In traditionally assessed courses teachers teach students and students absorb knowledge hoping that key ideas will be identified and learnt for an examination perhaps two years or more in the future. Students, particularly the younger ones have difficulty in identifying priorities and are often demotivated by the lack of immediacy such a situation presents. Further, there is now greater emphasis on the acquisition of skills and understanding the processes which make things happen rather than simple factual knowledge. There needs to be a corresponding change in the way we assess and record achievement if we are to measure progress appropriately.
First we need to be able to identify the key learning points as the criteria for learning, so that they make sense to both teacher and student. The teacher then has targets and goals for teaching and the student has targets and goals for learning which both understand.
