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I really like the idea less is more and put more focus the meaningful learning and bringing more variety to demonstrate their learning authentically like blog posting , journal writing ,presentations, group projects that represents the kinds of activities the students will encounter in their professional lives.

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I think that this is a good idea to a certain extent. Due dates being more flexible would personally help me more because when I do an assignment, I take a long time to do it because I want to do it well. It takes a long time to do things well, though, and so having due dates feel more like a restriction and in a box for me. However, I also know that I struggle with finding time, so having due dates controls my life in that at least I have handed something in on the due date and I do not have to worry about handing it in last minute later on. With that in mind, I think that this concept can meet in the middle with due dates. That is, students can negotiate with the teachers/professors as to when the assignment is due. This gives students accountability for handing the assignment in and gives students more flexibility in time management in that they have some control of when to hand in the assignment.

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I also agree with Jenna that there is no need for students to complete 10-12 assessment for a course because what usually happens is a class will be JUST assignment-based rather than deeper learning. This doesn't allow for check-ins, and student collaboration

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Taking away due dates in universities would definitely help people who have busy lives outside of their classes, but it will probably not help much with time management skills. I don't think that removing due dates at this level will actually solve anything though: students who already learned good work habits and time management in high school will continue to do well, and students who did not learn those skills in high school will continue to procrastinate. Due dates are also important for the teachers because they need ample time to mark things and give feedback.

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I believe that some students might like this idea because due dates can be stressful and sometimes can be hard for some students to hand in assignments by that due date, which is why some students ask for extensions.

Also I think that taking away due dates might lead to students holding off their assignments for too long and leaving them to last minute. I think that students need to have that time management skills and having due dates will help them with that.

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I think taking away final exams was one of the positive outcomes from Covid. I don’t believe in having a one shot type of assessment that tests your learning throughout the whole course. Exams have lead to test anxiety and even a misinterpreted representation of a students learning. 

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I think taking away final exams was one of the positive outcomes from Covid. I don’t believe in having a one shot type of assessment that tests your learning throughout the whole course. Exams have lead to test anxiety and even a misinterpreted representation of a students learning. 

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I believe taking away due dates may help some students, however I fear that many students would be disorganized and lack time management. If this model was used it may be a good idea to have a guideline of when assignments should approximately be in by. Have flexible deadlines instead of strict deadlines.

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I like this idea because it would reduce a lot of stress with regards to meeting deadlines. However, this would be difficult for students who need deadline to help them set a pace to complete the course in a timely manner.

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Hyperflexible learning is shown to have positive benefits on some students learning. The benefits include accessibility to the material and more time to work on areas of interest. The concern that instructors had with this type of learning was surrounding due dates and their own schedules. Whether late assignments would impact marking. I think that some flexibility is definitely great and it also spreads out marking. However, there is a risk of students handing it all in at once.

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I love the idea of forward thinking and coming to the realization that students need purpose, that "why" are students in our schools and purpose towards what is being facilitated to students. I think rather then recreating we need to see what we can do with the materials and knowledge we have already acquired in our curriculum.

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A variety of authentic assessments that can showcase students' learning instead of focusing on written exams that express only rote memorization should be used.

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A variety of authentic assessments that can showcase students' learning instead of focusing on written exams that express only rote memorization should be used.

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the article brings up a point i really agree with in the real of assessment, and its that short term memorization dose not equal learning.

that was one benefit from the pandemic, and i hope to see in the future more diverse assessment approaches taken in all levels of education from kindergarten to university

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I agree with the this especially in our faculty. Most profs bunch heavily weighted assignments right before our blocks when the majority of our time should be spent planning for our blocks, where we actually learn the most about teaching…

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I think the "hyperflexible" approach is interesting, and could work for certain departments but definitely not all. I think that giving student hyper flexible due dates would lessen some stress but not necessarily create a motivated learning environment. This would work a lot better for online learning but I also do not believe it would work for everyone.

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“In contrast, “deep” approaches to learning involve students integrating new learning with what they already know, and seeking to engage meaningfully with knowledge rather than just trying to remember it.”

Majority of what I learnt in my first degree and took tests/exams on I do not remember because I only learnt it for the test rather than interacting with the information.

