Public Lecture @ ETH: Eric Mazur, Harvard

According to ETH Zurich’s Gender Action Plan (GAP), varying interests and
approaches of women and men in learning and teaching should be given
more attention. This lecture aims at making us more aware of such differences
and helps us to make ETH’s education more attractive and effective.
Why is it that stellar students sometimes fail in the workplace while dropouts
succeed? One reason is that most, if not all, of our current assessment practices
are inauthentic. Just as the lecture focuses on the delivery of information to
students, so does assessment often focus on having students regurgitate that
same information back to the instructor. Consequently, assessment fails to focus
on the skills that are relevant in life in the 21st century. Assessment has been
called the «hidden curriculum» as it is an important driver of students’ study
habits. Unless we rethink our approach to assessment, it will be very difficult to
produce a meaningful change in education.

Programme:
3.00 pm Welcome Coffee
3.30 pm Welcome speech Prof. Sarah Springman
3.40 pm Talk by Prof. E. Mazur, Harvard University
4.30 pm Panel Discussion «Assessment and Gender Stereotypes»
5.00 pm Questions and Answers
5.30 pm Apéro Riche
For details please see: Flyer_Mazur Assessment and Gender_Broschure (PDF)