The exploration of technology uses in assessment has helped
me move forward in the actions stage of my GAME plan. Through the reflection
and discussion over the past two weeks, I have been able to develop plans for developing
individualized activities based on the needs of my students. I have been able
to develop some specific strategies and tools based on the UDL guidelines that
allow students a variety of ways to demonstrate their learning (Center for
Applied Special Technologies, 2011). In addition, I have explored the use of
the iTouch and iPads that are available in my school.
The information I need is readily available and I am
pleasantly surprised and pleased with the willingness of my colleagues to
assist me with this goal. In addition to the technology teacher who I believe
now considers me a project, another colleague in my department who has readily
used iPads volunteered to train me in the basics and demonstrate some of his
favorite apps for student use. Additionally, this colleague, who is leaving my
school for a leadership position next year, has volunteered to return in the
fall to train my content team so that we can all access the same technology for
teaching. While the over-abundance of online resources continues to overwhelm
me, I am finding people willing to share their knowledge and experience with me
to save me some time and energy.
On that note, one of the lessons that I have learned is that
many of the educational applications intended for school use are fun and
engaging, but do not align to content standards. Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer
(2009) and Dr. John Ross (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011) warn against using
technology for the novelty and encourage focusing on the use of technology to support
content standards. This is likely the biggest potential trap for me to fall
into on my path to success. Even the colleague who I have seen use the iPads
very successfully has been guilty of this on occasion.
The lingering question I have is how to measure the impact
of technology. How do you if the technology is the reason students are achieving?
Is there a way to measure and show a causal relationship? I believe that technology
can make learning more engaging and develop a new skill set that will benefit
students. However, I also remember being very engaged in parts of my education
that did not use any technology, choice, projects, or games. Good teaching may
be facilitated by technology, but we cannot forget about the need for good
teaching.
I am more confident than ever that my GAME plan is achievable!
References
Cennamo,
K., Ross, J. & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful
classroom use: A standards-based approach. (Laureate Education, Inc.,
Custom ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
Center for Applied Special Technologies, 2011. Universal
design for learning guidelines. Retrieved May 21, 2013 from http://www.udlcenter.org/sites/udlcenter.org/files/updateguidelines2_0.pdf
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive
Producer). (2009). Assessing student learning. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Ellen,
ReplyDeleteI think you stuck it on the head about the need to line up content standards with the technology. the other large problem I see is how are we, as educators, going to show the parents the growth in their student's learning.
"To achieve curriculum alignment, you must develop lessons that are matched to the standards." (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2008, p. 141). Often I have found myself spending several hours just looking at a unit and looking at the lessons in the unit trying to see if there is a way they can be improved upon. I really need to start keeping a journal with my thoughts.
Do you have software that helps you keep track of the rise of scores for your students? I know that my school district doesn't have any software like this. I found this program online that i wanted to share with you. http://www.leadcommission.org/ I have yet to fully explore the site but I found some great information.
Hi Courtney,
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing that resource. We have some tools available that allow us to track progress. My school system uses Achievement Series as a way to track district assessment scores by student, class, teacher, and school. However, I tend to use excel to create spreadsheets to measure student progress over time on each standard. I track their success on independent tasks to determine their readiness to move forward. As a reading specialist, I originally designed a spreadsheet to measure student readiness with very small skills such as letter/sound correlation. As a special educator, I used that same spreadsheet to track progress on IEP goals and objectives. As an English teacher, the spreadsheet now reflects the indicators within each of my content standards. I have found this to be a helpful tool, although I am sure that there are online versions that are more flexible.
Ellen
Ellen
ReplyDeleteI think that in order to answer the question how to measure the impact of technology you need to measure the numbers before you started using technology. You can record and use the students test scores in class, along with state scores. You also need to document the assessment tool you use in both cases. An engaging lesson using technology can be measured by using assessment tools we studied this week. Assessment data also can help you determine the effectiveness of your own instructional choices including the selection of technology based resources (Cennamo, Ross & Ertmer, 2009). I believe the biggest number change you will document in your study (to answer your question) is the fact that you will reach many more students with different accommodation needs in one class.
Great plan Judith