PART 1: ASSESSMENT TECHNOLOGY
The utilization of tools such as Socrative, Poll Everywhere and Edmodo can help to improve the student’s learning, understanding of concepts, interaction with the teachers and the overall performance. The teachers stand to benefit from technological input by adopting better, more efficient and less labor intensive teaching practices. This paper presents the incorporation of technology in formative assessments which are focused on monitoring each learner’s learning progress and making decisions aimed to improve instructional programs.
When creating an online assessment I need to first register or create a profile with a choice online assessment website. It then requires me to put a title of the assessment after which a page with the options to create an exam, a gamified quiz or an assessment of personalities. Each of the options further opens for the teacher to type in the questions and their respective answers after which the teacher selects the students to take the test and then posts it to them. The following is a sample assessment and the set answers.
The teacher uses his/her tablet while in class to select some exercises and games that bear questions on an ongoing topic. The students answer the questions or play the assigned game as the teacher obtains individual scores in real-time. The teacher writes instant feedback and can visualize on her device the level of understanding or comprehension among the learners.
How are students using technology?
The students are able to respond to questions and play games on their tablets in a highly interactive session with their teacher as they are assessed.
What evidence on the results of technology can be availed in the classroom?
There could be computer-generated charts and graphs on the walls to sum up the results of an assessment as well as summaries of some topics in graphical presentations that are attractive to the learners.
Which gadgets does the technology use and what are the requirements to use the technology effectively?
How can other parties besides students and teachers help to improve the learning outcomes through assessment?
The student profile can be created in such as way that parents and guardians can access it to view the performance of their children and they can contribute by commenting on the performance while a section to guide them on how they can support a learner would go a long way in helping improve assessment results progressively.
When using formative assessment using an application such as Socrative, it helps to generate deeper thinking and discussions among students and the teachers. In this case, the responses given to the questions raised above indicate the complementary role that any technology will have to the teacher. Socrative shows that the teachers can view scores and student progress during an assessment, delivery anonymous quizzes, choose when to turn on and off the immediate feedbacks with the students, shuffle question and answer orders, share quizzes with other Socrative users among others. From their end the students are required to create profiles and login to either Public Room or Private Room. The teachers also create profiles which have more features to enable them direct and assessment and instructional strategies. The users can use desktop computers, laptops, ipads and mobile phones that are internet enabled to access their respective profiles.
PART 2: BLOG POST
Technology to facilitate ongoing efforts to assess student learning
There have been massive improvements in education in terms of its delivery and content in the last two decades. Since assessment remains one of the core activities that ought to take place in healthy learning environments, there is still a lot more that can be done in regard to the summative and formative assessment of learners. Numerous digital tools can facilitate the formative and summative assessment processes. It also makes it easier for the teacher to tell which students need further assistance and exercises and in which specific areas. Moreover, the teachers and students are able to communicate in real-time and either of them can obtain feedback quickly.
Edmodo
This is s software where teachers, parents and students can connect and also collaborate. The teachers use the software mostly to assign groups discussions work and allocate students to specific groups. The students can provide their parents with the classroom codes which allow not only the teachers but also the parents to monitor student’s participation and performance. The teachers and the students assess the level at which a student collaborates with his/her colleagues.
Socrative
This educational software has exercises and games that are meant to engage students using mobile devices such as tablets, mobile phones and laptops. It can facilitate formative assessments by allowing visualization, instant feedback, as well as real-time questioning. The teacher can assign online projects with the questions to help the learner master content easier as they can keep communicating in real-time.
Formative and summative assessments
According to Eberly (2014) summative assessment refers to the measurement of each student’s success levels at the end of a given instructional unit while formative assessment refers to the collection of feedback that can be used to improve an ongoing study, learning or teaching context. Educational software is critical in the modern times to assist in formative assessment. The teachers are able to tell the level of comprehension and understanding in a deeper manner . As such, the teachers can act on the specific weak points instead of generalities. Softwares such as socrative, polleverywhere and edmodo can be used by teachers to obtain instant feedback, and allow the teacher to plan lessons better and even more instructional time.
Pros and cons of using technology to facilitate assessment
When technology is used, the teacher and the student collaborate at a higher and more efficient level. The teacher can teach in an easier manner while the learners can comprehend better and obtain more out of an educational process. Learners can develop deeper thinking and the teachers can clarify their marking or assessment criteria while more authenticity is gained since learning outcomes can be better aligned.
The cons include the expensive nature of acquiring gadgets, the software, staff training and the logistical costs and effort to maintain the systems. There is constant risk of cyber insecurity which can compromise the security and privacy of the educational technologies.
Importance of assessment technology in relation to ISTE standards
The use of technology in education helps to meet the strict standards set out by the International Society for technology in Education (ISTE). ISTE had continually increased its requests to the educational sectors in the US because of the many applications that require use of technology in all industries. As the students use technology in the learning process, they acquire the vital skills of analyzing, exploring and learning thereby becoming increasingly competent in the use of technology.
Conclusion
The use of technology has been necessitated by among other factors the demographic changes in the world. There are many students enrolling in educational institutions now more than any other time in the past and the numbers are fast rising. As such, the use of softwares such as Socrative, Edmodo and Polleverywhere in assessment comes in handy for the teachers. The technologies help the teachers to enjoy better quality time with their families and friends as they can cut on not only the instructional time they spend in classrooms but also on assessing the learners and responding to challenging areas.
References
Eberly. (2014). Enhancing Education. Retrieved 17 January 2017 from http://www.cmu.edu
Airasian, P., & Russell, M. (2011). Classroom Assessment. McGraw-Hill Education.
Herrington, A., Hodgson, K., & Moran, C. (2009). Teaching the new writing: technology, change, and assessment in the 21st-century classroom. Teachers College Press.
Socrative. (2016). Socrative Requirements. Retrieved January 17, 2017, from https://help.socrative.com/hc/en-us/articles/219985468-Socrative-Requirements
