I am old enough to remember a time as a grade schooler when teachers wouldn’t allow calculators on a test for the commonly stated reason that I would never have a calculator in my pocket everywhere I went. Fortunately, my teachers were wrong.
In 2008, Steve Jobs forever changed the world by inventing the first iPhone. This new personal, pocket-sized computer would influence the way modern humans access and digest information. From this moment forward, anyone could solve difficult math equations, read a worldly collection of academic research, chat with someone on the opposite side of the globe, and even order a pizza, all from the palm of their hands and at their earliest convenience.
After 15 years, many students are expected to forgo this incredible addition to society, which many have now grown up with and become deeply connected to. It’s arguable that smartphones and quick access to the internet has effectively created an extension of our brains. Yet, instructors have decided that these secondary minds are not worth consulting during an exam or quiz.
With a vast amount of the worlds’ knowledge at my fingertips and accessible at a moment’s notice, knowledge today isn’t so much about memorization. Instead, my ability to project myself as an intelligent and competent individual lies in my ability to collect, dissect, and organize information that I can retrieve. This isn’t a matter of opinion, this is modern life, according to a 2018 report by the World Economic Forum that evaluates the changing dynamic of human-machine interaction.
Why, then, do university instructors still believe that the best method of teaching involves strict memory and fact retention? Why do I have classes that never let me access my own notes and textbook during weekly quizzes? Why, in the modern information age, am I expected to practice an ancient method of knowledge retention and expression when the rest of the world has moved on?
Let’s start with one simple solution: proctoring for undergraduate degrees needs to end. Welcome to the age of timed open note quizzes and exams. This would allow students to practice searching and organizing relevant and factual information related to the topic of the class and exam within a time pressure. This is real world preparation.
Exams would need to be structured in a way that would assess students on their ability to piece facts together into a coherent and usable bit of information. Instructors, like students, would have to enter the information age and utilize modern resources. Instructors would have to put themselves in a position to learn from their students, rather than force their students to learn from them exclusively.
