Last Post of the Semester

I can't believe this is the end! I have been so busy at work that this course has become a complete blur. I am looking forward to my Christmas holidays so that I can clear my mind of work and really reflect on what I have learned (and what I have missed) during this course.

I particularly need to review the concept of learning objectives. I think that I am able to write learning objectives for specific activities, but I don't feel confortable with higher level learning objectives. There seems to me that there is a grey area where learning objectives are still helpful, but where the learning is not easily measurable. Also, it is not because something is measurable that it is worth learning. For example, I saw some learning objectives stating that 75% of students should be able to pass the course, but is this a worthy learning ojective? What if the course itself is irrelevant to the students? Or, isn't there a danger of "dumbing" down the course in order to meet this type of ojective? Finally, should we strive to make everything we teach measurable? What about expanding your mind and exploring new frontiers? These are worthy goals but are probably not measurable.

I will need to explore those questions on my own because I fell so far behind in the last weeks of this course. At this point, I feel so exhausted (and also very stressed by my project at work - and stress does not help concentration!) that my mind has effectively shut down!

All I need is a vacation...