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What are the impacts of technological advancement on education today
Summative assessment characteristics
Conclusion on assessment in education
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Software to Support Assessment
The advancements in technology have changed the look and feel of education. Technology has provided many benefits to teachers, students, parents and school districts. The addition of technology to classrooms has enriched student learning, enhanced the delivery of curriculum, and streamlined assessments. The development of software for every possible need including those designed to support assessments. Currently educators are encouraged and charged with developing comprehensive technology plans for their classrooms that incorporate the use of software to support assessment of students throughout the year. Educators must heed the differences between assessment of learning (summative), assessment for learning (formative), and assessment as learning, and realize where the emphasis must be placed. Under the current policy and mandate of assessing students many educators meet the task of assessments with trepidation as they create anxiety for students and a perceived increased work load for teachers. If we reflect on assessment as a means of judging performance to inform our method of instruction which in turn allows us to appraise and modify the manner in which our students learn, we can see the benefit and necessity of assessment. In many ways assessments not only show the progress of a student but provide the opportunity for growth as a teacher. At this point in the development of my comprehensive technology plan I will reflect on my future use of software and technology in the support of the assessment of my students.
The operative use of assessments in the classroom to support teachers in planning and providing targeted instruction in the content standards can be managed through the use of so...
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...g the use of software to support assessment of students throughout the year as a beneficial and time saving task.
References
Abrahamson, A. (2002). An Overview of Teaching and Learning Research with Classroom Communication Systems (CCSs). Retrieved March 22, 2012, from http://www.bedu.com/Publications/Samos.html
Draper, S., Cargill, J., & Cutts, O. (2002). Electronically enhanced classroom interaction. Austrailian Journal of Educational Technology, 13-23.
Earl, L. (2003). Assessment as learning: Using classroom assessment to maximize student learning. Thousand Oaks: Corwin.
Shaffer, D.M., & Collura M.J. (2009). Evaluating the Effectiveness of a Personal Response System in the Classroom. Teaching of Pyschology, 273-277.
Sharkey, N. & Murnane, R. (2003, November). The Challenges of Accountability. Learning from Student Assessment Results, pp. 77-81.
After taking the Personal Assessment Literacy Survey, I learned a lot about myself and what I do know about assessments, and what I don’t. This survey allowed me to reflect on the process that I take to plan, develop, and administer tests in my class and what I need to do with the results. When I went through the criteria of all of the topics in the survey, I honestly did not know what the survey was talking about or what it meant. This was really concerning to me because I like to think that I do a pretty good job when it comes to instruction of my class and how I assess their knowledge of the material. I learned from this survey that there are a lot of things I do well during assessments and that there is still a lot that I need to learn to be an effective classroom leader.
Assessment has been the greatest challenge in my development as a professional. My coursework as supported my growth in this area, especially in understanding the broad range of assessments used to support students’ growth and development. My courses have also supported my understanding of how ongoing observational assessment and standards-based measures can be used to inform instruction and support the cycle of observation, reflection and planning. Coursework
Current educational policy and practice asserts that increased standardized student testing is the key to improving student learning and is the most appropriate means for holding individual schools and teachers accountable for student learning. Instead, it has become a tool solely for summarizing what students have learned and for ranking students and schools. The problem is standardized tests cannot provide the information about student achievement that teachers and students need day-to-day. Classroom assessment can provide this kind of information.
Curriculum and instruction is impacted by assessment, and whether in the design, delivery or data interpretation processes, aligning these apparatuses is most challenging part of being a teacher. Teachers are called to exercise an alignment between assessment and curriculum, use assessment to guide instruction, and deliver assessment that truly evaluates achievement. Two forms of assessment used in the classroom, formative and summative possess important components, that track them into purposeful, designated uses. Even more so challenging as a teacher in using these two assessments is understanding how they work separately, together, and exploring how they might be used with and for each other.
It is very hard not to realize that technology has overpowered education in many ways. “Technology integration is similar to a tidal wave, growing silently in strength, then falling with an unstoppable roar upon those who paid no attention or showed little interest” (Guhlin, 40). Nowadays, computers are almost considered a necessity in the classroom, and are the main component of technology integration. Computers are being used in more numerous ways, besides only being used for basic word processing. With a simple computer, copious availabilities of technologies can be used in the classroom. “The one thing that is so great about the computer is that it does give a lot of instruction--and you don't need to have hearing to take advantage of it” (Anderson, 12). It’s amazing how one simple screen can provide everlasting opportunity for learning.
