This week we have Dr David Baume. The topic is ‘teaching, learning and assessment now the floodgates are open’

Before printed books, the teacher was necessarily the fount of formal knowledge. Print, and then libraries, could have shifted the teacher from fount to gatekeeper, from the source of knowledge to the determiner of what was valid knowledge. But mainly it didn’t. We still lecture. Teachers’ control of assessment helps keep us in the fount / gatekeeper role.

Take a look at the curated Storify.

But a fast-growing proportion of the world’s fast-growing river of knowledge is now readily accessible to the fast-growing proportion of learners connected to the internet.

What does, could, should this dramatically wider accessibility of information mean for our roles as learners, teachers, course designers, learning technologists and developers? Do we try to keep control of the information flow? And / or do we help our students to drink from the waterfall but not drown under it? And, in either case, how?

Wednesday 7th June Questions

Q1 How far are teachers and librarians still gatekeepers to (valid) knowledge for students?

Q2 (Why) do we still value students (and teachers) knowing information?

Q3 What should we teach / tell, and what should we ask students to look up / find out?

Q4 What should students be able to do with the information they can so readily look up?

Q5 How should we and students find out whether and how well students can do – all your answers to Q4? That is, how should we assess?

Q6 It’s now 2027. Write extracts from a Student (S-) or Teacher (T-) diary, to show what HE is now like, use-of-knowledge-wise

David Baume PhD SFSEDA FHEA is an independent international higher education researcher, evaluator, consultant, staff and educational developer and writer. He was founding chair of the Staff and Educational Development Association (SEDA); a founder of the Heads of Educational Development Group (HEDG); and founding editor of the International Journal for Academic Development (IJAD).

He was previously a Director of the Centre for Higher Education Practice at the Open University, where he chaired the production of three courses on teaching in higher education.

He has co-edited three books on staff and educational development, and published some 60 papers, articles and reports on higher education teaching, assessment, evaluation, course design, portfolios and personal development planning. He reviews papers for several higher education journals.

David’s passion is helping the improvement of learning in higher education.

david@davidbaume.com | @David_Baume