Re: Focusing on the learning rather than on the teaching

["Carlos H. Méndez" <carmende@ufm.edu.gt>]

Ian Robson wrote:

>Surely what you are doing is measuring, not testing. (or rather you are
>asking the students to do the measuring).  There are two ways to use
>such measurements.
>
>Firstly, by investigating the change in these measurements you can
>monitor the capability of the SYSTEM to cope with the input variation in
>learning types of the students, and then use that information to improve
>the capability of the SYSTEM to create an all-embracing Learning
>environment.

Thank you for your comments. I think you put it in an interesting way. You
are right, I'm not appraising or making judgments to decide who is the best
or worst student in my class. Instead, with the  aid of the students, we are
measuring to understand the system we are all involve in and determining
changes that will increase the capability of the system. Students seem to
like this approach a lot and at the same time it helps them to learn SPK
concepts.

Myron Tribus mentioned that adults might recent the predictions. I had not
thought of this before, and I will look into to the idea more closely. But
again, I'm not trying to predict who is going to be the best or worst
student. Instead, I'm trying to predict who will need help and what type of
help he or she will need. Also it is important to take into account that I
don't average the different tests into a grade. With students we have proved
this approach to be very unfair as students come to my class with different
backgrounds and learn at different rates.

Thanks for the comments received so far, they have been very helpful.
Cheers,

Carlos Méndez
Invenia, S.A.
invenia@guate.net
PBX - (502) 336-9669
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"Yo no creo en la reencarnación. En mi vida anterior tampoco creia."
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"I don't believe in reincarnation. In my previous life I did not believed in
it  either."
Laszlo Mero