AQA chief executive Andrew Hall welcomed Ms Nisbet's comments and said it was "really important" that students be "assessed in the same way that they learn and using the technologies that are commonplace in the world outside the classroom".
Personally speaking, this would be a great move, although I appreciate that the shift will have taken place by the time I do my first exam in a year. My hand-writing was already pretty bad, and has got worse since I hardly write anything - and what I do write are just notes for me to read. I think I'm going to struggle to write for 90 mins, cover everything that I want to say, AND make it legible. On top of this, I'm completely out of practice of writing in a medium where you can't cut and paste, start at the end and move things around. I think at least half of the revision period is going to be taken up practicing my handwriting under timed conditions.
The article has a link within it to another whether its easier doing an A Level twenty years on. One interesting thing the journalist says is that "Suddenly a couple of hours a week in an evening class wasn't really going to be enough - the syllabus was aimed at students doing six hours of lessons each week, supplemented by homework assignments". I would agree with him on this, but I personally prefer that I am able to work at my own pace when I want and that I don't have to put up with idiots in the class carping on about rubbish (I found this even when I was doing classes with adults). I think the main (perhaps only) disadvantage is that, while you have tutor support with ICS, there really is no substitute to having physical access to a tutor who has possibly taught the syllabus for years and who knows all the tricks to get good grades for students.
Speaking of grades, this week my main goal is to write and submit my end of unit test for Britain and Appeasement. I'm also hoping that I can start and complete the second volume of the Kershaw biography of Hitler.
No comments:
Post a Comment