Assistive Technology in Assessment

https://atfored.com/assistive-technology-assessments/

I found the above Venn diagram and I liked the way it looks at the different aspects of assistive technology.

I had learned about assistive technology previously, but I haven't used it in a real world example. Some of the previous information that I learned was hard to recall, so this review was helpful. There are so many ways that technology can assist differently abled learners. The article that I read by Greer, Rowland, and Smith listed some resources that could be helpful. The main takeaways for me are that nothing can substitute for good instruction and thoughtful assessment, but there are many supplements that can help the teacher and learner. Some of the barriers that might hinder learners and teachers are financial resources, time, and motivation. Teachers need to be motivated to find additional options to incorporate assistive technology and students and parents need to be motivated as well. With everything going on in the world right now, I am especially happy and thankful that we have assistive technology to help our students.

Technology in Assessment Practice

There are so many options to use Technology in Assessment Practice. It can become somewhat overwhelming to know which ones to use. The readings and videos for the week presented many to choose from. Some of the options presented were...

• Workshop Model
• Mini Lesson
• Different Stations to work on skill building and individual interests
• Students are authentically engaged and success criterial is used 
• Daily Assessments 
• Valuable data to keep students and instructors on track
• Allows instructors to deliver the best instruction for the students
• Multiple assessments to meet different needs of the students
• Computer Adaptive Technology 
• Shorter, more precise, and more reliable tests that other techniques
• Simulations
• Used in Design
• Used in Analysis
• In Training
• In Entertainment
• Computer-Based and Web-Based Games
• Assessing technological literacy
• Electronic Portfolios
• Demonstrate competency
• Show examples of work
• Accountability
• Self-reflection

3 Ways technology is used in Assessment Practice

• Distal Level
• High Stakes testing
• Proximal Level
• Teacher-made tests
• Close Level
• Recitations and checks for understanding

Formative Assessments

• Quiz feedback - Socrative or Google forms
• Live Quiz Games - Kahoot, Quizlet
• Integrated Presentation and Quiz Tools - Smart Lab
• Formative Assessment with videos - FlipGrid

From the Technology-based Classroom assessments, some things to consider when using technology to implement classroom assessments (Salend, 2009, p. 50). 

• Will the assessment allow me to measure meaningful skills and instructional outcomes?
• Will the assessment be appropriate for the ages and developmental capabilities of my students?
• Will the assessment allow me to accommodate students' individual differences?
• Will the assessment sharing of information with interested and relevant parties?

Research and Perspectives on Classroom Assessments

• After reading the material, I thought that the models of assessment fit into either the Scientific Measurement Model or the Judgmental Model and that they were based on ideas of understanding intellectual capacities from an intelligence standpoint or a cognition standpoint. This made me think that there were just different ways of assessing knowledge and learning not necessarily different worldview. After reading the group discussions, it was brought up that assessment should stem from our worldview of knowing and learning. This was not a connection that I had made until it was explicitly stated in the discussion forum. And then I began to question whether I really knew the difference between Objectivism and Constructivism. I found the above figure and I thought it was a nice way to compare and contrast the two. What I'm wondering is what this figure would look like if we placed the two models of assessment from the article by Hager & Butler next to these. 

In the additional readings I learned that there were four practical Assessment Models:

• Evidence-Based
• Maximize student learning and outcomes
• Diagnostic
• Motivation
• Program Assessment
• communicate student achievement
• Competency-based
• long-term depends on credibility
• Validate assessment instrument
• set meaningful competency thresholds based on multiple sources of evidence
• External validity
• Performance based
• Ability to apply skills and knowledge
• Measures 1 or more course standards
• Complex
• Authentic
• Process Oriented
• Open-ended
• Time-bound
• Standard-based
• Students compared to standard all can reach

The New Assessment Models prepare for future learning

• Dynamic Assessment
• how well students can learn given resources
• Opportunity to produce novel structures
• Participatory Assessment
• situate theories
• Design Principles
• Value Added
• Measures teacher contribution
• Playful Assessment
• game based approach 
• engagement or participation

One final idea that I struck me in reading one of the other discussion posts was to provide a whole group lesson, give students time to actively practice or collaborate, intervene, and then have them reflect. I really liked this structure. 

Assessment in the Classroom Revisited

After reading and participating in the discussion about assessment in the classroom, the main takeaway for me is that when we are planning assessment we should begin with the question of purpose first. Data collection, analysis, and interpretation should be guided by the clear purpose of the assessment. There was a good amount of discussion regarding formative and summative assessments. Before this week, I was a little unclear about what those definitions actually meant. I had heard them used in previous classes, but I didn't really understand them. I found the following image on the website listed. I like the image because it shows the overlap of the two.

Life of an Educator


It seems that most groups (parents, teachers, and administrators) think that formative assessment is a priority and students want a voice about the process. If the real overarching goal of education is to increase and deepen student learning, then it seems that giving students a voice will help engage them in the process of their own learning.

I found the article about Will Letter Grades Survive? very  interesting, especially since I am in higher education and the focus on grades is high. As a student, I would like that. I really connect with the idea of students demonstrating mastery and being able to showcase their work. I think that qualitative feedback is very useful and has a tendency to evoke less of an emotional reaction for people. Especially for me as a first generation undergraduate, I had a great deal of anxiety that surrounded grades. I'm better now about that. Back then, though, if there was even the hint that I would get less than an "A", I would drop the class even if I really enjoyed the material I was learning. I think that there are still students out there who can relate to that feeling.

I was wondering though how administrators would use this and what impact this would have on admissions. This was one of the unanswered questions in the article to be worked through. So much of higher education, scholarships, admittance to certain programs, courses, and scholarships just to name a few rely on letter grades and GPA. I'm just not sure how this would work for all the areas that use grades comparatively.