There is a danger in seeking finished perfection in all that we do.
There is a risk that our students will focus solely on the attributes that define a finished piece and overlook the importance of the process that leads to it. With a shift in our mindset we might be able to celebrate this process and encourage our students to value the learning that occurs along the way.
Guernica by Pablo Picasso
– http://www.all-art.org/art_20th_century/picasso11.html
Carol Dweck’s writing on Mindsets
Source: thelearnersway.net
Nigel Coutts, the author of this insightful article, quotes Picasso, ” ‘Woe to you the day it is said that you are finished! To finish a work? To finish a picture? What nonsense! To finish it means to be through with it, to kill it, to rid it of its soul – to give it its final blow…”
This aligns with my feeling about summative evaluation… aka grades. If you want to terminate the process, grade the product.
My students create an e-portfolio as they complete classes in our program. Will ‘grading’ an e-portfolio halt the process? I certainly hope not. Instead, I strive to help them see the evaluation process as feedback to prompt an ongoing process that continues throughout the E-Learning Certificate Program and beyond.