Every student, we were told, faces obstacles to learning. Those obstacles might be mundane: the teacher might be a tiresome jerk, the material might be boring, the textbooks might be old and out of date, the classroom’s air-conditioning might not work well. Or they might be more serious: you might be facing eviction, you may not have enough to eat, or the religious police might arrest you if they find out what you are studying. There is never a shortage of obstacles. Still, however trivial or grave the obstacle, the student has to push it aside and learn anyway.

Erik Gilbert

This guy is taking about assessment and how he thinks it is problematic that "bean counters" are influencing faculty. I agree that the student is responsible for learning but I don't think that means that the faculty member is free to do anything they want. As we move from teaching to learning the student is responsible fro learning but the faculty member has to provide learning opportunities. Assessment is done by looking at student work.