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I really like the focus on preparing students for the real world and trying to have classes be more cross-curricular.

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I've seen this type of hyperflexive model of study used in high schools for pre-cal and it works well. The key to this model though is that teachers need to constantly be checking in on students and that students should already have self-sufficiency skills to keep themselves organized.

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Due dates are great way to build positive personal habits but there should be flexibility in the due dates as well.

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I like the interdisciplinary. As for the rest I am not sure this is the way ed should go. If it is backed by research then who am I to say otherwise though.

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This sounds like a great idea and in some ways I can see the benefits of this hyperflexible model for myself. However, I also know that having structure provides benefits as well. This model would need a lot of by in from students and I don't think it would work for everyone.

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I think that this is a great model to have in schools. I think that looking at content students will need after school is very important. This was something I wished I had more of when I was in school. I do think it could be challenging to implement this when the type of content students need could vary greatly.

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I think taking due dates away from university assignments will not help students regarding their organization and time management skills. To be able to multi-task is a skill, and to build structure around their work ethic is good in terms of preparing yourself for your career in the near future.

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It is extremely important to shift current high school learning design to think more about the students' future what/how they will use their high school knowledge. Current high schools are designed in the old school factory-type education approach (sit, listen, write), but this is not a reality in many professional careers. It is important to set students up for success in their future careers and lives in general.

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I agree that less is more. There is no need for students to complete 10 assessments when we can have students complete less, more meaningful assessments.

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"Research shows that students typically experience eight times as much summative as formative assessment on their courses. By reducing the number of summative assessments, we can instead focus on meaningful learning and formative feedback."

This excerpt demonstrates an important shift that educators should make to foster student learning. Emphasizing formative assessments will benefit students in the long run as they will develop the skills to transfer their learning to other areas.

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8x the amount of summative assessment than formative - how are professors expecting success on summative assessments if they are not using formative assessment to check-in and adapt along the way?

Design your course so that you get feedback long the way - this can be included in formative assessments

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This sounds like an awesome idea, but very time (and money) consuming. If the resources are available, making a curriculum that is relevant to the lives and futures of our students is an excellent way to get them engaged and interested in what is being taught. Furthermore, catered curriculums could greatly improve the socioeconomic positions of students in certain areas.

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As university students around the country finish their final exams and assessments for the year, the idea of removing due dates might seem incredibly appealing.

Being more open-ended about when assignments are submitted may also seem like the logical next step for universities. Even before COVID-19, they have been looking for ways to make learning more flexible. This is generally done by offering units online or in a hybrid model, where some units are in person and some are online. But is it truly flexible if just the place has changed?

An emerging trend in the sector is " self-paced learning," where students do not have to fit their learning into a university semester and there might be flexible due dates for assessments.

In other words, students with internet access and a laptop can study at a time and place that suits them.

At CQUniversity this is called "hyperflexible learning". Our university already offers hyperflexible postgraduate units.

We wanted to know what the experience would be like for students and staff if hyperflexible units were offered at undergraduate level.

Our study

In a 2021 pilot study, we looked at four undergraduate history and communication units. The humanities was a good fit for the pilot because they attract a wide range of students, did not have tests or exams and had fewer restrictions like external accreditation.

We offered the units in the traditional mode and a hyperflexible mode. In the hyperflexible mode, students had access to all the unit content, could self-pace and did not have due dates for their written and oral assessments.

The unit's content was self-paced, via short recorded videos and interactive learning modules, rather than traditional lectures. There were opportunities for learning with other students (like live Zoom tutorials), but these were not compulsory.

Of the group, 27 students chose to take the hyperflexible option. We interviewed them and three unit coordinators before and after the term about their experiences. We also surveyed all 12 humanities staff about their perceptions of hyperflexible learning.

While the sample size was small, students and staff suggested there are both risks and benefits to this type of study.

'I wouldn't have passed': what did students say?

On balance, the students who took part had a positive experience. One even said:

If it wasn't hyperflexible I wouldn't have passed.

Several noted how assessment deadlines were a significant source of stress and relished the freedom to fit study around their life, rather than the other way around. Several said it made it easier to accommodate their work and family commitments.

