"immune to assessment"

At #EAinnovates, @jimtiffinjr shared his Philosophy on Making. Jim attributed influence from the book Invent to Learn by Sylvia Libow Martinez & Gary Stager.

Utilizing Invent to Learn, Jim shared what makes a good project.  And I think these expectations/goals are right on the money.

Again, Jim furthered our exposure to Invent to Learn aspect to projects with Project Prompts being brief, ambiguous, and immune to assessment.  And it was with this last prompt requirement that I took a double take and pushed back. I pushed back on this because of the word "immunity"  which means exactly what it means: exemption, protection from, resistance from. This "from" is assessment. I asked Jim to elaborate a little more and I tried to gain some insight into the reasoning of this phrase. Jim said it means what it states, immune from assessment. In the sense of being a purist, it is immune of all assessment.

I asked, "All Assessment?" Maggie Powers tweeted Gary and Sylvia. And Gary tweeted back, "Yes."

I guess I could go in so many tangents, soapboxes, and protests but why bother... My intent is not to change minds or force my take on this position. There are many areas of assessment I am exploring. A conversation just yesterday has brought me even further in my need to dive DEEP into assessment approaches and develop concrete material for designers and educators to utilize. The bottom line is assessment creates and highlights awareness in oneself.  Without awareness, how can growth, learning, and progress be acknowledged, let alone built upon and carried with us on our journey?