Software to Support Assessment

Software to Support Assessment

Nicole Rusk

Grand Canyon University

Software to Support Assessment

a) In what ways can technology facilitate the ongoing effort to assess student learning? Technology can facilitate student assessment of learning when the quiz and performance test questions displayed by the computer are coded to the instructional standards of the educational program content. The computer can then effortlessly track and report on which learners have mastered which standards, derived on their test and quiz performance, and which learners have not. This is an enormous help to teachers, who are commonly fairly time-pressured, which is why these sorts of results-based data are not routinely generated. Computers are also renowned for previewing content about to be presented, for remedial lessons on content already covered (for absent students, perhaps?) and for quizzes over content, and for simulations that might be hazardous otherwise (chemical reactions).

b) What is the difference between formative assessment and summative assessment and how can technology be used to facilitate both?

Formative evaluations are those assessments used to gauge student progress during the course of a lesson, and can be unbiased assessments such as a quiz, or subjective assessments such as an observation of performance. They can be very informal, such as a teacher oral question during class, or merely an observation, as mentioned. Summative assessments are those which occur at the culmination of instruction, to gauge student learning at the end of a unit or lesson - was the content mastered? Generally, these are more formal, written assessments, but not always. They can also be a performance observation, as well, or a portfolio, or any of a number of other authentic assessments of student work and comprehension. Several of the journal articles cited above comment on using computers to enhance student engagement, interest and performance in the classroom.

c) What...