make it work? In C.A. Dwyer (Ed.), The future of assessment: Shaping teaching and learning
Assessments are an important part of teaching. Assessments are a good way for teachers to monitor students’ learning and understanding. Knowing students’ level of understanding can help teachers improve students’ learning and guide their instructions. In the future, I plan to continue assessing students in multiple ways such as, asking questions, illustrations and writing to adjust my instruction. I also plan to encourage students to assess their own work so they are involved in their own learning as well as look for ways to “employ technology to support assessment
Assessments have always been a tool for teachers to assess mastery and for a long time it was just to provide a grade and enter it into the grade book or report card. Through resources in and out of the course, there has been a breath of new life into the research on how to use assessments. They take many forms and fall within the summative or formative assessment category. Sloan (2016) addresses how formative assessments has traditionally been used by teachers to modify instruction, but when we focus on a classroom that is learner-centered “it becomes assessment for learning as opposed to assessment of learning” (slide 4). The fact is, the students are the ones that should be and are the ones using the data we collect through assessments, since it is our way of providing feedback in order
With the widespread use of digital technology, the classroom teaching approaches and practices went through remarkable changes. When compared to the past ten years, today the classrooms look entirely different in terms of programs and technical tools used to enhance the learning skills of students.
In spite of the importance of assessment in education, few teachers receive proper training on how to design or analyze assessments. Due to this, when teachers are not provided with suitable assessments from their textbooks or instructional resources, teachers construct their own in an unsystematic manner. They create questions and essay prompts comparable to the ones that their teachers used, and they treat them as evaluations to administer when instructional activities are completed predominantly for allocating students' grades. In order to use assessments to improve instruction and student learning, teachers need to change their approach to assessments by making sure that they create sound assessments. To ensure that their assessments are sound they need include five basic indicators that can be used as steps to follow when creating assessments. The first of these indicators and the first step a teacher must take when creating a sound assessme...
Through assessment students and teachers are able to determine the level of mastery a student has achieved with standards taught. Both formative and summative assessment should be purposeful and targeted to gain the most accurate data to drive further instruction (Ainsworth, 2010). While this syllabus does a good job of identifying the need for both formal and informal assessments, the way in which this is communicated does not provide enough detail for understanding. Simply listing assessment types does not give any insight into how these assessments fit in the learning process of this course. While some of the assessments mentioned could be common assessments chosen by the school or district to gain insight into the effectiveness of instruction, the inclusion of authentic assessments is most beneficial to students and demonstrates learning in a context closer to that of a work environment (Rovai, 2004). Unfortunately, this particular course, according to this syllabus, relies heavily on quizzes and traditional tests and essays to form the bulk of assessment opportunities. While other activities, such as formative assessments, journaling and discussions are mentioned as possible avenues for scoring, they are given a very low percentage of the overall grade. This shows that they are not valued for their ability to show progression and mastery. If this is indeed the case, this puts the students as a
Assessment is a tool used in the classroom every day. It is used to measure a student’s mastery of a skill or knowledge of a given subject. It is also what demonstrates to the teacher what the students have learned. Educators use that information to determine if they need to re-teach to a specific student, group, or the entire class. They can also use that information to determine the rate of their teaching. Assessments are important because, as teachers, we need to know what difficulties our students have and what needs to be refined for them. While I do believe in assessment and feel that it is one of the key components of teaching, I am more concerned with a child’s process of learning rather than the overall product that comes from it. This is where grades come in for me. Grades determine the students’ level of mastery on a subject, nothing more. Grades should not be the exclusive indicators that a student has learned the information that is presented to them. It is the things a student learns along the way that truly matter and sometimes cannot be measured.
students prefer technology because they believe that it makes learning more interesting and fun. They especially like laptops and tablets. Subjects that students deem challenging or boring can become more interesting with virtual lessons, through a video, or when using a tablet. Technology occupies an important place within students’ lives. When they are not in school, just about everything that they do is connected in some way to technology. By integrating technology into the classroom, teachers are changing the way they used to teach (lectures six hours a day) and providing students with the tools that will take them into the 21st century. One of the characteristics of the modern classroom is collaboration and technology helps to empower it. With classroom technology students can collaborate with other students and their teachers in and outside of the classroom quickly and easily.
As I reflect on my past assessment process, I realized how much my assessments have changed over the years. In my early years, I used tests for informational recall as my assessments. I felt these were appropriate guidelines in which I needed to follow in order to substantiate a student’s grade. Every assignment or tests was given a point value and then based on the amount of points, a grade was given. Every student’s assessment was exactly the same, and the assessments did not contain any subjectivity. I felt confident in giving the grade based on a valid point system. However reflecting back, I see that I did not include any performance-based assessments or individual learning styles in my early assessment. I also did not take into consideration the individual needs of my students. My assessment approach was awful. I am embarrassed that I use to assess students in this manner.
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E. R., & Kuhn, M. (2012). Using technology with classroom instruction that works (2nd ed.). Alexandria, VA and Denver, CO: ASCD and Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning.