Program of Study



9458 Technology and Assessment

Course Description

In this course, we learned how to assess specific types of knowledge using technology to enhance the process. We explored innovative tools and means of assessment that helped teachers individualize and differentiate instruction to improve learning and we developed technology-enhanced assessments of student learning.

Reflection

As a digital media instructor, my entire curriculum is technology. I teach an introductory level digital media course and an advanced graphic design and desktop publishing course, both of which include a majority of the Adobe Creative Suite software as well as several other software programs to high school students. As a career and technical education instructor I am fortunate to have access to high quality equipment (computers, monitors, printers, scanners, digital cameras, etc.) and up-to-date software (we currently have Adobe CS5). So my need to include technology in instruction has never been a real or major concern. What has always been a concern is developing quality instruments for assessing instruction that meet the curriculum requirements.

I think the major “take away” from 9458 would be the concept of “essential questions”. In recent years, we as educators have talked about “essential competencies or objectives” but I have never thought about what essential questions I would want students to think about in getting deeper understanding in what we do in the classroom. Even after reading the text, I still was unclear as to what the essential questions for my classroom could be. After all, I was teaching software. How deep can you go? It wasn’t until I asked this question of my small group discussion team that I started to “get it”. It was making more sense, but again, I was a bit unsure. When I got to that component of my performance assessment assignment, I was forced to think about it in depth.

I have learned that I learn best by seeing examples. I didn’t feel the text was very helpful with examples for performance/product type courses so I got on the internet and searched for “examples of essential questions for performance curriculum” or something similar to that. While my search didn’t produce anything specific to digital media, I did find examples from other performance type areas (fine art, culinary arts, communication arts, etc.) that really helped me narrow down some essential questions for my curriculum. As soon as I did this, wow. The light bulb came on and it all made so much more sense. I have never looked at my curriculum from that standpoint and, even though this light bulb moment won’t require a huge change in my curriculum, it’s made a huge change in my way of thinking which will make a huge change in my delivery of instruction, especially for my advanced graphic design course. Just having students think about such questions as “How do effective designers capture the attention of their intended audience?” and “How do I choose which technological tools to use and when it is appropriate to use them?” will open up a whole new dialog that I’ve seldom had with students.

I’ve had plenty of experience developing rubrics, not that I’ve done it all that well, but I’ve created plenty. I have spent a lot of time focusing my rubrics on the competencies, but I think the performance assessment exercise really forced me to look at all aspects of the assignment, especially those things that I generally lump into one category, such as file saving, spelling/grammar, and attention to detail. I had a little more perspective as I identified every single objective that would need to be assessed. Fortunately, my curriculum does include those minor objectives; I just hadn’t focused my rubric around those objectives.

I definitely learned about assessing technology in this course.

Artifacts