Kristen Kishaba
EDU 225
6/7/15
Biba, John
Part 1: Assessment Technology(150-250 words).
I have taken many polls during my education lifetime. They are great because they give
teachers an idea on what needs to be improved in the classroom. This way the next school year will be
better than the last one. I created a poll on poll everywhere. My poll is for my kindergartners or first
grade class to take. This is more of formative assessment because I will use this to monitor my student’s
academic progress throughout the year. My link to my poll is PollEv.com/kristenkisha247. Students can
take this poll on any computer and a Smartphone, IPAD or iphone. To take the poll on cell phone
students need to text kristenkisha247 to 22333. A text message will give them directions on how to join
the survey. Students just click on the answer that best describes them. There is no right or wrong
answer. I want to get to know my students better. Therefore I will give this poll out at the beginning of
the first day of class every year. I want to know more about each student and understand what I can
focus my attention on helping each individual student in. There is no right or wrong answer therefore
my rubric is students will get a full 20 participation points for completing this poll.
Part 2: Blog Post
Introduction (4-6 Sentences):
Software to support student assessment is important because it helps teachers either monitor
or evaluate student learning. It is important to assess student learning because it will improve student’s
learning, it identifies weaknesses and strengths in the student’s academic abilities, helps the teacher
improve instruction by what adjustments need to be made and makes grading easier for the teacher.
There are lots of free technology web tools for teachers to use in order to assess student learning.
Software tools that teachers can use are socrative, Quiz Faber, Castle Software, Classroom management
software, poll everywhere and edmodo. All of these help assess and monitor or evaluate student
learning in different ways.
Technology to Facilitate Ongoing Efforts to Assess Student Learning
Teachers do not need too much technology in order to facilitate ongoing efforts to assess
student learning. By having access to a computer with internet teachers can easily access many
free web tools in order to use their creativity and come up with assessments for their students.
Computers with internet access allow teachers to create assignments, exams, rubrics, concept
maps and even create concept tests. Teachers can also download software programs onto their
computer to assess student learning. This is the joy of owning a computer and having internet
access. Teachers do not need to pay a dime in order to assess their student’s learning. A
computer is all that is needed.
(Classroom management software)
Netop Classroom Management says that “teachers can use this specific software
to create polls, surveys, assessments and quizzes.” This is not all that educators can do to assess
student learning. Furthermore, a teacher can share teaching materials, online content and lessons
with their students. There is an option to create an interactive test questions in an instructive
video. Last Netop Classroom Management lets teachers score the assessments automatically and
provide feedback for students. At the end of the academic year a teacher could use this software
to create a fun survey for students to take. A survey detailing what can be improved for next year
and how they liked the class.
(Castle Software)
Castle Software is another great software program for teachers to use. This
software is also known as School Island. Teachers can use this software to assess student
learning by administering formative assessments, delivering tests to show growth and analyzing
data to differentiate instruction and make teaching better. In the classroom a teacher could use
this software to create a formative assessment quiz after reviewing chapter 5 in a history book.
(QuizFaber)
BusyTeacher.org says that, teachers can use this software in order to “create a
variety of quizzes.” The website busy teacher .org also goes on to explain that teachers can
assess their students with true or false quizzes, matching quizzes and multiple choice quizzes.
“Quizzes can be sent via e-mail or published on the internet.” (BusyTeacher.org). In a classroom
a teacher could use QuizFaber to come up with a quick fun matching quiz after reviewing what
the students learned that day in order to test their knowledge.
(Formative and Summative Assessments)
Gunter, G., &Gunter, R., (2015) say that formative assessments are to monitor student
learning. Summative on the other hand are when students are evaluated. Teachers who use
formative assessments may have their students give a 1-2 paragraph explaining the main point of
the lecture of that day. When a teacher gives a test at the end of let’s say a science chapter that is
a summative assessment. These are the differences between the two assessments.
(Pros and Cons of using Technology to Facilitate Assessment)
There is one con to using technology to facilitate assessments for teachers and that is
often software can be a bit pricey. Some teachers may not want to pay for monthly subscriptions
of the software to help assess their students learning in the classroom. Furthermore it may not
always work correctly. When a teacher uses technology the program may or may not work well
often. Despite the cons there are pros to using technology to facilitate assessment and that is,
technology provides a faster way to assess students learning needs. Writing everything on paper
is a slow way to facilitate assessment. Technology helps a busy teacher assess their students
faster.
(“Should a teacher only use technology to assess student learning? Why or why not?”)
Teachers should only use technology to assess student learning. I believe there is no other
way to assess student learning. Technology is around us everywhere we look. It is in someone’s
hand on someone’s desk at home. It is growing and increasing. Technology makes things easier
to assess student learning because it helps the teacher keep accurate track of the student’s
academic weaknesses and strengths. Furthermore students like technology. There is not a student
in the world who does not like playing games on the computer. Therefore Yes! Teachers should
use only technology to assess students because it is a faster way to assess students learning
abilities and the students are more engaged in learning when technology is involved in their
classroom environment.
What is the importance of assessment technology in connection with the ISTE standards?
ISTE standards for teachers and students are a bit different. However, when it comes to
the importance of assessment technology both ISTE standards are for facilitating learning.
Concluding Paragraph for Software to Support Assessment
I do think teachers should invest in software to support assessment. It makes things easier
for a busy teacher and they are able to keep track of their students in the classroom. Even though
there are pros and cons to technology, it is a good idea for teachers to use classroom
management, quizfaber and castle software. There are other software programs that do not cost
anything to create fun assessment quizzes and tests for students. These sites include socrative,
edomodo and polleverywhere. Teachers have many software tools available to them all they need
to do is have fun and be creative when it comes to assessing their students.
References
http://busyteacher.org/2878-top-10-teacher-software-programs-you-should-be.html
http://www.castlesoftware.com/
http://www.netop.com/classroom-management-software/products/netop-vision-prolearning-center.htm
Gunter, G., & Gunter, R., (2015). Teachers Discovering Computers (8th Ed.). 344.