Assessment is a powerful tool in the teaching learning process because it documents the quality of student learning and it assists teachers in fine tuning instruction. In this module we will focus on assessment of technology based educational experiences in the areas of communication, collaboration, and presentation technology.

There are many benefits for conducting assessments. The most visible benefit is that you can document the quality of student learning. For example, are students learning the material that is taught through the technology? Are students learning the content better through the use of technology than they would have without the technology? Can I demonstrate to others that any additional time that technology takes is worthwhile and makes a greater impact on student learning? Are my students improving their scores on district or state required tests? Well designed assessments helps you answer these questions. This type of assessment is known as summative assessment. It provides a summary or documentation of the student outcomes or learning that occurs.

The second benefit of conducting assessments is that it allows the teacher to fine tune instruction better to meet student needs. This is known as formative assessment and employs a different set of questions such as: What problems or glitches were observed in the instruction? What worked especially well and how can you increase those types of positive teachiing and learning moments? Did the technology work especially well for certain types of students? What in the instruction did not proceed as you had planned and how might you modify that component the next time that you teach this concept? What concepts did the students learn well and what concepts were difficult for them to grasp? This formative type of assessment allows teachers to continue to emphasize what in the instruction is helping the student learn and to alter what is not facilitating learning.

View two teachers as they describe the technology-mediated instruction they implemented in their classroom and the formative and summative assessments they used.:

Assessment Video (67.4MB)

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View an unedited written narration of the assessment video:

Introduction to Assessment (36K)

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Rubric example illustrated in the video:

Powerpoint Rubric (36K)