Monday, February 21, 2011
March 2
Write at least one thought about any ways you do or think you could incorporate the use of technology into your classroom for the purpose of helping you assess students' understanding. These could be to facilitate frequent, "informal" assessments, or for more "formal" assessments that might relate to specific standards or goals. Be creative - any particular technologies you know of that make these tasks easy might be informative.
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Last semester, my cooperating teacher had a barcode system. Basically, each student has their own individual barcode for each type of data my teacher wanted to collect. At the beginning of the year, each student is given a sheet with about 30 barcodes on it. Each barcode sticker had "HW #___" written on it, with the number homework assignment in the blank. When students complete a homework, they put the sticker on their homework. This is an easy visual for students to see which homeworks they have completed (by looking at which stickers they have left).
ReplyDeleteMy teacher had a scanner that he used to scan students' completed homework assignments and give them grades. He also used the scanner to track which students were absent or late to class.
This barcode scanning system could be used to help assess students by keeping track of grades to see how many students understand various topics that are taught.
That barcode thing sounds crazy and awesome!
ReplyDeleteOne cool thing that I've seen at a couple of schools that I've observed in are those clicker things (I don't know what they're actually called), where each student gets a clicker and inputs their answers using the clicker, and then the teacher gets data on what percentage of questions each student gets right and the average percentage of correct questions. They can also receive data on a particular question, seeing how many students got that question right or wrong and what the common wrong answers might be, which can help in assessing what particular types of questions are giving students trouble and what common misconceptions the students might have.
I have seen that barcode thing and it is amazing!! I saw it at Rutgers though, so kudos to any high school that got it!! Karina I was all over the clicker! It's software on the Smartboard. I used it last semester too and I thought it was such a great tool. I was able to write tests for it and it was so cool to be able to assess students within minutes. I know we don't have it at our school right now, but I think I would want to try to use it in a more informal way. I would love to be able to incorporate it into my lessons by having specific questions programmed in and then having students have the clickers and just pose these questions out loud and collect their answers. I think this would be a great way to assess not only their understanding but also it would really help me in developing my lessons because I could assess how those quiet students are doing too.
ReplyDeleteKarina took mine...I've also seen the clickers in action. We had them in my undergraduate physics class and they worked really well as an assessment snapshot. They were used to ask specific questions and also used for pop quizzes.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I also have used clickers in college, but I have mixed feelings about them. I think it is mostly because I have yet to see them used in a way that is useful (for lack of a better word) for students rather than an excuse to use them... I don't know. The clicker limits us to multiple choice questions, but like Jenny mentioned, this could be great when added to lessons as a way of informal assessment. I guess the challenge is, and maybe the teachers I have used them with failed, to really create questions that students can debate over answers and have discussions around when defending their choices. Unfortunately I always tried to guess the correct answer based on the format of the question and not the content (some teachers really don't know how to write multiple choice tests... we used the clicker once and I was 4/5 in selecting answers based off selecting the longest answer). But in reflecting on the lesson I taught today, I can see areas where the clicker would benefit students. We had a few discussions on whether, for example, a rhombus is a square. Students first responded sometimes, never, or always, and then we discussed. Here it would be really cool to use the clicker for students to be able to see what their peers thought, and then discuss the answer together.
ReplyDeleteI read from an IT journal a while back that some schools in Japan use database application combined with image scanning/processing technology to store and query the students' past accessment results (i.e., graded homework, actual quizzes and exams). The application can actually 'analyze' a student's strength and weakness in some subject area, and then generate some accessment exams that is tailored based on the student's needs. This helps the student to better prepare for the nation wide college entrance exam.
ReplyDeleteMy CT this semester uses this uber-fancy spreadsheet that TfA made for the corps members to use to track student mastery of different standards. I'm trying to get a hold of a copy to bring to our meeting together.
