9 Conclusion: A Bundle of Issues

If authentic learning is a bundle of methods, it presents a bundle of issues. There are more issues than I can address here. I have set out a minimal set that is far from settled knowledge. Hopefully, you will contest this set and offer your own ideas. The four issues I have identified matter to me because they run counter to reform movements that have focused on standardizing instruction, defining learning objectives, and placing responsibility for what students learn and how they learn it in the hands of instructors rather than students.

First, there is the question of how much control instructors should have over what students learn, and, parallel to that, how much responsibility they should take for their learning. It is obvious to most teachers that students are individuals who learn in their own way at their own pace, applying their own values. What does a “class” look like when everyone is doing something different and instructors let students follow their own paths? What happens if we quit building assignments and let students build them?

Secondly, there is a question of objectives. Should instructors really set the objectives for what students will learn? Isn’t it possible that the most important thing a student learns in any given class might be different from what is important to their instructor? Defining objectives is a way of asserting control. What happens if we let students discover and define the learning objectives?

Thirdly, there is a question of grading. To grade, we need some kind of standard in mind about what differentiates the work of one student from another, as well as all students from the instructor’s vision of an ideal outcome. More importantly, perhaps, grades are about control. Grades grant us control because they provide the carrot and the stick. Arguably, students who strive for good grades develop dependence on what other people think about their work. They learn to work very hard to meet expectations other people set for them. Would it be better to build confidence in their own creative visions?

Lastly, there are questions about what it is that makes the real world real, how we can learn about the real world, and what the outcome will be? Is reality the need for a “good” job? Is a good job the same for everyone?

Notice how all these issues inter grade. Control is tied to defining objectives and assigning grades. Grades are supposed to decide who gets a good job. How can it be the case, if this is true, that authentic learning– which moves control over objectives to students and devalues grades– better prepares students for the real world? Ponder that.