A good question. What first comes to my mind are the higher thinking skills. We already have skills in asking questions that test these skills – no real problem there.
Calculative processes that require logical mathematical thinking can likewise be Google safe, as it were.
Literary skills too, though the examiner would have to be able to spot plagiarism if and when it occurs – a job that’s not as difficult as it may first seem. The examiner has to also have a deal of higher thinking skills to spot it.
Content recall, of particularly structured knowledge, cannot be easily tested. But then, the argument might be that there is no need for this (content) to be memorised. Folly. I think that there is a need for at least some knowledge of the structure of certain content.
I cite the standard example of the Periodic Table of the Elements in Chemistry. A chemist should be knowledgable of the form and structure of this table – should understand the significance of the data that may appear there, and be able to apply those. Any valid test involving higher thinking using such data will probably sort this one out.
So the real problem here is convincing the learner in study that there IS a need to study content (data), for simply knowing where to find the data during a test may not be useful if, once located, it is not understood.
Tena koe Scott!
A good question. What first comes to my mind are the higher thinking skills. We already have skills in asking questions that test these skills – no real problem there.
Calculative processes that require logical mathematical thinking can likewise be Google safe, as it were.
Literary skills too, though the examiner would have to be able to spot plagiarism if and when it occurs – a job that’s not as difficult as it may first seem. The examiner has to also have a deal of higher thinking skills to spot it.
Content recall, of particularly structured knowledge, cannot be easily tested. But then, the argument might be that there is no need for this (content) to be memorised. Folly. I think that there is a need for at least some knowledge of the structure of certain content.
I cite the standard example of the Periodic Table of the Elements in Chemistry. A chemist should be knowledgable of the form and structure of this table – should understand the significance of the data that may appear there, and be able to apply those. Any valid test involving higher thinking using such data will probably sort this one out.
So the real problem here is convincing the learner in study that there IS a need to study content (data), for simply knowing where to find the data during a test may not be useful if, once located, it is not understood.
Ka kite
from Middle-earth