Observation

I am attending an IT conference put on by my school board today.  So far, 2 of 3 sessions have been useful.  One session, however, was disappointing in that it was not what we’d hoped to learn about.  The general gist of the presentation was about students being involved in creating their own assessment.

I am sitting here reflecting on what exactly I am learning in the current session, realizing that we are all on a learning journey.  As adults in this professional learning workshop, we’ve been able to choose what to explore.  So we hope to maximize our learning as a result of choosing sessions that are part of our learning path.

When relating that to students choosing their own assessment or being involved in it at least, I wonder if that’s possible because they don’t have the ability to choose their learning path as we do.  They might choose certain elective courses and even what stream they want to follow, but those are so limited.

When you consider that most digital natives are used to choosing their information path because of the nature of the internet (hypertext links and all) and the speed at which they access all the information they need/want, is it any wonder they can’t sit still without being connected to some electronic device or feel they can decide the outcome of everything they put effort into?  I think it explains why my students seem to think they can negotiate every assignment I give them.