Melanie Behlmann
EDU 225
February 19, 2015
Prof. Larson
Part 1: Assessment Technology
My assessment has
been done using the online assessment tool Socrative. My classroom number is bbed167b;
this is where my assessment can be accessed.
The assessment
that I have created will gage my students on their level of comprehension. This
assessment is a formative assessment, because it is being used to monitor
student learning, so that the information can be used for feedback in order to
improve student learning as well as teaching. This assessment is used to
identify student’s areas of strength and weakness.
Students will
begin by reading “Frog on a Log” by Roy Kindelberber
ANSWER KEY:
1.
Who lived in the tree? The bird.
2.
Who lives in the hole? A mouse.
3.
Tell four things that Bob does when he gets
home? Swims, sleeps, eats a bug, hops on a log.
4.
Who were the main characters of the story? Bob (frog), Bird, Mouse.
5.
How was Bob’s problem solved? He fell into the pond.
Part 2: Blog Post
Assessments
are extremely important in the classroom and are a vital part of a teacher’s
position. In today’s world technology is ever-growing, and incorporating it
into the classroom has many benefits and wonderful out comes for both teachers
and students. By utilizing technology in assessments it allows teachers to keep
clear records of their student’s strengths, and weaknesses. There are many ways
in which teachers can utilize technology to facilitate ongoing efforts to
assess student learning in the classroom, there is wonderful software that can
be used in order to facilitate these assessments, such as Clickers, educational
games, and PowerPoint presentations. There are also Pros as well as cons to
using technology to assess students. All of these technologies can be used to
benefit both the teachers as well as the students.
Technology to
Facilitate Ongoing Efforts to Assess Student Learning
Utilizing technology is an extremely
effective way in which to facilitate the ongoing efforts to assess student learning
in the classroom. According to West (2011, p.8) “Digital technologies create opportunities
to measure student performance in a much more nuanced and multi-faceted manner
than previously was the case. No longer are teachers limited to standardized limited examinations or periodic
classroom tests, instead they have the chance to provide feedback at virtually
every step of the learning process toward educational objectives for individual
pupils.” When utilizing technologies to assess students verse standard tests,
teachers are able to gain much more vital information. Assessments dine with
technologies allow teachers to directly point out individual students strengths as well as the
things that they need help with, these types of assessments enable teachers to
continuously follow their students’ progress in which can be used to see how
far the students have come in a set amount of time. Using technology in
assessments is most defiantly beneficial for teachers, but also very beneficial
for students as well, as it spikes their attention and gets them engaged in their
lessons.
Technology-Band
Active Responding Systems (Clickers) : According to Salend
(2009, p.50) “These wireless, infrared, or radio frequency systems allow
teachers to monitor their students learning by having students periodically
respond electronically to factual, computational. Conceptual, and comprehension
questions; probes and quizzes; interactive activities and poll, opinion, and
review questions.” If a teacher wants to assess a large group of students at
one time, clickers are an excellent tool to utilize. The software retrieves
results from all students and the teacher is able to immediately view the
answers. Clickers are a wonderful tool to use in order to reach all students
even the students who may be reluctant to participate during class discussions.
Clickers allow teachers to become more aware of the needs of individual
students, what their strengths are, and the areas in which they need some extra
help. A great way in which clickers can be used by a teacher in the classroom
is to have a short passage and allow students time to read it silently to
themselves, the passage will have to do with what is being taught in class at
that time. The teachers could then have created a question quiz consisting of
about ten to fifteen questions over the information from the passage, in order
to assess student comprehension.
Technology-Based Educational Games: Educational games are
wonderful tools for teachers to use in order to assess student learning, and to
pin point students individual strengths and weaknesses. According to
Educational (2011) “Educational games are in many cases suitable for
assessment. There are a number of benefits of educational gaming as an assessment
activity, from both the student perspective and the teacher perspective.
Educational games tend to be more engaging than traditional assessment tasks
and the use of educational games allows for assessment to be implemented as an
ongoing activity for monitoring learning and tracking development in given
learning areas.” Teachers could use educational games in the classroom, by
having the students engage in these games on the computers, iPads, tablets, etc.
During certain lessons. Using educational games is exciting for students, they
are able to have fun and learn at the same time, playing these games allows the
teachers to target the areas in which their students are string and in which
they are weak.
PowerPoint
Presentations: PowerPoint presentations are also a
wonderful tool to utilize in order to assess student learning. According to
Salend (2009, p.52) “Students can use presentation software to present the
outcomes of their learning to others. In addition to presenting he key points
and vocabulary related to the topic, these presentations can also include
color, animation, audio, and visuals. PowerPoint presentations are great tools
for student engagement; it allows the students to take control over their
learning. Using PowerPoint is a very effective tool to use for group
assessments. PowerPoints can be used in the classroom in various ways, in just
about any subject. A wonderful example of using PowerPoint is in math, and learning
how to tell time. By creating a specific PowerPoint, with interactive tools,
allows students to become actively involved and engaged in their learning and
allows the teacher to gage their learning at the same time.
