9410 - Technology and Assessment
UMC Course Description
This course examines the principles of assessment in the instructional process, with emphasis on the role of technology. Topics include use of tools and strategies for data collection and management to guide instructionsl decision-making; investigating technologies to improve classroom assessment of student learning; aligning standards, learning activities, and assessments; developing performance assessments to measure higher-order thinking.
Personal Reflection
Understanding assessment requires a development of the vernacular surrounding the education system. Frequently discussions and beaurocratic requirements interchange the terms assessment and evaluation. For example, Maine requires student to take the Maine Education Assessments (MEA). These tests are used to judge the academic standing of the individual and the progress of the school system as a whole.
According to Grant Wiggins, a founder of the Understanding by Design model, "When teachers assess student performance, they're not placing value or judgment on it -- that's evaluating or grading. They're simply reporting a student's profile of achievement." The distinction between the two words comes down to one simple word which is "judgement". Assessment is designed to enhance the learning process by providing feedback and support for an individual at various points in their development. Evaluation on the other hand is designed to produce a quantitative measure to judge their progress relative to others.
This concept created some challenges for me because of the frequent melding of the terms in many educational settings. The adoption of the correct terminology has however opened up new potentials for me to revise my thinking on instruction. It is inevitable that educators will need to revert to evaluation at some particular point for no other reason than to allow others to view progress with less subjectivity and on an equal scale. However, point specific quantities derived from evaluations fail to offer a differentiation in starting knowledge, effort, growth, and long-term potential.
Assessment as a judgement free mechanism for offering feedback removes some of the barriers to achievement. Technology offers a new means to interact with information and resources to assist classroom progress. (Online Assessment Tools) The tools offer students more communication options to speed the transfer of information such as production of books through online self-publishing or podcasts for community service announcements. There is also the ability to contact experts in a topic of immediate interest and develop discussions to expand the perspective beyond the walls of a single classroom. The need now exists for the traditional measures of learning to be replaced by a performance based assessment system. Students progress through an educational program developing as they go and present their gains as examples to receive a diploma. When sufficient progress has been made, they are free to roam the world with a portfolio that shows exactly what capabilities they posses. (Evaluation of Portfolios for Assessment) Portfolios are a step closer to the real world scenario students will face outside of the educational setting. Performance is based on total progress and output rather than individual situational measures of ability.
This course culminated with a performance assessment (Creating a Public Service Announcement) following the application model from Borich and Tombari's Educational Assessment for the Elementary and Middle School Classroom. The objective of my assessment was to move students to the transforming level of Grappling's Technology Spectrum. Students were challenged to use technology to develop a podcast about the student recycling center while learning about the impacts of individuals on global ecosystems.
