Chapter 2

There were a lot of really good tidbits about designing learning opportunities in chapter two. Currently, I work in Evaluation and Assessment and have learned a lot about psychometrics. I ascribe personally to the test, teach, retest and reteach model. For language learning tests, I design my tests so that students can earn more than 100 points, with difference sections that test different language learning competencies (e.g. translation, verbs/rote memorization, form manipulation from singular to plural, form manipulation from cases, writing from english to foreign language) and with purposefully made mistakes, which students can earn points for correcting. Each student has to complete something in each section and the tests are timed. This way the students feel comfortable in scoring enough points on the test that I can easily see the sections they flourish in and that they actual do try the sections that they don't feel comfortable with. After each test, it is apparent to me where they need more work in, as we continue tests I decrease the amount of points they are able to earn in the easier sections (e.g. rote memorization).

In order to be successful these days in the real world, you have to be more than a good worker. You have to be a good thinker; companies are no longer looking for people to push a button. They are looking for people who question how they push the button, why they push the button and if flicking a switch would be better and how to desing the switch to flick. They want people who have the skills to problem-solve, design solutions, maximize efficiency, and improve processes. These skills aren't standard across colleges anymore because curriculum isn't standard. (Colleges are trying to smooth this discrepancy over by creating core curriculum required for students to take in their first two years of college (making things like double and triple majors a thing of the past)) Obviously, these skills are related to a technology based world but they are also strongly connected to how we teach our students and design their learning opportunities. The true difference between being a successful student in primary school vs. in secondary school also hints at this. In college and graduate education, you have to take responsibility for your own education. Many students fail at doing this, and thus will fail to impress today's working world giants. If there were better designed learning opportunites available at a primary school level meant to incorporate some of these attributes needed to be successful, perhaps, schools would output more capable learners and workers.