(Formative and
Summative Assessments)
Technology aids in assessments in
multiple ways. According to Salend (2009, p.49) “In terms of formative
assessment, they are particularly helpful and informative in monitoring the
learning process of the students, and making decisions about how to improve instructional programs. With
respect to summative assessments, they can be graded and aligned to IEP goals
and curriculum learning standards as a culminating authentic activity to assess
student mastery of specific content, topics, concepts, and skills taught, and
to communicate information about student performance to others.” Both of these
assessments can be facilitated through technology, such as Clickers,
educational games, and PowerPoint presentations. Each of these technology tools
is wonderful ways in which to assess student learning in the classroom, and
they also allow for great student engagement. The best technology too to use
for a summative assessment would have to be clickers, as it is a quick and
effective way to assess an entire class at one time. Students are able o know
their results immediately when utilizing clickers. PowerPoints are great for
providing students with guidelines, such as a rubric to follow as it allows them
to clearly see what is expected of them and what they need to incorporate into
their presentation, this is engaging for the students, because they are able to
take control over their own work and then later present it to their teacher on
what they comprehend, this allows the teacher r=to clearly see the students
individual strengths and weaknesses.
Online educational games are a wonderful tool to use for formative
assessments as they easily allow teachers to become aware of the students
individual strengths and weaknesses. Educational games can be utilized in the
classroom at least once or twice per week in order to gage students
understanding.
(Pros and Cons of using
Technology to Facilitate Assessment)
In the classroom, utilizing technology to
facilitate instruction is being done on a daily basis, all over the world. As technology
is a wonderful tool there are both pros and cons that go along with it.
According to Pros (2012) “Some of the pros to using technology to facilitate
assessments are it improves authenticity and alignment with learning outcomes,
speeds the assessment load for staff, and students, improves student engagement
and promotes deeper learning, additional flexibility for learning, allows
student to access assessments at a time that best suits their individual learning
approaches and needs, and it provides readily available statistics on student
performance.” Without a doubt, using
technology to facilitate assessments has many beneficial aspects. It allows reaches
to effectively gage individual students learning, learning styles, etc., which
is entirely beneficial to the students and their ultimate success. Of course as
with many there things, there is also negative points to using technology for
assessments. Sometimes technology does fail, and on the scheduled day of the
assessment there is always the chance
that technology may not be up and running and this can cause many unwanted
drawbacks. According to Pros (2012) “Despite the numerous benefits to be
derived from implementing technology facilitated assessments, there are some
costs that go along with it. Some of the biggest issues of implementing
technology facilitated assessments are the associated costs of software, accessibility
issues, students feeling a sense of isolation, and resistance to change by
students and staff.”
(“Should a teacher only
use technology to assess student learning? Why or why not?”)
Teachers should utilize many ways in
which to assess learning. There are multiple other ways including technology
based assessments that can be used and that are effective. Multiple forms of
assessments should be utilized in order for teachers to get the best results
from the students. If the teachers do not mix it up, and use different methods
the students will lose interest and become less engaged.
What
is the importance of assessment technology in connection with the ISTE
standards?
Utilizing assessment technology in the classroom is
extremely important and effective for student engagement. According to ISTE
(2008) “Standard 2 Design and Develop Digital Age Learning Experiences and
Assessments: Teachers design, developed, and evaluate authentic learner
experiences and assessments incorporating contemporary tools and resources to
maximize content learning in context and development the knowledge, skills, and
attitudes identified in the standards.”
Two standards in which are used for technology based assessments are “Standard
2: B) Develop technology-enriched learning environments that allow every
student to strive and be active in their own learning. D): Give students many
different formative and summative assessments that go along with content and
technology standards.” ISTE (2008). There are certainly both pros and cons to
using technology based assessments, but the pros outweigh the cons, when it comes
to student learning, engagement, and overall outcome!
Concluding Paragraph for Software to Support Assessment
All in all,
Assessments are vital in the classroom in order to endure student success. By
using technology based assessment, teachers are able to gather important
information on each of their students in a timely manner, and them take that
information assess it and provide their students with feedback.
References
Educational Games.
(2011,). Retrieved on February 19, 2015 from https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=educational+games
How can technology be used with assessment,
evaluation, and curriculum redesign? (2004) Retrieved on February 19, 2015 from https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=how+can+technology+be+used+with+assessment
ISTE Standards for Teachers. (2008). Retrieved
February 19, 2015, from http://www.iste.org/docs/pdfs/20-14_ISTE_Standards-T_PDF.pdf
Pros and cons of using
technology enhanced assessment. (2012). Retrieved February 19, 2015
Salend, S. J. (2009). Technology-Based
Classroom Assessments. Teaching Exceptional
Children, 41(6), 48-58.
West, D. (2011). Using Technology to
Personalize Learning and Assess Students in Real-Time (pp. 1-19). Washington: The Brookings
Institution.
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