assessment I

I thought I would have a day to relax today and it was starting to look like that. But then I went down to help a friend and it took the remainder of the day. There was some entertainment, and a meal. But I was hoping to clean up a little bit after my busy week and trip to the dorky assessment conference. Assessment. Donkey, donkey, certs – as a colleague calls it. I can’t think of anything more idiotic. I think we’re even converting one of the assessment gurus here at my place of business. The conference was nothing new, but a bit frightening. I did hear a few people talking about how they’re actually using it to help students – that’s the only way I can justify taking my time for this most useless and time consuming of tasks. It has the potential for too many serious problems. And that potential is all but certain to materialize. How can it not? If you put a gun on the wall in the first act, you must use it by the third. So sayeth Chekov. So the big question is to figure out how to have this monster live among us and not have it consume us. This requires serious thought and cooperation for subverting the master’s plan. More anon.