Data or it didn’t happen.
— Shit Academics Say (@AcademicsSay) April 18, 2015
How can we measure learning? Can we measure learning? Define learning. What did I learn today? I learned about the Australian Indigenous artist, Vernon Ah Kee.
Ah Kee is also part of the Proppa Now group and is one of the most political aboriginal artists of his time.
The above is from his 2002 collection titled “If I was White”. I was interested in reading the transcript.
6×5 A4 grids transcribed L-R, downwards:
If I was White
I could walk down the street
and people would pay no particular
attention to me.
It may not seem like much
but if you’ve ever had
a shopkeeper tell you to
Buy something or move on, or
simply follow you around the shop,
it’s significant.
If I was White
people would speak to me.
Wouldn’t you feel a little lonely
if you were the only White person
in a new school
and nobody including the teacher
understood you or your culture?
If I was White
I would think like a White Person.
If I was White
I would believe myself to be equal
to anyone.
If I was White
I would be more likely
to live longer.
If I was White
I would be less likely
to spend time behind bars.
If I was White
just think of all the names
I wouldn’t have been called.
If namecalling does not seem
all that serious to you
then you haven’t heard the names
I’ve been called.
If I was White
a lot of the fights I’ve been in
would not have been my fault.
If I was White
I wouldn’t have been in so many fights.
If I was White
I would not be part of the Stolen Generation.
If I was White
I would have been counted in the Census since 1901.
If I was White
I could live, shop, and socialise
wherever I want.
If you’ve walked into Real Estate
Agencies where houses and units
To Let suddenly become Taken,
and just as suddenly become
Available when you leave, then
you know what I’m talking about.
If I was White
I would be accepted.
If I was White
I could group together
all the people who don’t
look like me
into their own separate
communities.
If I was White
I could accept a life of privilege,
wealth, and power
that the exploitation of Black
People has brought me
without even blinking.
If I was White
I could stand back,
walk on by, sit on the fence,
and do nothing.
If I was White
I would think I have every right
to be here.
If I was White
I would fit in.
If I was White
I would not have to live in a country that hates me.
If I was White
I would have a country.
If I was White
I could say This land
has been in my family
for three generations.
If I was White
I could say My family
have lived on this land
for two hundred years.
If I was White
I could say My father worked hard
to buy this land.
If I was White
I could buy bandaids
the same colour as my skin.
What if all bandaids were black?
If I was White
and in an accident, I would be
wrapped in white bandages.
If I was White
I wouldn’t be asked if I was
Fullblood, Half-caste, or part White.
If I was White
I would not hear other White People
say to me You don’t look like you
have alot of White in you, or
You don’t look White.
If I was White
my fair skin
would not be such an issue
with other White People.
If I was White
it would be okay
to claim to be White.
If I was White
I wouldn’t have to claim to be White
just to get a job.
If I was White
I would be taken at my word.
Try accepting everything written
here as being true
simply because I say it is.
If I was White
I could really identify with
Australian TV Soaps.
If I was White
I could really identify with
Australian TV Advertising.
If I was White
popular Australian newspapers
would print what I want to read.
If you don’t think so
then count how many Black People
appear in the weekend social
pages.
If I was White
I could go to church
and Jesus Christ would
look like me.
Imagine Christ images all over the
world being black.
If I was White
I would not have to be smart
to keep a good job.
If I was White
I would have more chance
of getting a job.
If I was White
I could wear a suit and tie
and not look suspicious.
If I was White
I could own a luxury vehicle
and not look suspicious.
If I was White
I could shop in luxury stores
and not look suspicious.
If I was White
I could walk
in a white neighbourhood
and not look suspicious.
If I was White
I could dye my hair blonde
and it would not look strange.
If I was White
I could have blue eyes
and it would not look strange.
If I was White
I could marry another White person
and it would not look strange.
If I was White
I would have a better chance of becoming PM.
If I was White
I could write history any way I please.
If I was White
ignorance could be my excuse.
If I was White
I would have nothing to fear
from Police.
If I was White
I would not have to explain
the things I say.
If I was White
the world would make
more sense to me.
If I was White
I could make myself believe
that Black People were evil.
If I was White
I could shelter my children from
the evil that exists in the world.
If I was White
I could lie to my children about
the evil that exists in the world.
But I am Black
and I am as misunderstood as the next Blackfella
but I am beginning to understand the White Men.
What did you learn from that text art by Vernon Ah Kee? Does it make you curious to know more? Does your understanding shift into another context? Are you thinking about this in a broader sense? How did you feel when you were reading this? How did you feel when you were thinking about it? How would you assess the learning during all of that?
Give yourself a mark out of ten. Make sure you address the outcomes which sit neatly in lines next to their dot points. Don’t forget to ignore everything that is not neatly summarised by these points. Don’t go including the metacognition. Make sure you toss all those airy fairy ‘what if…’ thoughts. Don’t even think about including the way you felt when you were reading the text; that’s not important and we can’t be getting all touchy feely when we’re assessing serious learning outcomes.
So, back to Dave.
Dave:
Learning is a non-counting noun. It’s not something we should worry about counting, I don’t think measuring it makes any sense. Once that’s done, what can we measure? Dig into the possibilities of measurement. What can we use to send to administrators? Some way of talking about using all these numbers and How can we map out the rhizome? a tool for people to map out their own rhizome. I understand this conflicts with the freedom but work with that.
Really. This is hard. If I knew how to do that …
Taking a look at my own learning which has taken place in MOOCs lately – Connected Courses and now Rhizo15…
If we are talking about connected learning rather than the consumption of learning then counting is no longer useful. You can’t ‘count’ connected learning but connected learning does count. Turn it on its head. It counts. Show it, write about it, share it, discuss it – make it transparent. There it is; you can see it for yourself.
Learning is complex. Yes, we could map it. But… there’s so much to take into account. It’s giving me a headache. Big data. That term gets bandied about a bit lately. Looking it up on Wikipedia gives me a bigger headache. (Not sure where I saw this image; someone shared it on Twitter?)
And don’t forget –
As I’ve said in a previous blog post, Einstein, Newton, Edison, Tolstoy, Pasteur, Lincoln – these are only some of the notable gifted people throughout history who were assessed as failures in school.
How could that happen? Is it happening now? How reliable are our methods of assessment? One thing I know – we should definitely assess assessment.
Dave Cormier, I can’t answer your question. Fail me.