[Blindmath] AFB Teleseminar Dec 2nd on How will students with Vision Loss Fare in Common Core Assessments

[Paul Chapin]

I’d like to respond to Mary.

Part of the problem here is how tests are designed and structured.  Typically we take a fairly simple problem to solve (otherwise it can’t be done in the time limitations), make sure it’s fairly complex in form (to “test” the student) and then restrict the students access to other information in the name of preventing cheating. Exactly what does any of this have to do with the real world?

Once, back when I was a programmer, I did a presentation to a computer science students where I told them that the good news was that the real world is open book and the bad news is that 70 isn’t passing.

Memory is nice and as a programmer, knowing the parameters that go with a particular function is useful and makes things go faster but what’s really important is that I know that the function exists. If I have to I can always look it up to find the parameters. What’s even more important is for me to know which functions I need to use. That requires an complete understanding of the problem, including knowing what questions I should be asking to get the critical information I need. Everything else is just mechanics.

Paul Chapin
Academic Technology Specialist
Amherst College
X2144

Amherst College IT staff will never ask for your password, including by email. Any email asking for any password or username is almost certainly bogus. Never click on a link in an email to a site that requires a login as the link may be bogus. Type in the address yourself. Please keep your passwords private to protect yourself and the security of our network.