Assessment, Learning & Teaching Reflections |
Wednesday 25 January, 2006
An old colleague of mine used to say, ‘I know a third when I see it and I know a first, but I’m not too sure about what is in between’. We can’t get away with that view of assessment these days! The same old colleague used say that the best way of building up a relationship with the students was to invite them round for sherry. ‘After two sherries’ he said ‘they know where I stand, and I can see what they are up to’. Sadly Leeds Met does not have wine cellars and anyway, alcohol doesn’t suit everyone culturally.
But there was something to that practice. Intuitively my colleague was building up a learning relationship in which expectations were set out, and from which trust could develop. One way of achieving such a relationship today is to establish a learning compact with each new group of students. This sounds mechanistic, but it could be developed creatively, and actually empowers both students and staff, as the basis of mutual challenge and support. Such a compact could provide the basis of shared ethical meaning and practice. I would be keen to hear from anyone who has developed such an arrangement.
Simon Robinson
Running stream professor
School of Applied Global Ethics
