Moving Away From Traditional Cultures of Learning

How do we get students to focus on learning over getting good grades?

This question stuck out the most to me during lecture this past week.

Our textbook Interweaving Curriculum and Classroom Assessment, makes the statement that “Once students (and their parents) and teachers adopt a learning culture, as opposed to a mark-obsessed culture, students will put in effort to improve performance” (Drake, Kolohon, & Reid, 2014). In theory, I agree with this statement. If students become more invested in WHAT they are learning, then students will want to learn MORE. This desire to continually build knowledge in today’s world helps students to be more involved citizens prepared with 21^st Century skills; effectively reaching the “goal” of education.

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 The implementation of this learning culture however can be an intimidating task. Students today, including myself (as well as teachers), grew up in an environment that focussed on grades. This accountability and need for standardization is significantly present in a society with increased technological developments changing our perceptions of what “knowledge” is. Students, like myself, learn what they THINK the teacher WANTS them to know, and do not actively challenge ideas presented by teachers because all they want to know is how to get a good grade. The value of student learning today is measured not in the effort put forward or the process, but in intelligence and talent. Assessment is thus OF learning and not FOR learning.

Here is the video in class that really made me think about grade praising vs. effort praising:

Thinking back to the time I was in elementary school and high school, I can see that this happened quite a lot. I always listened to my teachers and did well on tests and assignments. I always got A’s and usually did this with minimal effort.

Now that this notion of a “learning culture” has been brought to my attention, I can see how the mark-obsessed culture may have hindered my actual learning. If I was motivated through feedback that acknowledged my efforts and made areas of improvements easier to see, then I might have applied myself to my schoolwork in a more fulfilling way.

Why does this matter if students are just going to be put back into this traditional mark-obsessed culture once they move on to post-secondary education?

This is a question I seem to be struggling with a lot. It is hard to imagine that students can benefit in a culture of learning so different from what they will face in post-secondary life. Furthermore, implementing a learning culture so different from what is already embedded within their personal story and cultural lenses will likely be welcomed with resistance. I can even see this happening within our own class right now.

Will the project-based learning and collaborative assessment techniques they will be accustomed to prepare them for the independent study and the tight curriculum of the post-secondary world?

I believe that it can. From what I have heard in lecture and read in Interweaving Curriculum and Classroom Assessment it is clear that the desire to self-improve and self-assess can promote good study, research, and critical thinking techniques that can allow students to adapt to different types of curriculum situations. This desire to continually improve performance can enhance the student’s desire to learn THROUGHOUT their schooling career and later in life. Learning thus becomes personalized and student driven.

It is the notion of assessment AS learning instead of assessment OF learning that can foster a positive change in student’s lives. It is assessment AS learning that can align the processes of curriculum, instruction and assessment to allow students to effectively KNOW, DO and BE.

“Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.” – John Dewey

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Reference:

Drake, S. M., Kolohon, M., & Reid, J. L. (2014). Interweaving Curriculum and Classroom Assessment: Engaging the 21st-Century Learner. Don Mills, Canada: Oxford University Press.