"...renewable assignments result in meaningful, valuable artifacts that enable future meaningful, valuable work." - David Wiley My personalized learning routine involves skimming through a few dozen blog posts first thing in the morning. I slammed on the brakes, and adjusted my reading glasses when I came across David Wiley's discussion of disposable versus renewable assignments in higher education. What do these terms mean, what are the differences, and why should educators care about the fate of their assignments? According to Dr. Wiley, disposable assignments are those that end up in a garbage can shortly after the instructor has graded it. This signals the learning, if there was any, has now ended. An assignment at the bottom of a garbage can adds no additional value to the world. My friend Shawn McCusker dislikes the thought of student work ending up in piles. He says, " If we want to increase the importance and validity of student work we need to extend i...
Ruminations about lifelong learning.