Journal Post #11

Chapter 11 Engaging Students in Performance Assessment and Reflective Learning 

Focus Question: How can students become actively involved in assessment and evaluation using technology?

Students and Assessments:
           Anytime students hear the word "assessment" they will most likely groan about it. Even though I am in college I personally do not like doing any type of assessment. Throughout the students school years they are given multiple assessments multiple times. The students grow to not like them and some honestly stop trying when it comes to them. In the beginning of the year most schools give students reading and math assessments to see where they are academic wise in those subjects. The students then take the same test at the end of the year to see how much they have improved. Honestly to a student any type of test or assessment will seem boring and pointless after they've already done them throughout the year.

Assessments and Technology:
           Most assessments are now taken online. As soon as the student submits their assessment the teacher is usually able to pull up the grades right on their computer and see the weaknesses and strengths of each individual student. With some different assessments students can also pull up their results and see how they did in each different sections of the assessment. I know on the SAT and ACT you can look at your results and it shows how you did in each different section. At my old school there was an online pinnacle where the teachers put the grades of assignments and the students could log in to their pinnacle and see how they did. I personally loved this feature because I didn't have to wait until the next school day to see my grade.

Photo Credit to: Mr_Stein on Flickr 

 Tech Tool Survey and Poll Resources and Apps:
           Online surveys and polls are engaging ways to conduct instructional pre-assessments and to generate classroom discussion among students. Zoomerang  provides prompts and templates that help make the purpose of the survey apparent to the students taking it. SurveyMonkey is an easy to use survey tool that has multiple ways to formulate questions and collect information. Micropoll is a customizable poll for websites and blogs that has real-time voting and results that can be viewed by voters. Flisti is an easy poll builder making adding links to your favorite social networks immediately. Some different apps that could be used are Poll Everywhere. This is an app that allows students to use cell phones to submit responses to questions. There is also Show Of Hands that is for users to participate in local and national polls on topics that range from politics to culture, to health and sports.

Summary: 
           Students and teachers everywhere are starting to incorporate technology more and more in the classroom. On  canvas I can test possible grades to see what my grade would be depending on how I did on each assessment and I love that. Students like to be involved in their grades. Some may not admit it but they really do love to see how they can improve or what their strengths are. Being able to see both strengths and weaknesses helps a lot because it is not only telling what you're doing bad on or what you need to improve on but it is also showing what you did really well in and what you don't need extra help in. Being able to submit responses from a cell phone is amazing because students almost always have their cell phone on their. Incorporating things that students use everyday is a great way to reach out to students and keep them involved in their work.

Resources: 
           Textbook - Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.