คุณพรทิพย์ กาญจนนิยต ผอ.ฟุลไบรท์ ประเทศไทย ส่งเรื่องดีๆ มาแลกเปลี่ยนสม่ำเสมอ คราวนี้เป็นเรื่องสำคัญมากที่คนมหาวิทยาลัยควรสนใจ คือ เรื่องการวัดการเรียนรู้และการเรียนรู้ ที่เรามักจะไม่ได้เอาใจใส่เรื่องที่สำคัญยิ่งยวดเพราะทำยาก คือ เรื่องการวัดทักษะการคิดและการวัดองค์ความรู้ที่นักศึกษามี โปรดอ่านเองนะครับ
US News and World Report of March 12, 07 came up with a story on 'The Measure of Learning', which is interesting and again emphasizes on a few things we've heard over and over again ka.
Derek Bok, former Harvard president said 'Every college tries to do what it says in the brochures: To help students reach their full potential,.......but most schools don't know what theat means. Nor do they know who is failing to achieve that full potential.'
There are some arguments over the use of standardized tests, attempts to quantify what can't be quantified, and the focus on testing which is a wrong way to think about learning. These are what we need to discuss further in our higher education community as well ka.
The article pointed out that we need to assess thinking skills and the body of knowledge students have acquired....'how much smarter are students when they leave college than when they got there. ' The article stated that currently, there're 2 major tools that measure learning, which are 'The Collegiate Learning Assessment'-CLA, and 'The National Survey of Student Engagement-Nessie'.
CLA is administered to freshmen and again to seniors to measure their learning while on campus, focusing on critical thinking, analytical reasoning and writing. The sample questions are interesting ka...coming up with cases for students to prepare a memo addressing relevant issues.
Nessie 'measures how students spend their time. The survey asks how students spend their free time and what courses they take.' The feedback is given to schools for them to engage their students better ka. The sample questions cover what the students did/ contributed to their class discussions, what community services they participated, and whether they interacted with others of different races/ ethnicity, etc.
About ranking, Kevin Carey, a researcher at the nonpartisan think tank Education Sector said, 'U.S. News rankings heavily weight the wealth of a school through things like spending per student, rather than how much a student learns.' There was also a mentioning about how to make more schools interested in examining their own successes and shortcomings.....something that the U.S. is still suffering too ka.
The last one is what the students should know ka....critical thinking, logical reasoning, computation, at least one foreign language, appreciation for diverse cultures, and speaking and writing....as well as some lasting friendships. Anything new to you mai ka? All sound familiar but the tasks to achieve them la ka??
Have a productive day ka.
Porntip
ขอขอบคุณ ผอ. พรทิพย์ ที่กรุณาส่งเรื่องราวดีๆ ให้อย่างสม่ำเสมอครับ
วิจารณ์ พานิช
๑๒ ก.ค. ๕๐