One student said they were thrilled when they heard about the hyperflexible option because:

I am a very anxious student, and deadlines really, really stressed me out.

Other students suggested the quality of their learning was better in a hyperflexible model as they were able to "go deeper" on a topic that interested them and not have it reserved for one particular week. It was suggested that the hyperflexible unit allowed "study in a more intensive way".

But students also raised concerns. Several noted it "feels a bit isolating", "disconnected", like they are "the only student doing it" and they are not "participating in the university experience".

Others were worried they might not receive the same level of feedback from staff and there might be a temptation to "leave everything to the last minute".

Read more: University fees are poised to change - a new system needs to consider how much courses cost and what graduates can earn

Doing two jobs: what did staff say?

University staff were generally more cautious about the benefits of hyperflexible learning. Common concerns were students would lose their sense of being part of a group, feel lost or overwhelmed, allow assignments to pile up, and it could ultimately see more students dropping out.

Staff were also concerned no due dates could increase their workload. They noted they would be less free to take leave or attend conferences if they did not have a reasonable expectation when their marking would be due. Even when students were being taught the same content, there were new challenges and as one staff member said:

I feel as though I am managing two cohorts.

Staff members did see benefits in hyperflexible learning also and most said they were willing to experiment with it. Several commented on the potential for motivated students to finish their degrees faster. One staff member noted that having now taught a hyperflexible unit:

I have confidence that most students get there in the end.

Read more: It's not just Australian students who need more food, university staff are also going hungry

What now?

Our study suggests removing due dates from undergraduate units has potential to make university study more accessible and less rigid, while reducing student stress.

One key issue is how students can maintain a sense of being together in a group, receive support, and feel a connection to their university.

For educators, hyperflexible learning is a distinct form of teaching and staff members would need to be adequately trained and supported. This way of teaching is individualistic and seeks to fit study around the needs of each student. To some extent, this is in conflict with the ideal of university as a learning community.

Although the responses to the pilot program were largely positive, there is still a lot more we need to know about the impact of removing due dates and time pressures. For example, although due dates were removed, students still had to complete their assessments within the semester - due to university and government policies.

Also, while this approach might fit the assessment-focused humanities, we don't know how this works in disciplines that are more heavily exam-driven (like health and IT).

Ultimately, risks associated with hyperflexible learning and the impact on both staff and students need to be considered carefully before adopting these approaches for undergrads.

So, sorry students - seems like you'll have to finish that essay this week after all.

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We took away due dates for university assignments. Here's what we found

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As university students around the country finish their final exams and assessments for the year, the idea of removing due dates might seem incredibly appealing. Being more open-ended about when assignments are submitted may also seem like the logical next step for universities. Even before COVID-19, they have been looking for ways to make learning more flexible.

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Two D.C. high schools will remodel their curriculum with the intention to better prepare students for college and careers.

Paul Laurence Dunbar High School and the Francis L. Cardozo Education Campus will be the first cohort of the DC+XQ, a partnership between D.C. Public Schools and the XQ Institute to "rethink and redesign all DCPS high schools," a schools and XQ Institute news release said.

The XQ Institute is an organization that develops programs aimed at improving high school education in the U.S.

Dunbar and Cardozo will spend the current school year "prototyping and piloting elements of their school models, testing ideas, and gathering input from their communities."

For Dunbar, this means students will have a school year through the lens of Afrofuturism, a cultural and intellectual movement that "leverages knowledge of the past to create possibilities for the future."

Cardozo students will focus on the goal of financial independence, including building an interdisciplinary approach that will fuse academics and business and financial skills.

"Keeping up with a changing world means having the flexibility, vision and willingness to re-imagine how we prepare young people to succeed in school and after graduation," D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said in a statement.

D.C. Schools Chancellor Lewis Ferebee said the initiative is a "step forward" in making sure students are prepared for college and their careers.

The DC+XQ initiative launched in February, and in the last seven months six D.C. high schools participated in XQ's research design, which included an equity audit of their schools. Community members were also invited to share their input.

