07 April 2006

Assessment day

Why is the educational system so stuck in political correctness and assessment-criteria box-ticking? I was happy to lay out my stall of maquettes, designs, trial pieces and notes -- because it's useful to have deadlines; that's the real world. But the tutors had to focus on the paperwork that is required of them. It's not their fault and indeed I sympathise; they must be champing at the bit over it as much as I am. Trouble is, it leaves no time for what I'd understood 'group feedback' to be -- a moderated space in which all of us could look at each other's work and react to it. What 'group feedback' appears to mean is how does the group perform as a group and what are the perimeters of a level playing field in which there are equal opportunities. Ergo, someone like me who can afford a second-hand kiln is obliquely disadvantaging those who can only come to the classes. Is this a penalty point? And decided point against anyone who can write academically because the essay we have to hand in next term is specially tailored so it is accessible to anyone dyslexic or partially sighted. So -- did I hear this correctly -- it can be partly drawn and it can be recorded rather than written. Chicago-Vancouver rules for the Bibliography? Not at WAES.

No comments: