Should Sixth Form Essays...

[19sixtysix]

I don't know about A-levels but if your exam is hand written I'd want to be practiced in writing an essay. I was doing chemistry at OU five years ago and had to submit electronically. It is too much of a ball ache to use a computer to draw molecular so I just hand wrote and scanned to pdf. I then knew exactly what the tutor would see.

 

[A380]

Being dyslexic,with the whole shit hand writing letter reversals thing, and going to school before word processors were ubiquitous is one of the reasons I left at 16 with a handful of shit O’levels.

Nice handwriting is lovely (but so is calligraphy and italic using a dipping pen).

Why do we still risk convincing a fairly large proportion of our children that they are shit at the whole educational thing just because they lack a now anachronistic skill?

 

[2hats]

Is the answer to the poll ‘dictated to [insert suitable recording medium here]’?

Or - How to turn your handwriting into a font.

More seriously, I wouldn't expect any educational establishment to demand a particular ‘format’, though usually our undergraduates submit most work as PDFs, unless some other format/medium would be more natural for the assessment concerned (the only exception being laboratory notebooks though those could just be a set of printouts of electronic media anyway). Possibly, if it’s in the nature of the subject concerned, you might want more practice handwriting if there’s an extensive need for it in future examinations (eg perhaps more arts/humanities than sciences tend to be).

 

[Supine]

Its much easier two crrct typos if u use a computer

 

[spanglechick]

Being dyslexic,with the whole shit hand writing letter reversals thing, and going to school before word processors were ubiquitous is one of the reasons I left at 16 with a handful of shit O’levels.

Nice handwriting is lovely (but so is calligraphy and italic using a dipping pen).

Why do we still risk convincing a fairly large proportion of our children that they are shit at the whole educational thing just because they lack a now anachronistic skill?

Exams, basically. Your average secondary school being able to afford, repair and maintain enough computers (all mains powered) so that 100-200 kids can all do the same exam at the same time, ideally in the same room, is far-fetched. But to ensure the network copes flawlessly so that they all do the exam on the same morning as every other 16 year old in the country, that nothing crashes halfway through, that no-one's log in starts playing up, that no files are corrupted or lost on saving... It's never going to happen. We're so far away technologically from making exams (and general class work) on computer happen, that I'll say ten years at a minimum.

 

[porp]

Whatever the school says, if the teacher is getting a mix of handwritten and typed, then the typed get marked up for presentation even if unconsciously, so beware.

More generally, it seems a given to me that handwritten is a better protection against plagiarism and its cousin, cut'n'paste. Although I wouldn't be surprised if the essay factories in low income countries didn't already offer the handwritten option.

 

[equationgirl]

Fucking handwritten.

Touch typing is no skill these days. Every fucker can do it. And I assume IT is being taught elsewhere.

No fucker has decent handwriting though, and note taking skills amongst 18yos are (ime) beyond shocking.

Fuck computers. If you can create sth beautiful with your hands, you’ll be able to create it anywhere else.

I have lovely handwriting, I'll have you know. I get compliments on it and everything.

 

[chilango]

Exams, basically. Your average secondary school being able to afford, repair and maintain enough computers (all mains powered) so that 100-200 kids can all do the same exam at the same time, ideally in the same room, is far-fetched. But to ensure the network copes flawlessly so that they all do the exam on the same morning as every other 16 year old in the country, that nothing crashes halfway through, that no-one's log in starts playing up, that no files are corrupted or lost on saving... It's never going to happen. We're so far away technologically from making exams (and general class work) on computer happen, that I'll say ten years at a minimum.

Purely a matter of investment though surely? Rather than technology. “Industry” manages to deploy its banks of computers all day, every day.

Of course, said investment isn’t going to happen. And frankly, it’s probably not the most important priority for investment in schools anyway.

Personally I’d argue we need to seriously re-examine (geddit?) how, and why, we assess learning anyway. But that’s a whole other kettle of fish...

 

[BoatieBird]

who voted no?

mime or interpretive dance?

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/05/announcing-2017-dance-your-phd-contest

 

[ManchesterBeth]

Purely a matter of investment though surely? Rather than technology. “Industry” manages to deploy its banks of computers all day, every day.

Of course, said investment isn’t going to happen. And frankly, it’s probably not the most important priority for investment in schools anyway.

Personally I’d argue we need to seriously re-examine (geddit?) how, and why, we assess learning anyway. But that’s a whole other kettle of fish...

Abolishing exams would be a start.

And grades.