AUDIT ON LEARNING

Learning audits help build better response systems

Guaranteed learning:

Education helps develop systematic capacity towards achieving learning.  Formal stations where Education meets learning are none other than our classrooms.  But, do we ensure our classrooms as guaranteed learning centres?

Classrooms as learning audit centres:

Flipped classrooms are order of the day.  But does learning happen?  Learning audits help establish key responsibility systems to develop learning habits.  Any audits format possesses key characteristics to measure and analyze.  The key characteristics of the classroom audit can be categorized as the classroom process and the curriculum design. Let us considers the former first for our discussion, this is the internal part which defines learning.

Key elements of classroom process

●      Objective

○        What to expect?

○        What to learn?

○        What to relate?

○        What is the outcome?

The latter part is the actual classroom process or the external aspect of learning.  This is the coating or the covering provided to the process

Curriculum design starts with the

●      Pedagogy

○        Age appropriate content

○        Methodologies of learning

○        Values and environmental significance

The content for its implementation in classrooms depend on the flow, connectivity and interlinking to parallel concepts of same subject or other subjects.  The content also considers the type of formatives and challenges that can be presented to make the learning interesting.  Audit considers the most appropriate methods of its classroom process that develops application of the learnt.

The process of learning also becomes more important as the core content which includes the modes of best learning which can be incorporated into classrooms.  Some modes ensure repetition for better understanding.  These ensure not only time management but also 21^st century skills.

Developing values are also the focus of today’s main stream education, in the ‘information era’, understanding learner types, their learning and empathizing with socio-economic backgrounds of learners and their capacity to cope up with the challenges presented by the learning opportunities should also be a part of learning audits for its successful validation.  Ethical and moral responsibility also takes part in the evaluation during developing audit systems.

Though, all external factors considered, are the core aspect of ‘representation of the learnt as expressions’, expressions are the forms of writing, talking or technical presentations, are collected as work evidences for validating learning among its learners.  

The path towards achieving learning are many, however the outcome is more focused on Knowledge, Values, Skills and Attitudes which should not be missed out during the entire audit process.

The audit process commences with the various ‘proofs’ of the above said

1. Curriculum design
2. Classroom process and
3.  Proof of learning

However, the learning process is not complete till the direct evidence is collected from the learner.   The audit carried out by organisations need to cater to all the above ideologies of learning within the stipulated time for which the audit is carried out.

Design of audit tracks and collection of procedures is what is generally done throughout the process of audit.  Matching with the outcomes and analysis of the process is done at leisure.  Generally audits does not mean an immediate response but it is a complete and thorough study of

•  What is happening?
• How it is happening?
• Where it is happening?
• How to improve?

Classroom audits not only provide us an insight into the learning process but also help us set achievable targets for further improvement.  It is not unless we test ourselves, change towards betterment will just be an utopian dream.