Comments on: LTGR Ep. #41 - “An Honest Assessment” http://www.ltgreenroom.org/episodes/55 The LT Green Room is a podcast for Renewal, Retooling and Conversations about Learning. It is co-hosted by Susan Manning and Dan Balzer and its show topics are often drawn from members of LearningTimes.org, a free online community of education and training professionals from across the globe. The LT Green Room gives listeners (and ourselves) an opportunity to reflect on what they're doing behind the scene that results in an effective learning experience. Thu, 16 Oct 2008 00:36:21 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.4 by: Scott Johson http://www.ltgreenroom.org/episodes/55#comment-38932 Fri, 11 Jul 2008 14:31:42 +0000 http://www.ltgreenroom.org/episodes/55#comment-38932 For me, assessing is fact finding. Like measuring a board because a) here's a board; and b) I have a ruler. Cool! How long is it? Evaluation invokes comparison against a standard, a rule, an expectation, or need. When it comes down to real practice, I don't see enough distinction being made or that it's worth arguing over. Maybe I'm just a measurement nerd (thank you Dr. David J. Weiss of U of MN) but it's maybe just a pointless semantic distinction. For teachers, if it's assessment because it's done early, and evaluation when it's done late....fine. The assessment was still being done to determine what/if teaching or other learning enhancement interventions were appropriate, an evaluation. For me, assessing is fact finding. Like measuring a board because a) here’s a board; and b) I have a ruler. Cool! How long is it?

Evaluation invokes comparison against a standard, a rule, an expectation, or need.

When it comes down to real practice, I don’t see enough distinction being made or that it’s worth arguing over. Maybe I’m just a measurement nerd (thank you Dr. David J. Weiss of U of MN) but it’s maybe just a pointless semantic distinction. For teachers, if it’s assessment because it’s done early, and evaluation when it’s done late….fine. The assessment was still being done to determine what/if teaching or other learning enhancement interventions were appropriate, an evaluation.

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