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
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