Learning Beyond the Classroom

  We have spent decades asking students to learn the right answers. Now we are beginning to ask something different. Can they generate better questions? Can they think differently? Can they come up with new ideas? Can they solve problems that do not have an obvious answer? The shift makes sense. The world of work increasingly values people who can adapt, solve unfamiliar problems and contribute ideas. Creative thinking is no longer being discussed simply as something belonging to artists, designers or naturally imaginative children. But this creates a rather uncomfortable question. If creativity becomes an important educational outcome, how do we assess it? And perhaps an even more uncomfortable one: Should we? The danger of making creativity another score Imagine a future classroom where, alongside mathematics, science and language, every student receives a creativity score. Creativity: 7/10. Problem-solving: 8/10. Innovation aptitude: 6/10. It sounds measurable. It sounds modern....

  Education has spent a long time teaching students to remember. Remember the definition. Remember the formula. Remember the process. Remember the answer. But the world students are entering increasingly asks them to do something different. Analyse information. Evaluate possibilities. Solve unfamiliar problems. Make decisions. Question assumptions. Connect ideas. Create something that did not exist before. These are generally described as Higher-Order Thinking Skills , or HOTS. And as education moves towards creativity, innovation, problem-solving and independent thinking, HOTS is becoming increasingly important. But there is a question we should perhaps ask more often: Are we actually assessing higher-order thinking, or are we simply giving students harder questions? A difficult question is not necessarily a higher-order question Consider these two questions. Question 1: “List five causes of climate change.” Question 2: “Two countries are considering different approaches to reduci...

knowledge is  built one step at a time, not hoarded from lessons We often treat learning as something students should eventually possess. But learning is not something that is stored after a lesson and retrieved during an examination. It is an experience, constructed gradually through attempts, failures, feedback, reflection, practice and application. The Question That Stayed With Me When you spend over a decade and a half standing in an undergraduate lecture hall, teaching Software Engineering and IT Fundamentals, you realise at some point that the syllabus you planned on day one isn't actually what you are teaching. The real curriculum is written in the margins of exam papers, in the hesitant pauses before a student raises a hand, and in the quiet breakthroughs that happen long after the bell rings. For the longest time, I thought teaching was about transmission - taking a complex concept like memory management or algorithms, packaging it neatly, and delivering it efficiently. Bu...

    When Assessment Stops Measuring Learning. A university had begun noticing a growing pattern. Students were becoming increasingly dependent on AI when completing major assignments. The institution's first response was to look at AI use. But one faculty member asked a different question: What if the problem was not only what students were doing with AI, but what the assessment system was asking them to do in the first place? Read the case →  CASE STUDY 04 Educational Management & Learning Design The Case A university had begun noticing a change in student behaviour. Assignments were becoming increasingly polished.  The language was sophisticated.  The structure was often excellent.  Students were producing work that appeared more professional than some of their previous submissions. At the same time, faculty members were becoming increasingly concerned about generative AI. Some students openly acknowledged using AI to improve their writing.  Othe...