Firstly, I liked the article by Anderson because she reminds me that there is a need to shift from traditional assessment to alternative assessment practices in education nowadays. I agree with her point that traditional lecturing causes students to build castle in the air or not paying attention in the classroom by doing something else. On the other hand, the shift from traditional to alternative assessment is crucial so as to facilitate active language learning. This is because traditionally, evaluation of student learning is based on objective questions, which inhibits active learning and high thinking skills of students. Significantly, in this high-paced world and modern education, obviously, objective questions are not adequate and relevant to measure students' performance.
Other than that, I liked this article as it highlights the differences between traditional and alternative assessment. The clear and detailed explanations by Anderson make the philosophical beliefs and theoretical assumptions of the assessments more comprehensible and interesting. Besides that, the comparison of both the assessments is summarised in a diagram, which is much simpler and comprehensive.
Another thing that I found interesting about this article is the issues related to rubrics, under the effects of alternative assessment paradigm (constructivist). Anderson has mentioned that in constructivist classroom, students are required to establish rubrics and develop criteria. However, it would be time consuming. Therefore, I think that it would be challenging for teachers to decide whether they want their students to gain knowledge or to learn how to learn.
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