Is+there+any+merit?

In life many decisions are made following extensive research to ensure the best outcome to support the decision. Why is it that we test students on "memorised knowledge" rather than the skill to find research to support a decision that needs to be made?**
 * Is there any merit in "open mobile phone" tests or even "open internet tests" as suggested on page 44?

I agree with Prensky's idea that if you can win a million dollars on a life line, then why can't students use a "life line" such as a mobile phone to pass a test. I know that the VCAA does not support this, and therefore it isn't going to change what we currently do at Year 12 level, but I do think that it is worthwhile thinking about the concept. If students are allowed to access other sources of information during test situations, we as teachers can be doing two things. Firstly we can ask deeper questions, encouraging students to do better thinking and learning. Secondly we are supporting the development of essential research skills that our students will need in the future - using the tools they are most familiar with. When in their (the students') future will they make a decision whereby they won't be looking at another source of information to inform them to make the best decision? Can we actually trial this sort of testing in Year 11? Of course this would mean looking at our current SACs / Tests and writing them differently so that deeper levels of thinking are encouraged and better, or higher order thinking, questions are asked. It is a very challenging concept - and may take some time to get our heads around.

This one worries me a little-some students have different capacities on their phones and different people connections. Authentication issues abound here so we would need to be very careful with this. I would like to hear others thoughts on this.