Chapter 10: Assessing Meaningful Learning with Technology

This chapter emphasizes the importance of authentic and performance assessments. Overall, the chapter discusses how we teachers can use assessment in a way that encourages academic growth and promotes intentional learning. The book discusses rubric, and I’m glad because this is something that I’ve seen only used in my college classes.

Rubrics can be used in any grade level. It’s important that students understand what they are supposed to be doing and how they will be graded. To me, rubrics can serve as a checklist for the student. Students can use the rubric to grade their own assignment and be able to change their assignment according to their grading. This gives students responsibility and more control over what they present to the teacher. A quote from the book that I really liked described effective rubrics as “a sort of contract between educator and students” (p. 229). This is a great way to describe rubrics. As students get older, I might consider allowing students create basic rubrics for an assessment, and then pick a rubric from the class. This gives students the opportunity to set the standards in which they are graded by and gives them an opportunity to be the judge. Often students will judge themselves harder than the teacher.  Also, we could discuss as a class what to put on the rubric. This is really important for creative assignments including drawings, music, and other subjective presentations.

We’ve learned in previous classroom management courses that if teachers tell students what she/he expects from them and how to behave appropriately in the classroom, then they most likely will meet those expectations. You can apply this idea with assignments and use rubrics to aid this process. The purpose of rubrics is to clarify the teacher’s expectations or how to meet the desired goal. If students understand what the expectations are and how to complete the educational goal, then students most likely will have all they need to start and complete the assignment. The book mentions that effective rubrics include specific ratings that provide students with terms and ratings that they can understand and identify how to improve their performance. Using certain words such as poor, weak, good, or excellent don’t give the student specific ratings. Using labels that actually make sense to the student and that specifically describe a behavior might help the student know exactly what they did that deserved that rating. Yet again, this can be compared to classroom behavior expectations. If a classroom rule says that students must behave appropriately, then what does the word appropriately actually mean. This is not specific enough and may not mean the same thing to students. A good rating on a presentation gives students no specific information about their presentation.

Clickers in the classroom: This sounds like a great tool. Teachers can survey what students know/don’t know. This includes discovering any student misconceptions. The book mentions that clickers can also motivate student participation because the answers are anonymous and quick. Anything that gives quiet, passive students a way to participate is wonderful. I could use this tool as a way to grade students participation. This would help students who aren’t really active talkers to receive participation points.

More clicker talk: There is no longer a battle between students to answer a question. Everyone gets to answer the questions no matter if they were/weren’t the first person to click in their answer. Another feature that I really like about clickers is that this tool allows students to see how their peers answered the question. They don’t know who answered what, but they can see that their peers may think the same thing as them. In other words, students recognize that they are not the only one who picked a specific answer. Students need some security in the classroom. They need to feel accepted and welcomed. I think this tool can do all those things. I would most likely use this tool as a discussion starter. I would pose a question, such as does air take up space? From the clicker responses, the students could pose reasons why they think one answer is right and the others are not. This also helps me as a teacher to visualize what students think and can motivate the discussion based on the results. For example, if the room goes quiet I can use the responses to pose questions for students who answered no and then for those who answered yes.

CAT ideas: “A test that adapts can…increase learner engagement and persistence, as the level of items is appropriate for the learner to be challenged but not overly frustrated” (p.237). This is the main reason why I would use computer adaptive testing (CAT) to assess my students. These tests can be completed as tests or surveys. They can be used to determine students’ prior knowledge or as a performance grade. Most likely I would use CAT as a way to determine how to change my instruction or what ideas need to be covered in more detail. I could also use this way of testing to learn about my students’ interests or as a way to encourage students to think about their opinions and what they believe. The tests or surveys could include that questions that ask students to respond to social issues, such as how they would handle a school fight or even if they believe the driving age should be raised. Students should have time to discuss their responses as a class or in small groups. This could be a way to promote a classroom community.

Because this may be our last blog about the book’s chapters, I wanted to say how useful this textbook has been for me. So far, this textbook has been worth buying. I have a few questions for our class: Has anyone seen clickers used in a classroom other than a college class? Do you see yourself creating your own rubrics or using a technology tool to create rubrics? This may depend on the assignment and grade level of your students.