Technology+Facilitator+Standard+IV+-+Assessment+and+Evaluation

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**Technology** ** Facilitation **** Standard IV **, Assessment and Evaluation deals with the critical component of assessment and evaluation. This chapter discusses the need for assessing things like technology literacy. Additionally, it talks about the move in the direction of Computer-based testing (CBT). According to Williamson and Redish (2009), “Computer-based testing is emerging as one of the most promising technologies to address these current needs. CBT permits educators to quickly and efficiently identify and map student content areas to be assessed on tests, to create multiple forms of tests, to grade tests, and to analyze results.” Although my campus is already using technology for these purposes, CBT’s are not being administered. We still have students take the pencil and paper test. They bubble in the answers on an answer document, just like I used to do in school. However a major difference from when I went to school pertain to the reports capabilities. In the past answer documents were used for ease of grading and that was all. Now our campus scans the answer documents, so that they can be graded quickly and reports and be printed. The reports are extremely useful to educators, because they provide so much information about student learning. This helps educators target their instruction much more efficiently. Although these technologies are available, Williamson et al. (2009) mention that critics maintain that these tools are being underused.

So what does this mean to technology leaders? Well according to the standard, technology leaders are to lead by example. During the course of year, I worked with a gifted and talented (GT) student this year that decided she wanted to research manatees for her GT project. After making several recommendations to her, she chose to present her information using the electronic book builder we used in our Teaching with Technology course at Lamar. Of course, I guided her through the entire process from research through the end product. However, all I did was guide her. Once the project was complete I was able to use this final project to assess several things. In assessing her use of technology, I knew she understood how to create a book on her own. She used a flash drive to store all of her research and images for her book. She kept track of her citations and was able to match the citations with the content she chose for her final product. On the academic end, I was able to assess her new-found knowledge of manatees. Needless to say, she did very well. I was so impressed with her, because she surpassed my expectations. As other students saw her end product, they showed a lot of interest in creating a book of their own. There are so many things we can assess, when we let students write about it and then talk about it. Now teachers are asking me to show them how to use this, because unlike photo story children can work from any computer with an Internet connection. In brief, technology assessment can occur in so many different forms. I envision using the Kidspiration more this year to allow students to create thinking maps that I can use for assessment. It’s a “win win” situation. The students get to complete a fun activity and I get the data I’m looking for.

Williamson, J. & Redish, T. (2009). //Technology Facilitation and Leadership Standards: What every K-12 leader should know and be able to do.// Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education.