ReplyDeleteBasically, Mr. Li tries to include at least five questions for every NYS standard on his exams writing one at each level of Bloom's taxonomy. Then, when he grades the test, he has a cover page that very clearly shows how many questions each student got right for every standard. He inputs this information into the spreadsheet and WAM the spreadsheet shows very clearly which standards have "80% mastery or higher" in the class and which ones don't. This will then help him know what to spiral review, reteach, and include in test prep.
Not convinced as to the validity of the spreadsheet as a predictive measure but it is a pretty cool tool nonetheless that provides us with a lot of feedback on student performance on our different outcomes.
I really like the clicker and barcode ideas...I really hope I'll get to implement something similar in my own classroom.
ReplyDeleteSomething a little less sophisticated/innovative is the use of the document camera for assessment purposes. I have been using it a lot this semester at student teaching for showing student's work. It's a great way to assess individual students informally because as a class, you can discuss the student's work. Since students do not have to put their work on the board, which takes forever, I am able to show several student's work for one problem.
I am also able to assess students on their ability to pick out classmates' misconceptions; you can see whether they are really paying attention or not.
I think the document camera is a fantastic way to informally, but on a daily basis, assess student learning, as Emily proposed. It saves a lot of time that is otherwise wasted as students sit around while one fumbles with the smartboard or whiteboard marker and eraser.
ReplyDeleteA more formal way to assess understanding through technology is the use of applications that allow students to demonstrate their knowledge. Geometer's Sketchpad or any of the various "turtle graphics" programs that accomplish similar tasks for younger age groups are good examples. In asking students to present their work through a technological medium, they learn something new while reinforcing the math concepts at the core of the lesson.
I used the Smartboard clickers as a student in high school and think that they can be really effective for taking spot checks on the classes understanding. It is a great way to find out students misconceptions and provides instant feedback. I'm not sure that it is suited for longer, more formal assessments though.
ReplyDeleteMy school also uses the TfA tracker. I think when used well it can help a teacher organize the information they have about their students in such a way that helps them spot trends, identify weaknesses, etc.
Depending on the metric that your school uses for assessment, technology can be used as an effective assessment tool. For schools that focus on standards based learning, multiple choice assessments that are broken into different standards could be quickly taken and class weaknesses could be identified. Also, students can work on laptops or tablet PC's while the teacher uses programs such as Synchroneyes, which allows them to track students work and write directly on their computers. This is an informative assessment, similar to the Smartboard method Beatrice mentioned. If the school focuses more on depth of understanding and a holistic assessment, then computers are great resources for individual and group projects.
ReplyDeleteThat clicker thing does sound really cool! I haven't seen it anywhere.
ReplyDeleteI used to volunteer at this program in Harlem that provides academic support and homework help to a select group of public/charter school students in the neighborhood. One of the schools used an online program (I can't remember the name of it) where the students could log in and complete various multiple choice assignments and the teacher could see the grade. In addition to the teacher being able to assess their homework on these particular assignments, there were also interactive games where students could practice working with the material in an engaging way. The program was used in the students' math classes as well as in other classes.
The clickers are truly amazing; my undergrad physics professor also uses them and I thought it was the coolest.
ReplyDeleteEric my CT last semester had something similar. He grouped every question in the exam into a specific category and made an excel spreadsheet for every class. He recorded specifically what each student answered correctly or incorrectly and showed those data in graphs and tables. After seeing which areas a student is struggling in, he created a portfolio for every student with worksheets of those specific topics in them.
Based on my own student teaching experience and the classes I have observed, I believe that this notion that more technology = more fun for students is too often taken to be fact. Yes, I agree that clickers would be a great form of assessment if the school can afford it. But how many cools currently have those type of funds?
ReplyDeleteI have seen well-intended attempts at engaging students through technology fail because some students feel that the teacher doesn't believe they are bright enough to do the "real" math. This is not to say that we, as educators, should stray away from technology. My point is that its degree of implementation should depend on the particular students being taught.