Élie Tarakdjian

Élie Tarakdjian was born in Cairo on April 7, 1949. His Egyptian, Greek, and Armenian roots, combined with his extensive experience in Canada, provide him with the knowledge and perspective to address issues affecting modern societies. An educator, advisor, and teacher, he first worked at the primary and secondary levels before moving to university teaching. He is deeply interested in the educational environment and the conditions under which 21st-century students can thrive, motivated to engage, persevere, and achieve desired success levels. It's from this viewpoint that he developed strategic educational materials, including the "Grammatical Reference," which simplifies the teaching and learning of grammar concepts and rules.

A poet and novelist for many years, this educator has been delving into the realm of learning assessment with his known humanistic approach. He appreciates recent research findings that highlight the inseparable links between imparted teaching, anticipated learning, and targeted assessment. That's why all his courses for future teachers and the knowledge he shares with academic colleagues are geared towards this new paradigm.

Pragmatic in his approach, he views assessment from a methodological perspective. The processes followed for learning are as crucial as the outcomes achieved. He believes that educators need to gather evidence of learning that most accurately reflects the student's situation. With this in mind, he charts the course for the final phase of his career. He provides methods for designing tasks for both essential knowledge acquisition and cognitive skill development. He offers advice on using assessment grids wisely to gauge competency mastery and guidelines for properly crafting exercise or test questionnaires. In his recent writings, Élie Tarakdjian leaves no stone unturned in assisting today's and tomorrow's educators in their quest to assess their students as fairly, validly, and objectively as possible.