Chapter 10

Throughout reading the chapters in the book, we have been introduced to many different ways of using technology as a tool to help children learn. This chapter focuses on proper assessment to promote meaningful learning through technology. It begins by discussing authentic and performance assessment. Personally, I feel that authentic assessment should be used more often because it is more closely related to what students will need in the future. It allows students to be tested in ways that truly indicate whether they understand what is being tested.

Technology based assessment provides teachers with various ways to assess students. It is very helpful because it makes managing assessment data easier. Students are given better feedback because the teacher has more time to evaluate answers. One specific assessment tool that the book introduces is electronic portfolios. These are collections of digitized artifacts such as videos, graphics, clips, etc. The main purpose is to expose students to working with multimedia programs. I feel like this is a great tool to use with children. In this class we have been working with many artifacts that can be put into a portfolio at the end of the semester. Since so much work is being done electronically, e-portfolios are great to keep everything organized and for students to compare what they have done throughout the year. It also provides students with flexibility because it can be developed through a period of time. This takes away the stress that comes with constant time restraints. I definitely plan to use this as a form of assessment in my future classroom.

Ever since I can remember, rubrics have been given to me a guide and as tool for assessment. I have always liked when my teachers gave/still give rubrics. They allow students to be fully aware of the guidelines that must be met. Technology has made creating and using rubrics much easier for teachers. Before reading this chapter, I never knew that there were specific tools that help in creating rubrics. A program that the chapter initiates is the Rubric Processor. I really liked this tool because it prompts teachers in what should be included for an effective rubric. Having a good rubric and a program that helps create one is really great because you can dedicate more time in helping the student through proper feedback and focusing on key elements. The book provides helpful hints for teachers to keep in mind when producing rubrics.

The next part of the chapter talks about assessment tools. One that it specifically mentions and that I personally have used in many of my college classes is the clicker. Through my experience with the clicker, I have come to find them quite beneficial in a large lecture hall. Since these classes have so many students present, it becomes hard to get direct student feedback. The clicker makes it easy to ask students questions as a group and get immediate answers. I can see how they would be used in an elementary class, but I feel that teachers need to be very specific with the use of them. Kids may be distracted with the tool and without proper guidance; they can be more of a problem then a helpful source. But if used correctly, this tool is great for many reasons. One of the main reasons is that it can be very intrinsically motivating and engages students in a new and interactive way. When I googled the term “clickers”, I was surprised at the number of ideas on how to integrate them and the amount of different clicker vendors. I feel that if I have the privilege of having clickers, I will use them in my classroom as a way to get immediate feedback from my students.

The final assessment tool that the book mentions is computer- based tests and surveys. I have used this many times during my time in school. Surveys can be very effective for teachers to use with students and with parents. Teachers can use this tool as a way to get feedback from both. There are so many programs available to create free online surveys, making it easy to use. The compute- based tests are also very useful to use in the classroom because students are given different questions based on their prior answer. This is a great way to work with each student’s individual ability level. In order for this tool to be effective, students must understand that the teacher is not grading their responses but they are using those responses to verify if students truly understand.

Overall I felt this chapter was very helpful for all of us as educators. Using multiple forms of assessment is very important because a teacher can truly get an idea of individual strengths and weaknesses. Standard testing can be useful, but do not always provide students with a true evaluation of skills and do not always show teachers what students really understand. The variety of assessment tools introduced in this chapter will be incorporated in my classroom to promote meaningful learning.