Assessment Technology

Randy Ragland
https://www.blubbr.tv/game/index.php?game_id=66284&org=3#.VRiL3PzF-So
EDU 225
March 29, 2015
Instructor Jen Goodwin

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Part 1: Assessment Technology

https://www.blubbr.tv/game/index.php?game_id=66284&org=3
For the assessment, I will be using the standards for a third grade science class on Earth
and Space. The standards included in my assessment are: GLE 0307.6.1 Identify and compare
the major components of the solar system, and SPI 0307.6.1 Identify the major components of
the solar system, i.e., sun, planets and moons. For the assessment the student will be watching a
five minute video on the Solar System Song and answering questions that correspond to the short
film clip. This quiz will serve as a summative assessment over the material that has been
previously covered and will continue to be covered during the next two standards to be covered
during the unit.
After taking this assessment, the students will then take what they learned and find the
information that they to know to create a model of the solar system. The information will also
help students in the future when they will be required to take their knowledge of the solar system
and create a Venn Diagram comparing and contrasting the planets of the solar system and their
characteristics. I will use the data collected from the quiz activity in order determine what
information the students will need to continue to research and what they already know.
Answer Key
Q. Which of the following is the Suns role in our
solar system?
Q. What is Mercury made up of?

A. Providing Light

Q. What characteristic does Venus share with

Earth?

A. Size

A. Iron

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Q. What is unique about Mars?

A. It has the highest mountains in the solar

system

Q. Why does the Earth appear to be blue from

outerspace?

A. All of the water sources

Q. What is unique about Jupiter?

A. All of the Above

Q. What are Saturns rings made of?

A. Ice

Q. What characteristic does Uranus and Jupiter

share?

A. Both are gas giants

Q. What position does Neptune hold from the Sun?

A. Eighth

Part 2: Blog Post

Assessment Technology
Student Assessment Technology
There are various characteristics of what a great lesson looks like from the hook,
transitions, and activities, the assessment is crucial. When a teacher teaches a lesson to their
students they should be able to measure how much the students learned from the lesson as while
as aspects of the lesson that may need to be covered once again. Technology has the ability to
bridge the gap between lesson and retention of material learned.

Technology to Facilitate Ongoing Efforts to Assess Student Learning

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In todays classroom, there is has been a major step in the direction of technology being
incorporated. In fact education has been so driven by technology that now the ability to attend
virtually, or online, at the secondary education level is now possible. Technology incorporation
into the classroom actually goes as far as state standards being related to technology (TNGOV,
2015.) Incorporating technology into lessons and assessments of student learning is crucial to
moving our students forward and making them successful not just in the classroom, but also in
mainstream society.
Blubbr: This online learning tool provides multiple opportunities for students. At a basic
level, this web tool contains trivia and review games. These games make it possible for students
to not only challenge each other in the classroom, but also in their spare time. What better way
for students to work on building knowledge and applying themselves than by finding a fun way
to learn material. On Blubbr teachers can find various videos that cover the topics they wish to
present and create a slide show of these videos with an accompanying quiz at the end to test what
students learned. Most of these videos are five minutes or less which would ideally allow
teachers to use these video/quiz combinations as transitions during instruction which is vital in
obtaining a picture of what the students understand or still having trouble with (Means, 2007.)
With the formatting of Blubbr it is possible for teachers to review on all subjects that are taught
in the classroom from Math to English. While this assessment is great in many ways, it does
appeal more towards the needs of formative assessments. It does not provide the ability for
extended responses or discussions. Rather it provides multiple choice answers.
Socratic: In todays classroom there seems to be a major push towards quality education
instead of the quantity of material being covered.

Socratic seminar allows students to take what

they have learned during a lesson, analyze it, and create a response instead of simply giving back

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the answer the teacher wants or picking a letter which could possibly be right just by guessing
(FCT, 2013). Socratic methods in assessment take guessing out of instruction and encourage
students to grow what they are learning in their responses. The web tool Socratic is an example
of what could be used as an ideal summative assessment because of the though and knowledge
that has to go in to producing an answer.
Polleverywhere: This tool is nothing like the previously mentioned tools but just as
useful in the classroom. When you think about the type of students that will be in your
classroom, it is evident that no two are going to be the same. Therefore, not every assessment
that is given should be the same. Polleverywhere gives a simple question and asks the students
to pick a response. Then the teacher can log on and see the percentage of poll results based on
classroom totals, not by individual student unless the teacher chooses. The benefits to this type
of assessment go beyond the simplicity they provide, but also allow the shy or reserved students
the ability to participate in discussions that they might be opposed to if they had to raise their
hand or group themselves with other students. Much like Blubbr, this webtool would be ideally
used as a formative assessment due to the shortness of the answer or lack of justification answers
require. Besides the simplicity of this tool, there are also many advantages to polling tools for
assessment. By using polls, a teacher can automatically gage their students understanding, as
well as their opinions about various topics (Dunn, 2012).
Formative and Summative Assessments
There are two main types of assessment, formative and summative. Formative
assessment is the type of assessment that most teachers use on an everyday basis. Normally
these types of assessment are short and serve as a way for teachers to gage student learning and
understanding. This could be accomplished by using polls or short quizzes. Summative

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assessment, however, provides its meaning in its name. Summative assessment is normally
given only a few times during the year and comes in the form of unit exams, midterms, and final
exams. The point of these assessments, much like formative assessments, is to discover what the
students have learned but is more based on testing the student for what they have retained as well
as learned instead of what they already know and still need to learn (Landauer, 2015).
Technology and all the tools it provides takes the stress off of a teacher having to create these
assessments on a daily basis and allows the teacher to focus more on the results instead of the
process of creating the tests to find the results.
Pros and Cons of using Technology to Facilitate Assessment
Using technology to facilitate assessment has its pros and cons much like any other tool.
The largest issue to conquer with the assessment technologies listed above is access to computers
or technology in general. Tools like polleverywhere are mainly intended to be used outside of
the classroom or as exit slips. Both of these methods, however, require adequate access to
technology which not all classrooms or students. The pros to each of these tools is that it allows
the students to see and use different forms of assessment other than pencil and paper at the end of
class. These assessments open the door for hooks at the beginning of the lesson, assessments
during transitions, and the typical post lesson assessment that students are used to.
Conclusion
Like most things in our society, education is shifting in directions that are based upon
technology usage. A lot of state standards for students and observation rubrics for teachers
require the incorporation of technology. The great news for educators is that there are a ton of
web tools available, free, and easy to use. Educators can not only meet standards with these

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various sources, but also they have the ability to differentiate instruction and give assessments
that allow every student to prosper in the classroom and in society.

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References

Dunn, Jeff. "The Teachers Guide To Polling In The Classroom." The Teacher's Guide To
Polling In The Classroom. Edudemic, 2 Apr. 2012. Web. 29 Mar. 2015.

FCT. "The Role of Socratic Questioning in Thinking, Teaching, and Learning." The Role of
Socratic Questioning in Thinking, Teac. Foundation for Critical Thinking, 2013. Web
29 Mar. 2015.

Landauer, Thomas K., Karen E. Lochbaum, and Scott Dooley. "A New Formative Assessment
Technology For Reading And Writing." Theory Into Practice 48.1 (2009): 4452. Education Research Complete. Web. 29 Mar. 2015.

Means, Barbara. "Testing with Tech: The Role of Technology in Supporting and Enhancing
Assessment." Edutopia. Edutopia, 29 Jan. 2007. Web. 29 Mar. 2015.