tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6529647435872563341.post7981620085021281716..comments2023-07-05T06:55:53.577-04:00Comments on College Ready Writing: Peer-Driven Learning: I'm No Cathy DavidsonLee Skallerup Bessette, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12243750156552824701noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6529647435872563341.post-64641337329276082522011-09-13T16:21:16.994-04:002011-09-13T16:21:16.994-04:00I'm really interested by your conclusion, Lee:...I'm really interested by your conclusion, Lee: "I can't measure [classes "buzzing with excitement]. I'm not sure I'd want to."<br /><br />Like you, I'm experimenting with peer-driven curricula. Both of us are departing from Davidson's model: your students are f2f and non-elite; mine are in a hybrid setting and elite. <br /><br />I think both of us will benefit, Lee, from measuring results even if it's self-reporting solicited every three weeks or so. Given Cathy's passionate skepticism of rubrics that value quantification at the expense of narrative or other forms of qualitative assessment, I think she'd support diversifying what "counts" even if the conditions of assessment can't be replicated scientifically (or, more accurately, quasi-scientifically).<br /><br />You and I are asking students to stretch beyond their comfort zones and hoping the experience will deliver results that augment their learning in ways traditional teaching can't. In my own case, I'd love to believe I could race right out of the gate--zoom over my own learning curve. But that's not possible if you're making something new. For this reason I believe in gauging my own assessments (of engagement, process, and product) right along side those created by students. You and I are gathering data, Lee, but not systematically. People may scoff at that. But it's still 6 blind men describing different parts of the elephant. I resist assessment rubrics that would try to quantify learning before we've discovered the new shapes our pedagogy can make.Kathi Inman Berenshttp://kathiiberens.comnoreply@blogger.com