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1. Is assessment really a separate activity from learning? What circumstances may impact whether it is or isn’t?

 

No, assessment is not a separate activity from learning when you are engaging students in meaningful learning. When you choose to educate students in a meaningful way through complex learning activities or projects you are able to assess students through observation of the process or end product of the activity or project. An example of when assessment is separate from a learning activity would be the use of a standardized test such as the ACT or SAT. 

 

2. How do you use assessment activities as a way to generate feedback that can improve learner performance? After reading this chapter, are there ways you can see how technology can contribute to this?

 

An important characteristic of great feedback and performance reviews is that both parties (students and teachers) know what is being reviewed, and how it is being reviewed, before the semester even begins. By collaboratively developing rubics for learning goals and objectives, students and teachers remain on the same page and are always constantly pursuing the same goal or outcome. Thus, when the end of the project or semester arrives and you assess a students performance they are not surprised at the criteria and are more likely to use the feedback as an opportunity to improve. Technology can be a huge contributor to this process. Some simple ways that technology can help with this process is by; a.) having the assessment rubric available online at all times, b.) using technologies such as google docs to collaboratively create assessment rubics, and c.) provide timely feedback throughout the semester on the same document about how the student is doing and where they can improve. 

 

3. How can you use technology to make assessment activities less threatening to learners, or maybe even a positive experience?

 

Again, I would reiterate the idea of the importance of clear expectations from the beginning of the class. I would also suggest if at all possible not using assessments as a grade portion of the class. By eleveating the pressure of grades you are more likely to have feedback transform into increased learner performance. As far as using technology, I would suggest using clickers in class as a way to evaluate where individuals and the class as a whole are at around a certain subject. By using clickers each person in the class remains anonymous on the screen but as a teacher you are able to see each individuals responses. Clickers also are a fun way to mix up reviewing subjects and allows students who would previously avoid contribution to contriubte without the pressure of having the entire class hearing their answer. 

 

4. What processes do you use to generate your assessment items and activities? Are there other teachers you can collaborate with to (a) pilot test your assessments; (b) help develop forced response items that assess higher-level thinking; or (c) share the development of technology-based assessments?

 

Because I have never taught in a classroom or been a part of student teaching, I have no previous experience around assessments other than from a student perspective. But if I were to assess a class in the future I would definitley pull from the knowledge of my colleagues and more experienced peers, use new and innovative technology to capture the attention of my students, and test out my assessment with other teachers before administering it to my students. 

 

5. Does the use of technology-based assessments impact validity and reliability? Does technology help address these? Does it make any difference at all?

 

Technology can impact validity and reliability in either a postiive or negative way. When technology is used properly to assess students it can be extremely valid and reliable. For example, when using qualtrics to evaluate a class and create a survey you are able to gather much more information and analytics than you are with a paper survey. Similarly online classroom management tools provide teachers with detailed analytics and statistics throughout the semester to help identify areas of weakness and strength. On the other hand technological tools such as clickers, if not monitored closely can easily be manipulated by students to provide a skewed picture of their performance. In the case of clickers, for example, students could have their friends "click in" for them on certain answers or activites which would cause a problem. Overall the most important thing to do is montior your use of technology closely, and constantly remind students of the importance of accurate feedback as it will lead them to higher performance. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Survey

5 Questions from pg. 270

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