Introduction:
Advancement in education has been the topic of discussion these past few years. A lot of progress has been made but their is still a need for help with the formative and summative assessment of student progress. Digital tools can help facilitate formative assessment strategies (Dyer, 2013). Summative assessments can also be enhanced by technology. By utilizing technology tools such as ForAllRubrics, Socrative, and Edmodo, for assessment purposes, teachers can improve and refine their teaching practices and help improve students' learning and performance. Technology to Facilitate Ongoing Efforts to Assess Student Learning Educational Software has been proven to be a helpful aid to teachers in the enhancement of formative assessment. Technology based formative assessment can help the entire class engage in thinking deeper and with discussion (Dyer, 2013). It can also inform the teacher with student understanding and comprehension. Technology based formative and summative assessments can provide the teacher with instant feedback. This will enable teachers to provide improvements to the learning environment (Eberly, 2014). ForAllRubrics is a free educational software technique for teachers that allows them to import, create, and score rubrics on an iPad, tablet, or smartphone. Teachers can utilize this software to collect data offline and compute scores automatically (ForAllRubrics, 2014). Educators can assign a project on the computer and provide an online quiz or test at the end. Scoring from the computer allows time to compute and construct the next lesson plan. Socrative is an educational software technique that has exercises and games that engage students using smartphones, laptops, and tablets (Dyer, 2013). Socrative can be used to facilitate formative assessments by allowing instant feedback, visualization, and real-time questioning (MasteryConnect, 2014). An educator can utilize Socrative by assigning online project with questions for comprehension that the educator can use for assessment. Edmodo is a software where teachers, students, and parents can connect and collaborate (Edmodo, 2014). Teachers can utilize this software by assigning groups for group or classroom discussion. Student's can provide parents with the classroom code which would allow not only the teacher to monitor the student's conduct but the student's parent. Collaboration between students would be the focus of the assessment. Formative and Summative Assessments Formative assessment is the gathering of feedback to be used to improve the ongoing learning and teaching context and Summative assessment is a measurement of a student's success level at the end of an instructional unit (Eberly, 2014). It is compared to a standard or benchmark. Socative, ForAllRubrics, and Pollywhere could help with formative and summative assessments by giving instant data feedback, allowing the teacher more instructional and planning time. Pros and Cons of using Technology to Facilitate Assessment The pros of using technology to facilitate assessment are the improvement of student engagement and the promotion of deeper thinking. Other pros are the helpful clarification to marking criteria and the improvement of the authenticity and alignment of learning outcomes (University of Reading, 2014). The cons of using technology to facilitate assessment are accessibility issues, finances and staff time, and when you have a large-scale introduction, it requires a significant level of institutional buy in (University of Reading, 2014). A teacher should not use technology as the only form to assess a student's capabilities. Students learn in different capacities and choosing to utilize one form limits the student's options. What is the importance of assessment technology in connection with the ISTE standards? It is very important to utilize technology with students because it satisfies the standards requested by ISTE. By using technology for formative and summative assessments, students are analyzing, exploring, and learning therefore using digital skills that will help in life. Overall, the use of technology in the classroom has become an everyday occurance. The number of students enrolled is growing rapidly so the amount of assessments needed is also increasing . Using technology software such as ForAllRubrics, Socrative, and Edmodo to help facilitate formative and summative assessments would be a welcomed advancement for teachers. Time allotted for grading papers and instructional planning would be cut down and spending time with family and friends would increase for all teachers. References Dyer, K. (2013). Digital Technology Tools for Implementing Formative Assessment. Retrieved from http://www.nwea.org Eberly. (2014). Enhancing Education. Retrieved from http://www.cmu.edu Edmodo. (2014). Edmodo. Retrieved from http://www.edmodo.com ForAllRubrics. (2014). The Rubric and Badging Platform for Teaching and Learning. Retrieved from http://www.forallrubrics.com MasteryConnect. (2014). Socrative. Retrieved from http://www.socrative.com University of Reading. (2014). Engage in Assessment. Retrieved from http://www.reading.ac.uk Integrating Instructional Technology http://www.sherrilynhicks.weebly.com Today's society