The Perfect Assessment System and AI Tutors... do they exist? Should they?
Become a better teacher with Substack #9
✨ I learn a lot from my colleagues and I’m sharing that here on Substack through my newsletter, How to be a Teacher. However, this post is all about other educators/writers and how you can learn from their wisdom.
Two of the best
What’s the biggest thing holding teachers back at the moment? It could be many things. But I believe workload burdens us all more than ever.
Below are two posts on the topic of assessment and workload that I think should be read far and wide. As always, click the titles to find the articles themselves and click the authors for more of their excellent work.
There’s a reason these two are both on my recommendations list.
#1 Designing the perfect assessment system, part 3
()Daisy leads a brilliant marking system called No More Marking. I can speak of their innovative assessment systems from experience - the school I work at utilise their Comparative Judgement system and have adopted a number of Daisy’s principles. And, I have to say, they work; I take almost no marking home through the year (with the exception of the Year 6 writing moderation at the end of the year).
For that alone, every teacher should read this and more of her work because there’s so much for us to learn.
This thought-provoking post starts with an exploration into VAR, the review system used by football referees, and the similarities it shares with policy making in the education world. Brilliant analogy. If you have any thoughts on the ‘perfect assessment system’, you MUST give this a read and share what you think with Daisy.
And, if you are sick to death of the time you spend assessing work and are dreaming of a better way, all the more reason for you to explore her work.
[Like VAR] It is very easy to end up with assessment questions that are the worst of both worlds: questions that give up reliability to achieve authenticity, and end up with neither.
This kind of thinking should guide every decision we make in designing the perfect assessment system.
Parts 1 and 2 can also be found below:
#2 “Back in my day, teachers used to grade essays…”
()If you’ve not yet developed an opinion on AI in education, which rock have you been living under exactly?
I don’t seem to be able to move without stubbing my toe on an article on this topic lately. And, almost every time I do, I feel like I learn something new or find my outlook on the matter slightly altered. Well, it’s happened again.
But this piece by
solidifies my misgivings about AI once and for all.I dare you to challenge his attitude to marking. I dare you to say AI should be doing it. I dare you to sit back and say you shouldn’t be spending so much time on it.
Because, if you read this, I’d count you very brave (or very foolish) if you do.
Yes, marking takes time, but, as Martin puts it:
…that authentic feedback from teacher-to-student matters, especially over the course of a school year. Thirteen years into teaching high school English and every bone in my body believes that the time I’ve spent reading student essays has been worth it.
Yes, marking takes time.
Time spent getting to know students. Time building relationships with them. Time showing how much you care.
That’s what students need - not a bloody AI tutor.
Where do you stand?
A wonderful quote by Dr Ian Malcolm in Jurassic Park springs to mind after reading both of these posts:
Dr. Ian Malcolm: Yeah, yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn't stop to think if they should.
What do you think? Let me know in the comments because I am fascinated to hear what every educator thinks about workload, assessments and AI. Truly, I am.
I love giving live feedback and the realisation with a student that moves them on is brilliant. Workload- I spend 40% (ish) of my time doing admin -trips, reports, reviews and general paperwork, this makes the workload huge! Great post again.
AI and good teaching have very little in common. I fear the persistent promotion of technological solutions to problems in teaching. There may well come a time when the tech is more important than the teacher.