Each school came up with its own design concept that identified the greatest areas of need for their students, and the assets and opportunities available.

Abigail Constantino

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2 DC high schools to pilot redesigned curriculum - WTOP News

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Two D.C. high schools will remodel their curriculum with the intention to better prepare students for college and careers. Paul Laurence Dunbar High School and the Francis L. Cardozo Education Campus will be the first cohort of the DC+XQ, a partnership between D.C.

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Timed written examinations continue to dominate university assessment. In most professions, the need to recall and write down specific information from memory under timed conditions is rare. Yet every year across the world students are crammed into exam halls to do just that.

The coronavirus pandemic gave universities no choice but to radically rethink assessment. Many formal examinations were cancelled and replaced by a greater variety of assessment tasks.

As universities start to imagine a post-pandemic future, they are faced with a choice - to simply return to the way things were, or embrace this opportunity to change assessment for good.

Meaningful learning

To manage the challenges created by the shutdown of campuses, many universities reduced the number of assessments students were required to complete. They still made sure that the tasks enabled students to demonstrate their learning against all of the stated learning outcomes. These are the essential expectations for a course as a whole.

Students often complain of bunched assessment deadlines. Courses with lots of pieces of assessment occurring at the same time - such as final exams - can drive what are known as "surface" learning behaviours, such as short-term memorisation of required knowledge.

In contrast, "deep" approaches to learning involve students integrating new learning with what they already know, and seeking to engage meaningfully with knowledge rather than just trying to remember it. A smaller number of assessment tasks can encourage this deeper approach to learning. It leads students to look beyond the content of what they are learning, towards its meaning.

In assessment, less can be more. In university courses, tasks that contribute to students' grades are known as summative assessments. Tasks that focus instead on helping students to learn through practising key skills and benefiting from feedback are called formative assessments.

Research shows that students typically experience eight times as much summative as formative assessment on their courses. By reducing the number of summative assessments, we can instead focus on meaningful learning and formative feedback.

Rethinking examinations

As a result of the coronavirus pandemic, many exams have been replaced by coursework tasks or open book examinations. These forms of assessment better represent the ways in which information is synthesised and applied in real life situations. Tasks that represent what graduates are likely to do in the workplace are often called authentic assessment.

There are countless ways to assess students' learning authentically. From learning journals to blog posts, and from podcasts to client reports, students can demonstrate their learning through a wide range of tasks that represent the kinds of activities they will encounter in their future working lives.

Whilst there are often concerns that such forms of assessment are more susceptible to cheating than the conventional examination, research now equips us with strategies to minimise such risks.

In a few cases, examinations are set and required by the professional bodies that accredit courses. But where there are viable alternatives to timed unseen examinations, we can envision a future where we no longer cram students into exam halls and ask them questions they will rarely encounter outside of an educational institution.

Reclaiming feedback

As we think of new ways of assessing our students' learning, perhaps we can re-establish feedback as important in its own right and not just an afterthought to an assessment task. Our recent research argues that for too long feedback has been something that mainly happens after assessment has taken place. Instead, feedback can and should be designed into courses in ways that help students to learn through understanding and using feedback information.

Examinations often occur at the end of the academic year. This means that if students receive any information at all on their performance, they do not have an opportunity to use it. The neglect of feedback as a learning tool has meant that often comments provided on students' work merely justify the grade awarded, rather than supporting students to learn how to improve their work in the future. Supporting students' learning is the true purpose of feedback.

University assessment has resisted change for far too long. This pandemic has forced a large-scale shift in approaches to assessment, not just in terms of how we assess students, but why. Under immensely challenging circumstances, universities have been handed an opportunity to change for good. They should use this opportunity to focus on methods of assessment that put learning first.

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Universities should learn from assessment methods used during the pandemic - and cut down on exams for good

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Timed written examinations continue to dominate university assessment. In most professions, the need to recall and write down specific information from memory under timed conditions is rare. Yet every year across the world students are crammed into exam halls to do just that. The coronavirus pandemic gave universities no choice but to radically rethink assessment.

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Our society is not prepared for this type of autonomy and would likely not thrive or succeed in such an environment. This is a process that must be scaffolded - right from kindergarten.