But what about the colleges?

This question comes up a lot whenever people suggest making changes to K-12 education. I hear it at conferences and professional development sessions. Versions of this question even show up on Twitter:

@alicekeeler @evolute99 love the no he idea. How do you justify it to colleagues and admins who say you're not preparing them for college?

— apushreview.com (@apush_review) July 18, 2015

As the above example shows, the question is often in response to taking on some sacred cow in education, like eliminating homework.

The question was asked multiple times this past week at the LMF4PD Conference. Rick Wormeli, the featured speaker the opening day, challenged many of our traditional grading practices (like averaging zeros and giving only partial credit for re-takes) and this made some of the teachers uncomfortable. I understood their concerns given the current emphasis on ensuring that students are "career and college ready," but I wanted to reassure them that colleges (and more importantly the teachers' kids) would be just fine if they transitioned from preparing students to empowering learners. So along with Dr. Clark Danderson from Aquinas College, we held an edcamp session on the third day of the conference to address what colleges and universities expect from learners.

Skills Ss need to be successful in college? Collaboration problem solving critical thinking! @delta_dc #LMF4PD pic.twitter.com/Hivyr4s5Lg

— Karla Akins (@kakins4) July 16, 2015

First, not all institutes of higher education are the same. I talked about how when my own kids were considering college, I discussed the difference between a university that focuses on research and one that views teaching as its primary purpose. High school seniors interested in attending University X need to know how to do research into what they can expect from a university's teachers and courses.

Second, even within a university, different departments might have very different philosophies of education. For example, my department is committed to keeping class-sizes manageable in order to make lessons more interactive and alternative assessments, like portfolios, doable. Other departments at GVSU continue to to use large lectures and multiple-choice tests (no judgement - really). Again, it's up to the prospective learners to do the research.

My last point was that even if learners find themselves in college classrooms using traditional methods of instruction or assessment, those that have learned to self-assess and adjust will find ways to be successful. On the other hand, those that have only been prepared for this "worst case scenario" (the traditional approach) will struggle at universities that expect more than "consume and regurgitate" from their scholars. Unfortunately, we see that happening a lot in our department. Students struggle in our courses and with our major because they are waiting to consume, and we want them to construct.

Now, when it comes to being career ready ...

How will you make 100?

I heard a math professor share this assessment approach today and wanted to pass it along. The assessment is a take-home test made up of 60 or more questions. Some of the questions are worth five points - fairly simple straightforward items. Then there are the fifty pointers that are open-ended monsters. And all sorts of problems in-between worth points corresponding to their difficulty. 

100 Sculpture

Students have two weeks to complete the test. They can pick to submit any combination of problems that add up to 100 points. One might think that the students would select the easier problems, but the professor has found that given the choice (and the time) the students pick challenging problems. The mere choosing of items provides assessment information to the professor.

I love this idea and want to try it in my classes next semester - maybe  in concert with standards-based grading. Alternative assessment approaches are always of interest to me. And throw in the element of choice - I'm sold.

Has anyone else heard of or tried this assessment approach. I would love to know your thoughts or experiences. Thank you in advance for your participation.

What did you think of Sir Ken?

A former student asked me this earlier today. You see, Sir Ken Robinson visited GVSU this week (news story) and shared his message about the need for creativity to be infused in education - not just something added on. I told the student something like, "He was certainly inspiring. I left feeling passionate about being an educator and affirmed in my efforts to improve teaching."

(Watch this and see if you don't agree)

"But," I added, "I'm still thinking about how to implement the ideas he shared. What does it look like?"

The student responded, "You always ask that."

My colleague, John Golden, was also at the presentation and wrote this recap. He had the same question (no surprise for anyone who knows us). John focused on education in general, however, and I want to focus on a specific example Sir Ken gave about mathematics. There's currently no transcript or video of the complete talk so some of this is based on memory and notes which admittedly are a product of my own filter. So be forewarned.

Sir Ken talked about asking a math professor in London how the math department evaluated doctoral theses. The math professor explained that the math, obviously needed to be correct, but that this was not usually a problem. So it boiled down to two things. First, the work was something original that contributed to the current knowledge-base. And second, it was aesthetically pleasing. The math professor explained that math was a way of representing the beauty and truth of the world and that a dissertation needed to be able to demonstrate that connection. (If anyone remembers this differently, I'd be happy to make the necessary adjustments. Please leave your memories in the comments.)

As I thought about these requirements, it became clear that K-12 schools often focus on the initial point, correct mathematics, while ignoring originality and aesthetics. So what would this look like if we also incorporate Sir Ken's admonition that the later elements, associated with creativity, are not added on after the fact? I think standards-based assessments and problem finding activities are two sources to consider as ways to address these expectations, but I am open to other. What do you think?