Email me at jmayhew at ku dot edu
"The very existence of poetry should make us laugh. What is it all about? What is it for?"
--Kenneth Koch
“El subtítulo ‘Modelo para armar’ podría llevar a creer que las
diferentes partes del relato, separadas por blancos, se proponen como piezas permutables.”
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5 oct 2011
"criterion referenced assessment"
When I see a phrase like that I want to scream. If someone is working in education, they should not use soul-deadening social science jargon like that.
The source is this comment in a thread on how to grade papers. I don't know what "data-driven" might have meant in that context, but "criterion referenced", despite the horrible taste it leaves in the mouth, does express the concern in that thread that work be graded with reference to explicit criteria.
It's insulting to think we have no criteria unless we make them explicit. It's also insulting to have to spell out very obvious things, like what percentage of a grade will be for having margins the right width.
I don't have a dog in this fight, but clearly the point is not some insinuation that you have no criteria, but a fear that your criteria will be secret or unequal.
Of course, I understand that. My top secret criteria are coherence, intellectual rigor, good writing, etc... There is a culture conflict between those of us who think that students should absorb those through the process of education, and those who think everything should be spelled out in educationese. I fear I'm on the losing side, hence my peevish tone.
I trust that those are your criteria because I read about them all the time on your blogs. But one can imagine why an administrator might fear that some professor's criteria might include a student's Masonic key or well-turned ankle. (Or that Giampietro might ask why Piergiovanni scored higher.)
What's wrong with the good-old "data-driven ..."? Why do they have to change terms every ten years? Grrr...
ResponderEliminarThe source is this comment in a thread on how to grade papers. I don't know what "data-driven" might have meant in that context, but "criterion referenced", despite the horrible taste it leaves in the mouth, does express the concern in that thread that work be graded with reference to explicit criteria.
ResponderEliminarIt's insulting to think we have no criteria unless we make them explicit. It's also insulting to have to spell out very obvious things, like what percentage of a grade will be for having margins the right width.
ResponderEliminarI don't have a dog in this fight, but clearly the point is not some insinuation that you have no criteria, but a fear that your criteria will be secret or unequal.
ResponderEliminarOf course, I understand that. My top secret criteria are coherence, intellectual rigor, good writing, etc... There is a culture conflict between those of us who think that students should absorb those through the process of education, and those who think everything should be spelled out in educationese. I fear I'm on the losing side, hence my peevish tone.
ResponderEliminarI trust that those are your criteria because I read about them all the time on your blogs. But one can imagine why an administrator might fear that some professor's criteria might include a student's Masonic key or well-turned ankle. (Or that Giampietro might ask why Piergiovanni scored higher.)
ResponderEliminarThis expression should be used as a sleeping aid, irrespective of what it's supposed to mean or who uses it.
ResponderEliminar