The purpose of this essay is to analyze how Holistic Knowledge influences within the Educational Evaluation Process since there are different types of evaluation, various criteria and most Higher Education Institutions base their teachings on the Educational Model by Competences and the constructive which provides skills, knowledge and attitudes that facilitates future professionals.
Before talking together about the close relationship between Holistic Knowledge and the Evaluation Process, it is important to define the concepts that make up the topic.
The continuous changes in the productive, financial systems, in technology and science, foster new ways of life, production and work; which requests that the Higher Education Institutions direct their didactic objectives to the formation of fully developed people. It is at this point that the concept of Educational Evaluation is emphasized. Evaluation is perhaps one of the fastest growing topics in the pedagogical space today, and not because it is an unknown topic at all, but because the entire linked society is more aware than ever of the value and consequences of evaluating or to be evaluated.
Although there are many definitions of educational evaluation, most of them converge to define it as mentioned by Doménech Betoret, “process to obtain useful information, in order to formulate value judgments and at the same time serve as a guide for decision-making "
Traditionally, the evaluation was applied almost exclusively to the knowledge of the students, acquired by them in the teaching processes. Over time and as discussed above, the evaluation has been extended to other didactic areas such as: attitudes, skills, educational programs, curricular materials, teaching performance, educational facilities, the educational system as a whole and even the evaluation itself.
There are different types of evaluation this classification meets various criteria. Therefore, one or the other is handled depending on its objective; To the evaluators, to each specific situation, to the available resources, to whom the evaluation information is directed and to other elements.
Now that you have become a little honest about Educational Evaluation; Let us return to Holism (from the Greek ὅλος: "everything", "whole", "total"). Then then Holistic Knowledge encompasses the entire concept of an individual or an object or a thought, since it also contains the values that can be given autonomously by each of the subjects and is what ultimately distinguishes it.
Like Evaluation, there are many existing definitions of Holistic Knowledge. Although it is a day-to-day action, there is no agreement as to what actually happens when something is known.
Transferring these definitions to the current pedagogical context, it can be concluded that Educational Evaluation depends on Holistic Knowledge for it to be functional.
To make the previous statement a little clearer, it is necessary to mention that the Higher Education Institutions base their teachings on the Competency-based Education model, with which it aspires to the formation of fully developed individuals. Professionals who demonstrate competent and adequate skills with social and productive problems so that they favor the progress of society.
This educational model considers that all human beings have great potential that can be developed when they show interest in learning; reason why it is sustained in the four pillars for the education of this millennium that Delors proposes: learning to know, learning to do, learning to live together and learning to be. Thus, this model has a purely holistic approach that fosters the constructive development of skills, knowledge and attitudes that makes it easier for future professionals to correctly enter the work dynamic and adapt to changes and social demands.
In conclusion, if social demand is the fundamental basis of education and this in turn develops plans, programs and educational models that promote the development of a biopsychosocial being, the only way to "generate information that makes it possible to make decisions regarding how the person is performing before an activity or problem, and how it can improve ”is to take into account Holistic Knowledge; Since the person with the greatest knowledge will not be evaluated, it will only be determined if the student is “competent” or “not yet competent” within their training process.
Footnotes:
- Doménech Betoret, F. (1999). University teaching-learning process. Castellón de la Plana, Spain: Universitat Jaume I. Delors, J. (1998). The education holds a treasure,. México, DF: Ediciones el choreo de UNESCO.Tobón, S., Rial Sánchez, A., Carretero Díaz, M. Á., & García Fraile, JA (2006). Competences, Quality and Higher Education. Bogotá, DC, Colombia: Cooperativa Editorial Magisterio.
