Assessments in the 21st Century

The following blog by Andrew Marcinek explains exactly what I think the 21st century learning should be.

Me and many of my peers have graduated through many layers of  education, from kindergarden to high schools and, finally, undergraduate programs. All of them had one thing in common. The "Mighty Test" as Andrew calls it. However, 21st century learning should be more than that. The amount of information available to students is astounding. 

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

The following paragraph by Andrew perfectly explains why students are still underperforming even with the was amount of information available to them right on their finger tips.

One of the reasons this is happening is because of the way we assess our students. Students are residing in a 20th century classroom equipped for the 21st century. Students are taking 19th and 20th century exams in a classroom that has an interactive white board and 1:1 laptop ratio. This is where our problem begins.

 The "Mighty Test" is given to students to assess the mastery. However, how to factor in external factors that might have affected the result of those tests?  How to factory in the difference in the abilities?

In the 21st century, students have access to laptops, cell phones, social medias, podcasts. All of these tools provide a new unique way to communicate and interact with the world. 

Henceforth, 21st century classroom and assessments should be utilizing these wonderful tools to enhance the learning experience for the students, let the students bring out the potential within them in their own terms. 

Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash

And that is exactly what Andrew has shown with "option 1" in his blog post. He utilizes the tools available to 21st century learner to create a new and unique way to assess students while adhering the taxonomy of the old.