Introduction
Assessments are the key to help students
achieve the necessary skills and gain the required knowledge to succeed in
life. As it is an essential tool to help teachers guide their students to
achieve all the areas of learning successfully. It provides teacher with the
specific spots each student needs improvement and gives teachers feedback on
how they can aid students master their weak areas. At the same time teachers
should always have a backup assignment or strategy to help those students that
learn in different ways gain the required knowledge to succeed in life. That is
why teachers are incorporating technology into their curriculum, as there are
many software's available to assist teachers in tracking students skills and it
also helps them engage students and aid those students that need intensive help
succeed. "Recognizing that technology is transforming many aspects of
teaching and learning, and offering innovative and motivating ways to document
student learning that are adaptable to range of students." (Salend,
Spencer J.)
Technology to
Facilitate Ongoing Efforts to Assess Student Learning
Technology
is becoming an essential tool to facilitate ongoing efforts to assess students
learning in and out of class. As teachers are implementing different tools into
their curriculum to help engage students in becoming more involved in different
lessons and assignments. It's also becoming very helpful and useful for
teachers as they can assess students and keep track of their progress without
having to do much. These software's keep every students data, as how often they
log in, what they have mastered and what areas they are needing
assistance. Students are enjoying the
way they are learning because many software's look more life fun educational
games that teach students different
techniques and skills. As technology will always be of great motivation
for students because its different and interesting to them and it's a great
tool that will help students to be guided in the right direction to help them
accomplish and gain the necessary knowledge to succeed in life. "Advances
in assessment technologies are affording teachers and students new ways to
efficiently assess and track achievement while also better promoting
learning."(Dooley, Scott, Landauer, Thomas K., Lochbaum, Karen E.)
WritingToLearn
is a software that helps teachers assess students while teaching them different
skills that are required to successfully write a well creative paper and comprehend
what is being learned. Teachers can use this software when trying to expand the
learning of a topic or lesson, as they can let students express their knowledge
of what they have learned in class by letting them write a well productive
paper. As students use this software it will expand their vocabulary and
summative writing skills. WritingToLearn will help students master the state
testing because it provides them with two components that are Summary Street
"widely used and best proven tools for literacy learning"(Shanahan,
2005), are short articles, book sections or excerpts and students write topic
prompted essays. Intelligent Essay Assessor is used for integrating
comprehension and writing practice environment or can be used as a second
opinion on essay exams administered online.
Camtasia Studio is
a software that allows teachers to teach students how to do electronic
presentations, simulations and software demonstrations that can include text,
graphics, video, audio, animation and screen captures. Being creative is what
makes learning fun as students gain knowledge while enjoy using many different
technology tools to enhance their learning. Teachers can use this software into
their curriculum as they can teach students different topics and students can
expand their knowledge into researching more about the topic or lesson and
create a presentation where they can teach others more about what they learned.
It's also a great resource to use when it come to grading students in the
understanding of any lesson because it will show how much they know as they
producing a good detailed presentation.
Google
Graph is a
software that helps teachers assess students learning by teaching them how it
can be used into different lessons or topics. This software can be very useful
in class, as to showing evidence of any information gathered from research.
Teachers can use this tool when trying to create a math problem as they can
first do research on any topic, such as how many people have iphone than
android phones. After gathering the information, students can graph their
results and create a presentation in class. Teachers can also use the
information gathered from their students and create a different tests. It's
always important to make it fun and interesting because students become
involved and motivated to participate in exciting subjects that brings students
into wanting to learn more.
Formative and Summative
Assessments
Formative assessments are used by teacher to help them
evaluate each student's academic progress in class throughout the year, as to
see how well they are understanding any lesson or unit. It provides teachers
with evidence into what area the student is lacking on and helps them adjust
their teaching to assist the student master the required skills. As for
summative assessments students are tested at the end of each lesson or unit to
show an understanding of what is being taught in class. Technology is a great
tool that allows teachers to assess their students in a much more easier way of
analyzing the level of understanding of each student. There are many tools that
allows teacher to create any formative of summative assessment, such as
WritingToLearn, Camtasia Studio and Google Graphs. These software's will better
facilitate teachers way of assessing students because it will let students express
themselves without realizing they are being tested or evaluated as they are
gaining new knowledge and are engaged into what is being taught in class.
Pros and Cons of using Technology to
Facilitate Assessment
Technology is being implemented into teachers curriculum and the
way they assess students. There are many tools that provide teachers to gain
students attention as they make it interesting for students to become more
involved. Technology provides teachers with the capacity of, "Immediate access to large amounts of
data could promote more accurate assessment results and facilitate the development of more
sophisticated expert systems to assist teachers with instructional planning."
(Bahr, Michael W., and Christine M. Bahr) Technology is not always a good tool
to use when wanting to observe students integration with others and it can also
limit what can be evaluated.
“Should a teacher only
use technology to assess student learning? Why or why not?”
When it comes to assessing students
in class, technology can be of great use in involving students in participating
more into any topic or lesson, but it can also limit the amount of information
or evidence gathered from assessments. When teachers have the opportunity to
evaluate students throughout the day in class, as they can create student
portfolios and have sample work for each students progress it becomes a great
tool to share with parents when it comes to parent teacher conferences.
What
is the importance of assessment technology in connection with the ISTE
standards?
Using assessment technology
is becoming a great tool for teacher to implement into their classrooms.
Students are attracted and are more engaged into different topics and lessons
taught in class because teacher are implementing different tools that help
enhance the way they teach. As ISTE Standards states that, "
Teachers use their knowledge of subject matter, teaching and learning, and
technology to facilitate experiences that advance student learning, creativity,
and innovation in both face-to-face and virtual environments."
Concluding Paragraph for Software to Support Assessment
The key to a successful class is implementing different
tools and learning ways to gain students attention thought teaching them in a
fun and engaging way. Technology is known to have many educational tools that
have helped teachers teach different lessons and topics while assessing
students in different areas. As teachers gather data from students participation
into different software or educational sites, they become aware of the
different areas they are needing help. It also provides teachers with feedback
into improving their teaching and how to help each student succeed because
every student learns in many different ways.
References
Bahr,
Michael W., and Christina M. Bahr. "Educational Assessment In The Next
Millennium: Contributions Of Thechnology." Preventing School Failure 41.
(1997): 90-94 OmniFile Text Select (H.W. Wilson). Web. 8 Mar. 2015.
Dooley,
Scott, Landauer, Thomas K., Lohbaum, Daren E. "A New Formative Assessment
Technology for Reading and Writing." Theory Intro Practice 48:1 (2009):
44-52. Education Research Complete. Web. 3 Mar. 2015.
"ISTE
Standards Teachers." International Society for Technology in Education.
ISTE Standards, 2008. March 5, 20015. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/docs/pdfs/20-14_ISTE_Standards-T_PDF.pdf
Salend,
Spencer J. "Technology-Based Classroom Assessments." Teaching
Exceptional Children 41.6 (2009): 48-58. Education Research Complete. Web. 4
Mar. 2015.