Writing wks 1&2:
I think the theme of this writing for me was intuition (techer and student?) and how it applies to assesment. I was speaking with some people in my improv group and they were asking how drama classes are assesed. Having gone to film school, I am familiar with the way creative fields are assessed (in the contexts I've been exposed to). Because, students in creative fields are generally self motivated, they don't need assemssment events to act as extrinsic motivation. Also, because creative fields usually involve artifacts that the students create, the teacher is constantly monitoring progress through exposure to (and ellicitation from) student works.
Dan I'm not so sure that all creative students' motivation is intrinsic. I'm thinking of some folks who might design for video games that are motivated by money, creative experience for others, recognition from a community, some more extrinsic factors.
Deb Kim: I would also say that assessment is perceived differently in informal learning spaces. A scholar, Leona Schauble and her colleagues explore the design of informal learning spaces and discusses how informal learning spaces are different from formal more traditional schooling settings in the way assessment is perceived and used. In the formal setting it is often used to rank individuals and compare their performance and to motivate their participation as you describe. However, Schauble et al, found that in informal settings, including youth theater groups, science camps, youth zines, etc. Assessment is rather used by the facilitators/youth leaders to improve the program, activity etc, rather than ways to judge individuals, better motivate them and rank them. So, interesting reflection, but I think that in many ways learning and assessment can be connected in different ways than just at the end and in ways to egg on motivation and participation.
Scott You caught me -- I made a broad generalization. By "self-motivated" I wasn't necessarily referring to intrinsic motivation -- more that they come to programs with motivation that doesn't have to be applied by the school.
I really enjoyed The Rethinking Transfer reading and its emphasis on the Preperation for Future Learning model of transfer rather than the tradtional situation specific model (I foget what that was called). To me, this puts a focus on how intution is developed. If my understanding is correct, they we're basically saying that transfer should be judged to the degree in which one learning event frames a future learning event. In some ways it speaks of the development of expertice and ability to recognize meaningful chunks of information (relating to chapter 3 of the NAP book). I like this model because it is dynamic.
Chapter 7 was a little disconcerting for me. (If my understanding is correct) I can understand how they are interested in technology because it offers a much more dynamic environment for assessment but the heavy emphasis on technology reading cognitive models ignores the helpfulness of teacher intuition.