Week 2 Assignment, Part 3: Blog Posting #1 -Technology Assessments

Technology is having an impact on our traditional education philosophy that has surpassed the knowledge and skill base of our educators and the students.  However, our students of today are so much more computer savvy than those students from years past.  It is crucial that we as educators find a way to make the connections with our students.  Technology assessments are an excellent way to make these much needed connections.  There is much value that comes from assessing educator’s technology leadership knowledge and skills as well assessing those skills and knowledge of their students.  Assessments can be used to support learning and to report learning.  The value in assessing our student’s technology skills is simply to find out and know what they know.  If we assess what they know, educators can build curriculum based on their needs and possibly their interests.  Weaknesses found can be identified and strengthened through new curriculum.  The data that comes from the assessments could be compiled and organized in such a way that time would be saved once implemented.  What might make an assessment difficult to create is to realize we are not only assessing knowledge but also a student’s capability to process the knowledge in a technological environment.  According to Malcolm Welch at Queen’s University, to assess capability is complex because we are looking for a whole that is more than the sum of its constituent parts, much more than displaying knowledge, or understanding, or manual skills.  Capability included the processes that student’s experience, as well as the skill and understanding developed and employed. (Welch, 2012) Possible disadvantages to this process are the time, money and man power it would take to implement such an assessment.  The value in assessing teacher’s technology knowledge is the data collected to be used in measuring and identifying the immediate needs so that changes can be implemented in their classrooms.  Data collected from a teacher’s assessment can drive opportunities for professional development.  Professional Development can come from the teacher’s themselves.  The assessments can identify the teachers who exhibit strengths who in turn can teach and enlightened those teachers who require additional knowledge in those areas.  A disadvantage to this assessment would be the time used and the validity of the assessment.  It would take additional time to properly measure the reliability of the assessments.  Overall, the value in assessments will greatly contribute to making much needed connections with our teachers and students.

Reference: 

Welch, M.  (Jan. 2012)  Assessment in Technology Education: What, Why, and How?   

              Retrieved from:   www.project2061.org/events/meetings/technology/tech2/welch.htm

Merrill Redfern
EDLD5311/ET8050