Digital Blog Post I - Chapter 4

Chapter 4 of Transforming Learning with New Technologies discusses many different ways to assess and evaluate students. As teachers deliver lessons, there are also designing ways to assess what the students are learning.  Educators  discuss evaluation and assessment in two contexts: what teachers do (as they finish a lesson) to evaluate and grade student performance, and what teachers do to constantly monitor students performance. Regardless of the definition these learning assessments help teachers determine who is learning steadily and confidently and who may need individual assistance, or different teaching methods. One very common form of evaluating students is through standardized testing. Standardized testing is a huge enterprise in the United  States, and are given from kindergarten through high school. There are many standardized tests that are serving as high-stakes tests, where the grade advancement depends on passing the test. Standardized testing is usually assigned through the state and is based off of state requirements. I do not completely agree with standardized testing as a form of deciding whether or not a student should continue onto the next grade level. Overall, the idea of this form of testing sounds great, but each student learns differently and one test at the end of the year wont give a for sure assessment of what a student has learned. These standardized tests are also based off of the state, not the class or the school, which might make it difficult for a teacher to focus on the main points. Teachers, might feel like they need to teach too the test, which could jeopardize a good classroom environment. I agree that standardized tests are needed and useful, but I do not believe that they should determine whether a student passes or fails a course.

 Another method for teachers to assess students is through test assessments. Test assessments are used to best determine what a student knows or is able to do in an academic area. These tests score in the form of numbers on a scale, which are used to represent knowledge proficiency. The book recognizes two forms of test assessments, norm-referenced tests and criterion-referenced tests. Norm-referenced tests compare a student's performance to other students of the same grade or age.  Test takers are ranked according to how high or low they score in comparison to the norms set by the larger group. The results tend to follow the bell-shaped curve, and most of the test given in school are norm-referenced. Criterion-referenced tests compare a student's performance to specific objectives or standards, not to other students. These test takers are evaluated according to personal performance, and since these test scores are not evaluated on the bell-shaped curve, it is possible for students to score low or high depending on what they have learned. Overall, I would prefer using criterion-referenced tests because it is solely based off the students knowledge, instead of comparing the student to others in the same grade. I must say that I do respect the idea of norm-referenced tests, but I do not entirely agree with them. Norm-referenced tests places student results on rank-ordered scales to determine school readiness. I feel like a school should not base their success in teaching students, on the test scores of the students. I personally believe that schools should be ranked based off a child's performance in the classroom, not a standardized test. This is probably why I prefer criterion-referenced test. This form of test is used to evaluate how the student is doing, and where they can improve. It is not used to determine anything other that the students knowledge.

I have created this test as an example of a way to assess and evaluate what a student has learned.




By: Laura Ruiz at https://create.kahoot.it/#quiz/3b9649b2-2538-43ef-8cd7-224e2c1e9fde/done
 

For easier access: https://create.kahoot.it/#quiz/3b9649b2-2538-43ef-8cd7-224e2c1e9fde/done

  Citations:

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.

Ditgital Blog Post H -Chapter 9

There are many different ways to build your digital identity as a teacher. Among those discussed in Chapter 9 of Transforming Learning with New Technologies, podcasts, webcasts, and vodcasts stood out. All three of these tools are related back to the word broadcast. Whether through the web, IPods, or videos, they all allow the user to broadcast their information using different, but similar tools. A webcast blends the word web with broadcast. Webcasts describes streaming a media broadcast of audio and video over the internet. There are many webcasts located in the Library of Congress, that are similar to watching a televised presentation by experts, of books with information that cannot be read by the naked eye. Webcasts seem like they would be excellent when use to review very old material. I feel as though it would help students to better understand what is being said by the author. Most material that is from centuries ago is written in old English, and it is difficult to get students to try to interpret what the sentence really means. With the help of the webcasts students will actively participate in interpreting the text. These webcasts seem like a great tool for having students learn about older information. I feel as though it might be a bit difficult to get younger students to focus on this form of material presentation. If I were to use a webcast in the classroom, I would try to make it as interactive as possible. An idea would be have the students try to figure out what the text means before watching the webcast so that they can see if their interpretation matches the experts.

Podcasts are the next tool that caught my eye. They are a bit similar to webcast, but podcast combines the word IPod with broadcasts. A podcast is an audio recording distributed online and accessed on computers or portable media players using software like iTunes. These podcasts are free but are just audio. They can be used in the classroom, but it would be difficult to use if one does not have an iTunes. The great thing about podcasts however are that they are free, and can be used by anyone with access to an iTunes. These would be great if every student was able to obtain an iTunes, but it would be quiet difficult for students to maintain focus on just audio for a long amount of time. You would also need to download a podcatcher to then download the podcast.If the podcasts are short and sweet, then I would love to use them in the classroom. Therefore, podcasts would be great to put to use but it all depends on the lesson plan and picking the correct audio. However, podcasts are also free to create. This means that students and teachers can record their own podcasts and share what they have learned with the class. Podcasts can also be used by teachers, so that they can listen to themselves, in order to see how they can improve the information and discussions that were orally presented to the class. Another way that students and teachers can use podcasts, is for collaboration. They can develop exciting learning projects together, like assembling oral history interviews into a podcast-based report.

Vodcasts have gained popularity as a part of the movement toward flipped or flattened classrooms. Vodcasts are recordings that include video and audio, and they are a version of podcasts. In science, history, and other subjects, students watch the lecture or information presentation portion of a lesson on videos outside of school and spend in-class time doing experiments and discussing the academic content. Vodcasts must also be found using the iTunes store but they hold a lot of educational value. Vodcasts can help to hold students attention, and they would be fun to use with a class. I personally, would love to use vodcasts in the classroom environment to allow students to show off what they have learned. An example would be if a high school history class studied The Great Gatsby, they could complete the lesson, and then make a vodcasts about what they learned. Vodcasts are great when used as an educational tool.



This is a website where you can find many different types of vodcasts.