is made up of children who use technology on a daily basis. They seem to catch on to ideas much faster with the use of technology. So integrating technology into the curriculum is the perfect answer to boosting a child's learning experience. When instructional technology such as Storybird, Power Point, and Compass Learning are utilized in the classroom, it allows the students to learn in a fun and creative way enhancing most of their educational skills. Storybird Storybird is a picture book-creation web tool that facilitates reading and writing skills in the classroom (Olthouse & Miller, 2012). This web tool can be used in the writing center allowing each child to work on their high frequency words and their writing skills. They would also be able to collaborate with other students within the same grade level if made into a group project. Storybird would enable students to demonstrate command of the conventions of Standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking which covers CCSS. ELA-LITERACY. L2.1(Common Core, 2014). It would also cover RI 2.1-RI 2.9 for Reading: Informational Text (Common Core, 2014). PowerPoint Power Point is used as a slideshow presentation for classroom projects that require the student to be creative (Taylor, 2014). PowerPoint will be used to create games like Jeopardy and Tic Tac Toe for the students. These games would reinforce the key concepts of the lessons taught in the classroom. PowerPoint usage would cover the mathematical practice of making sense of problems and solving them as well as CCSS. ELA-LITERACY. RI 2.10, comprehending informational text (Common Core, 2014). Compass Learning Compass Learning is a web tool that has virtual manipulatives, animation, and creative videos that teachers use during computer time to enhance the learning process in the classroom (Odyssey, 2014). Compass Learning will be incorporated in the daily routine of the classroom and at the end of the day will allow for real time data to be retrieved from the site to help with the instructional decisions needed for the students (Odyssey, 2014). Through the use of Compass Learning, the students will learn the foundational skills of reading such as phonics and word recognition. They will also learn how to use appropriate math tools strategically (Common Core, 2014). Pros and Cons of using Technology to Facilitate Learning (100-200 words) Most things have a good side and a bad side. Technology is included in this scenario. Some of the pros of using technology in the classroom are that it allows a wider access to information to learn and gain skills for not only the student but the teacher as well and it also allows for instant video access for project in Literature and History (Educational Technology, 2012). The Cons of using technology in the classroom are the concerns about long term exposure if used too much at home and then at school and also the probability of students visiting inappropriate sites or unmonitored networks where child predators lurk. Wired and Wireless Classrooms The wired classroom is a room where the computers or other technical machines have wires that plug into sockets. The wireless classroom is a room where technology has no wires and allows freedom to move these objects around and outside of the classroom (Shankel, 2014). The advantage of using wireless and wired technology in the classroom is the wider access to educational information and the disadvantages are limited mobility for wired and the loss of connection on the wireless (Shankel, 2014). The method of choice to be utilized in the classroom would be both. Both wired and wireless methods would help with instruction in a way that allows the teacher to be creative in approach. The wireless would allow lessons to be taught anywhere in the building as well as outside and the wired would be used for games that also would enhance learning by the students. Conclusion Integrating Instructional technology is very important and necessary in the 21st century. Instructional technology, wired or wireless allows students to have access to global topics, instructional video games, and social learning opportunities and would also facilitate the learning process for teachers. The only difference between wired and wired technology is the wires so both methods are good choices to utilize in the classroom. By incorporating the use of web tools such as Storybird, PowerPoint, and Compass Learning into the classroom environment, students will enhance their learning skills in a fun and creative way enabling the teacher to reach the goal expected for the class. References Common Core. (2014). Conventions of Standard English. Retrieved from http://www.corestandards.org Educational Technology. (2012). Pros and Cons of Allowing Digital Devices in the Classroom. Concordia. Retrieved from http://education.cu-portland.edu Odyssey. (2014). Compass Learning. Retrieved from http://www.compasslearning.com Olthouse, J. J., & Miller, M. T. (2012). Teaching Talented Writers With Web 2.0 Tools. Teaching Exceptional Children, 45(2), 6-14. Shankel, N.(2014). The Difference Between Wired & Wireless. Ehow. Retrieved from http://www.ehow.com Taylor, H. (2014). Uses for PowerPoint. Retrieved from http://ehow.com |