assessment, both
qualitative and quantitative, formative and
summative;
- details of the teaching given;
- a knowledge of the learning materials
accessed;
- a knowledge of prior learning
objectives achieved,
a computer system can make judgements
regarding the degree of learning that has taken place, and
the area(s) and degree of learning that has yet to be
accomplished.
By comparing learning
objectives with assessment results, and reviewing this
against the known long-term performance and prior knowledge
of the topic, it becomes possible to direct both the student
and the teacher to specific areas of required learning. What the student gets is a daily "action
today" directive, and ( perhaps ) a list of targeted
learning materials or activities from which to learn. What
the teacher gets is a detailed "lesson plan" directed
at individuals, groups or the whole group, depending upon
circumstances.
Formal summative
assessment should be conducted on-line, marked automatically,
the result recorded on a database and then passed back to the
student and tutor within seconds. The system can be very
secure and robust. Topics/material unsuitable for testing
on-line can be marked conventionally and the results entered
later. Optical Character Marking allows fast and accurate
data entry.
More importantly, such a system would
form the basis of all the systems described above.
Only with such a system in place could the
other elements of an integrated teaching support
system be generated.
Note:
Assessment of Prior Learning (APL) is a
tale of woe in education and training. The system described
above would eliminate APL completely, as all prior learning
would already be known AND accessible.
Who Else
Benefits?
I believe that all learners should be
identified individually by the use of a number. Using the
existing National Insurance Number, allocated to all, as a
way of identifying each learner in schools, training or FE/HE
would help to ensure that all data held was accurate -
regardless of age, name or career changes etc. As a result:
- Local authorities and institutions
could more easily track and monitor individual
student applications for courses, grants and other
requests for support. Foreign nationals would supply
some other suitable form of identification.
- Government gets "by the
hour" statistics and longitudinal studies of
trends, viewed from any perspective you desire.
- Employers, and other interested
parties, get on-line proof of qualifications and
abilities plus the ability to "target" for
recruitment. For government and major companies, a
detailed, demographically based, breakdown of skill
trends will help Human Resource Managers plan
long-term for their recruitment and training needs.
What Is
Needed?
The vision and will to create such a
system.
Yours sincerely,
Alan Cummings M.Sc B.Ed (Hons) Cert.Ed
L.C.G.
