What if the process not product mattered more?
I remember one junior high math teacher above all others because she taught me to show my work.
She said that the process of getting to your answer was just as important as the answer at the end of the problem.
In that one exchange she showed me that the process was just as important as the product, and through following the process we could better arrive at the right product.
Just a little riff that comes to mind as I’ve been reading through a few related posts today around ePortfolios - or rather Personal Learning Environments. The first comes via Dave Tosh
then over to Aaron Campbell.
Are portfolios finished products or process markers or both? Can they coexist? How do you assess growth, or a person in development? Aren’t most schools geared to measure success or failure? The “in-between” or the journey seems to matter little.
And even if a school valued the journey in assessment, how would you arrive at a “this is good development” or “this is bad?” Can you grade that sort of thing?
I’m all for the Personal Learning Environment. I’m working to employ them where I work…I just wonder how the school and the portfolio should work together.
