ICE model of thinking, learning, and assessment

Characteristically, educational developers envisage possible futures for transformative professional learning by creating spaces and places that are inclusive, discriminating, reflective and open (Mezirow, 2009). With this in mind, we set out to create spaces for reflection, mindfulness, and intentionality in a writing project that we undertook. We invited ten faculty members from a variety of disciplines who were working at universities across Ontario, Canada as potential contributors to this project. Because we wanted to honour the process as much as the outcome, we purposefully designed our interactions and activities for this group with an educative mindset rather than with an instrumental one.

Each faculty member was invited to author a chapter to be peer-reviewed for an edited volume. Chapters were aimed at describing the diverse ways that each author adapted the ICE model of thinking, learning, and assessment into their teaching practices (Fostaty Young & Wilson, 2000; Fostaty Young, 2005). As part of the inquiry and writing process, and through the act of articulating and exchanging their stories, faculty participants gained greater insights into their own teaching practice, as well as into their students’ learning.

Each of the chapters of the ICE book are undergoing a process of double-blind peer-review prior to publication as a Pressbook with the support of eCampus Ontario. Once we have completed the peer review process, revisions will be made with a forecasted publication date of June 2021. This open access book will offer insights into the varied ways--both philosophical and pragmatic in nature--that the ICE model of learning and assessment has been applied in higher education contexts. Through a series of case studies, our group of educators share insights and stories from their courses to inspire, question, reflect on, and disrupt praxis. We invite you to learn more about the editors of this book--”Learning and Assessment in Higher Education: The ICE Age.”