Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Chapter 10: Assessing Meaningful Learning with Technology
After reading the chapter about assessing meanful learning with technology, I feel more prepared to use technology assessment tools in my future classroom. The chapter provided a lot of useful information about the different types of technology-based assessments and how they can be implemented in the classroom. I really enjoyed reading this chapter because assessment is a crucial component of teaching and learning. As a future teacher, it is important to understand how to effectively use assessment tools to monitor student progress. I think technology-based assessment tools can enhance meaningful learning by engaging students and evaluating what they have accomplished or learned. I also liked this chapter because it provides numerous examples and resources of various assessment tools.
The first type of assessment that I learned about from the chapter is student electronic portfolios. After reading about E-portfolios, I am convinced that I want to use them with my future students. I think E-portfolios are a great way to gather each students learning artifacts and illustrate their efforts, progress, and achievements. Portfolios are beneficial because they demonstate the student's ability to produce a certain product, follow a process, and develop in a particular learning domain. I will use E-portfolios with my future students to evaluate and view learning outcomes in all different subject areas. E-portfolios can be used for writing, social studies projects, science demonstrations, etc. What I like most about the idea of E-portfolios is that they can be developed over time and can show different learning outcomes or objectives. I also think group protfolios are a beneficial way for students to learn how to collaborate and communicate with one another. When students are finished with their E-portfolios, I think it is important for them to reflect on what they have learned and how the experience could be improved in the future. Some examples of E-portfolios that I would possible include in my classroom is a web-based portfolio program such as Dreamweaver or a software package such as Foliotek.
Rubrics is another area of assessment that I had not given much thought about before reading this chapter. Using rubrics to assess students' performance and progress is important because it gives guidelines and specifics as to what should be accomplished. Before reading the chapter, I did not realize how detailed using rubrics could be and how complicated rubric-making is. I learned about the two different categories of rubrics including rubric banks and ruberic generation tools. Although there are more negative learning effects of using already created rubrics, I think both types of rubrics can be useful in the classroom. Discovery School and Rubrician are two rubric bank sites where teachers can find rubrics to use with their students to assess learning. I agree that when using a rubric from a rubric bank site, it is important that teachers modify the rubric to ensure that it addresses the intended learning outcome. If more time we alloted to teachers, I think the best type of rubric would be generated based on the specific learing objectives and task being assessed. To create a "good" rubric, teachers must include all important elements, make sure each element is inidimensional, ensure ratings are distinct, communicate clearly to students and parents, and make sure the rubric provides a direct summary score. Also, technology-based rubrics create meaningful learning because they focus on creating qualitative feedback for students.
The next part of the chapter was also very interesting to read and learn about. It talked about clicker assessment tools and how they are used to enhance learning and assessment in the classroom. In previous science classes in college, I have used clickers to answer questions asked by the professor. I really like the idea of clickers because they allow all students to reply/respond and they allow for the teacher to see immediate results. Clickers are also a great tool to use in the classroom because they are simple enough to use with younger children and because they are becoming less and less expensive to buy. Clickers are beneficial because they engage students in learning and motivate them. Teachers can use clickers throughout the curriculum to support assessment. Clickers can be used as a pre-test of students' knowledge, display student misconceptions, gauge teacher instruction or presentation of material, allow students to predict outcomes, and assess conceptual knowledge and higher-order learning outcomes. One of the downsides of using clickers in the classroom is the possible lack of resources. In order to use clickers, various resources are needed including a PC, an LCD projector, clicker remotes, and receivers. These items may not always be available for use.
Computer-based tests and surveys is the last component addressed in this chapter. I thought this part of the chapter was less interesting than the other forms of assessment demonstrated. The only benefit that I can think of to computer-based tests and surveys is the immediate feedback and gathering of information. Other than that, I do not think this form of assessment does not address the student-centered, meaningful learning nature of the book. CAT is one type of application that can be used in the classroom but I'm not sure I completely understand what it entails. SurveyMonkey is a survey site that I would be more likely to use with my students because it allows for simple gathering of information to monitor student knowledge and progress. All in all, I really enjoyed reading this chapter and learned a lot of useful tools that I can use for assessment in my future classroom.
The first type of assessment that I learned about from the chapter is student electronic portfolios. After reading about E-portfolios, I am convinced that I want to use them with my future students. I think E-portfolios are a great way to gather each students learning artifacts and illustrate their efforts, progress, and achievements. Portfolios are beneficial because they demonstate the student's ability to produce a certain product, follow a process, and develop in a particular learning domain. I will use E-portfolios with my future students to evaluate and view learning outcomes in all different subject areas. E-portfolios can be used for writing, social studies projects, science demonstrations, etc. What I like most about the idea of E-portfolios is that they can be developed over time and can show different learning outcomes or objectives. I also think group protfolios are a beneficial way for students to learn how to collaborate and communicate with one another. When students are finished with their E-portfolios, I think it is important for them to reflect on what they have learned and how the experience could be improved in the future. Some examples of E-portfolios that I would possible include in my classroom is a web-based portfolio program such as Dreamweaver or a software package such as Foliotek.
Rubrics is another area of assessment that I had not given much thought about before reading this chapter. Using rubrics to assess students' performance and progress is important because it gives guidelines and specifics as to what should be accomplished. Before reading the chapter, I did not realize how detailed using rubrics could be and how complicated rubric-making is. I learned about the two different categories of rubrics including rubric banks and ruberic generation tools. Although there are more negative learning effects of using already created rubrics, I think both types of rubrics can be useful in the classroom. Discovery School and Rubrician are two rubric bank sites where teachers can find rubrics to use with their students to assess learning. I agree that when using a rubric from a rubric bank site, it is important that teachers modify the rubric to ensure that it addresses the intended learning outcome. If more time we alloted to teachers, I think the best type of rubric would be generated based on the specific learing objectives and task being assessed. To create a "good" rubric, teachers must include all important elements, make sure each element is inidimensional, ensure ratings are distinct, communicate clearly to students and parents, and make sure the rubric provides a direct summary score. Also, technology-based rubrics create meaningful learning because they focus on creating qualitative feedback for students.
The next part of the chapter was also very interesting to read and learn about. It talked about clicker assessment tools and how they are used to enhance learning and assessment in the classroom. In previous science classes in college, I have used clickers to answer questions asked by the professor. I really like the idea of clickers because they allow all students to reply/respond and they allow for the teacher to see immediate results. Clickers are also a great tool to use in the classroom because they are simple enough to use with younger children and because they are becoming less and less expensive to buy. Clickers are beneficial because they engage students in learning and motivate them. Teachers can use clickers throughout the curriculum to support assessment. Clickers can be used as a pre-test of students' knowledge, display student misconceptions, gauge teacher instruction or presentation of material, allow students to predict outcomes, and assess conceptual knowledge and higher-order learning outcomes. One of the downsides of using clickers in the classroom is the possible lack of resources. In order to use clickers, various resources are needed including a PC, an LCD projector, clicker remotes, and receivers. These items may not always be available for use.
Computer-based tests and surveys is the last component addressed in this chapter. I thought this part of the chapter was less interesting than the other forms of assessment demonstrated. The only benefit that I can think of to computer-based tests and surveys is the immediate feedback and gathering of information. Other than that, I do not think this form of assessment does not address the student-centered, meaningful learning nature of the book. CAT is one type of application that can be used in the classroom but I'm not sure I completely understand what it entails. SurveyMonkey is a survey site that I would be more likely to use with my students because it allows for simple gathering of information to monitor student knowledge and progress. All in all, I really enjoyed reading this chapter and learned a lot of useful tools that I can use for assessment in my future classroom.
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