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The central claim of this paper is that the challenges of 21
st
century higher
education require a fundamental shift away from a primary concern with the outcomes or
end products of education toward the specifics of the learning process. Drawing on the
educational thought of philosophers John Dewey and Michael Oakeshott, I attempt to
deepen the insights of learning theorist and practitioner Howard Gardner and articulate
the pedagogical theory and vision that might inform such a shift, with particular attention
to the implications for the practice of assessment.
Dewey once quipped that teachers cannot simply hand knowledge over to
students as if it were bricks and expect meaningful learning to take place.
the flow of experience within which learning naturally occurs, such a direct, ready-made
approach transforms students into passive, unreflective receptors. Famously criticizing
this emphasis on “absorption and learning” rather than “construction and giving out,”
Dewey counseled attending to the environment of the classroom as a way of spurring the
natural, active processes of learning, “thus by indirection to direct.” After sketching the
theoretical background of this notion of teaching indirectly (to skip to the discussion of
the practical implications, start on p. 11), I attempt to apply these insights to the practice
of assessment through an examination of Gardner’s proposals for what one might call in
this Deweyan spirit “assessing indirectly.” While affirming Gardner’s practical
recommendations, I argue that a more compelling overall vision is offered by Oakeshott.
In the end, a renewed focus on the process of learning reveals the dangers of divorcing
assessment from learning; alternative forms of assessment must be pursued in tandem
Convention