Have I passed the Sustainable assessment test?

While working on my assignment for a certificate as Higher Education Assessor and Moderator, I've been pondering how to measure, I mean, assess my own efficacy. So I came up with an equation: insight gained + output product = f(time on task). Yes how nerdy of me - who else would consider describing their experiences by means of a mathematical relationship.

My pondering came from the fact that I've been working on this assignment and my insight gained has showed substantial increase and resulted in some implementation success. However the output product lags behind. So I'm now rethinking my equation - I think that there's an exponent or variable missing.

Maybe that variable is procrastination. It's been my honest opinion that procrastination as a life-skill is an emergent learning outcome of post-graduate study. Meaning that it's not planned on and sometimes has no intrinsic value - it serves only to delay submission. This blog serves as case in point: instead of working on the assignment I'm contemplating the impact of the insight gained on life outside of teaching. Does that mean I've learnt the art of sustainable assessment for life-long learning? Did I pass the test? Have I met the learning outcomes?

Make no mistake, this post will be in my assignment. Then it's not procrastination. Back to the chalk-board for equation derivation...

Earth Hour

For the last few weeks I've had Global change, including the media favourite, climate change, taking up substantial amounts of processing power. No I haven't developed the next GCM - but I have been facilitating the Global Change Honours course. The course hosts 4 of South Africa's top global change scientists, including 2 of the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize winners. Grant it, that was a sizable group of recipients.

One guest speaker suggested that for South Africa to reach the reduced emission targets, 50% will be about changes in technology and power generation and the rest would be up to the ethical choices you and I make. In our class discussion yesterday, we got on to the campaign trail and Earth Hour became a point of discussion.



Earth Hour asks everyone to switch off the lights and appliances in their homes and places of work for one hour on Saturday 28th March. Not a lot to ask to make a real statement about living more sustainably and making ethical choices. Have you signed up yet?