what happens when the "emergent learning artefact" is a behaviour, or an attitude, or something so ingrained that the artefact is the learner?
to me the idea of evidence in relation to emergent learning is problematic
it feels like a parent saying to an adolescent "so you fell in love, prove it"
I would venture that all learning involves a transformation of identity. As it is mostly gradual this is not sufficiently recognised. Take a moment to think about it in your own terms.
Then think about the absurdity of assessing that change against externally imposed criteria. Who are you working for when you do that? Whose agenda?
Education should provide frameworks for emergent learning, In fact a curriculum is precisely that, it sets a framework. The problem is the belief that only one emergent result is valid. And this belief stifles identities.
Ipsative assessment approaches are arguably the only truly democratic way to go about assessment. They are the only way to respect individual freedoms and identities. However they require a lot of rigour and reflection to work (let alone to answer the critiques of the usual social engineers) and our systems are not used to that. But it is valuable to try.
Assessment of learning, as the term (and the practice) is currently understood,implies a set of objectives that the teaching/learning process is designed to achieve.
Emergent learning will not be assessed, nor can it be assessed since its very nature implies an absence of clear objectives that drive the process.
Thats the easy answer. But in fact frameworks and contexts can be designed in such a way that learning or learnings can emerge, (the young chimp mentioned earlier may be a very interesting example of this, it would be useful to unpack intentionality there) and the space between emergent and planned learning can be conceived of as a slow cline. Different assessment mechanisms can be brought to bear, and instances of emergent learning can be placed under the light and examined, by the self and others.
Perhaps a useful idea here is ipsative assessment. Measurement is done against the benchmark of the self. Value emerges quite simply.
Best to all
Nick
to discriminate between 'well designed' Montessori materials, and (mere) 'learning objects'.
this has always seemed to me the key to the work we do, it is not a question of objects, but of carefully anticipated processes, that each require differing degrees of intevention and mediation
looking at it from this perspective, within contexts where we are charged with the responsibility of "making learning happen", emergent learning is just part of a range of mediation options, in which the mediator sets up a framework in which learning emerges, and then follows certain patterns in many cases...
it sounds churlish to say it, this is nothing new...we should be addressing the reasons why we have to keep saying it..
Interesting, the metaphor of the guild, but it turns us into medieval craftsmen working in a specific trade that has been handed down through the years. The term implies we would all do the same kinds of things, and innovation would mostly involve minor tweaks to our practice.
I think Scope is a broader church, a looser constellation of interests than the term "guild" implies. Many of us are not "tradesmen" or "craftsmen", we may be more analagous to "monks", if we want to use the medieval frame a little longer. But I don't think we are medieval, we may have shared interests in similar practices, but our "trade" is emerging as we go along. Guilds existed to protect a particular way of doing things, a shared and largely structured and homogenised practice. Scope exists to explore different ways of doing things, and extend our understandings.
Another key element to me is that guilds were always closed organisations. There were barriers to entry, someone had to apprentice you into the trade. Now you would pay, as you have to if you want to be fully involved in the e-learning guild. Scope isnt that. And I think it continues to be fascinating as you say because it is open.
"Open, Online Community" (interesting initials!!!) is what it says at the top of the page right now. I think that works just fine. Why fix something that isnt broken?