Asking Bigger Questions About Assessment

Dr. Campbell gives us a lot to think about in his presentation on assessment. He draws us in immediately with his creative opening revealing how he learned about assessment from Shakespeare. He offers his perspective on the presence and impact of standardized tests in today’s educational system. I was intrigued by his version of the APGAR test. The notion of involving students in crafting assessments is not something currently in my practice.

I expected to walk away with some new notion of how to assess the impact of technology on learning. That I did not get. But I was very pleased to have Dr. Campbell validate the current emphasis of my assessment practice which is to showcase student technology products and experiences.

I need to find a way to draw in a bigger audience so that what I am learning and what my students are experiencing is shared with a larger community. I also need to become more active in communities that will allow me to apply what others have learned to the experiences I created for students. Finally, I will begin to experiment with the notion of student crafted assessments. I can’t wait to see what my first and second graders will come up with. They are pretty amazing actually. I think it is the right thing to do for these youngsters. They are still so open and uninhibited. It is the right time to start involving them in this process.

Never Too Young

I work with young elementary students and I was really looking forward to getting some new ideas from this session. Sharon’s presentation was extremely well-organized and her three suggestions for getting started were clear. She provided concrete examples of how you could use voicethread, dipity and 21classes blogs with young elementary students. I was not famiiar with dipity and I look forward to exploring it further.

As I consider implementation of these tools, I wonder if I am looking for a way to use a tool with students rather than the best tool to enhance learning with technology. For several years I have worked with my grade 1 students to create a multimedia presentation using KidPix Slideshows. The end result of the project is a multimedia ‘book’ similar to the example provided by Ms. Betts. The final format is not voicethread but quicktime movies which I have posted on a website so there was a large audience. The students could independently create and edit pictures and text, add audio as well as sound and transitions. Moving this project to voicethread would introduce additional tasks that my assistant and I would have to take on such as exporting pictures to jpeg then uploading them to voicethread therefore taking away some of their ability to independently create something. What is the cost-benefit of moving this project to voicethread? Will the students get any more from the experience?

I applaud the efforts of Ms. Dedek to blog with her students. I wonder, though, how much her students benefit from Ms. Dedek’s student blog. The task seems to be primarily a typing exercise and there appears to be very few comments so I wonder about the readership of this blog. If her students can explain what a blog is and why it is better to but their entries in a blog rather than write them on a piece of paper then they have benefited. As a technology facilitator, however, my rationale needs to be a little more compelling for classroom teachers.

Now that the cynic in me has had a chance to speak, let me make it clear that I am optimistic that I will ultimately find a ways to use these tools with young children in a way that I feel is compelling for students and teachers alike. For several years I have been trying to convince our grade 2 teachers to keep a blog during their life cycle unit during which they study the metamorphosis of a butterfly. They take digital pictures beginning with the eggs through the release of the butterflies. To date, although they are interested, they are unable to justify the time they feel it will take. Maybe I can convince them this year and they will see how much the children can do given the chance.

How Can I Become Part of this ReadWriteWeb Revolution?

Wow! I didn’t realize how much I got from this presentation until I started on the reflection process. And could you believe…I was dreading having to go through the PD rubric and develop my narrative. So hats off to the developer(s) of this rubric and to Alice, Bob and Cheryl for a rich and meaningful presentation.

To date I have implemented the use of quite a few web 2.0 tools in my work with elementary students…but VoiceThread isn’t one of them. I have considered using VoiceThread again and again but just never did it. And tomorrow, I will go into school (with an obnoxious amount of enthusiasm) and convince one of our first or second grade teachers to use VoiceThread to capture our students reflections on UN Day which are we are celebrating on Friday. After going through the process of responding to the essential questions, I am a convert. It was quite an experience to listen to the responses of others that viewed the presentation before posting my own. I could see the value like I never have before. If I wasn’t already a big fan of the flip cam, you would have got me there too!

Valuable reading resources were also a highlight for me although I was already familiar with some. After reading the executive summaries, I will definitely take an in-depth look at “Confronting the Challenge of Participatory Culture” by Henry Jenkins and “The Power of Pow! Wham!: Children’s Digital Media & Our Nation’s Future” by Rima Shore. These publications will help develop my knowledge base.

The presenters’ main focus on ‘don’t do it alone’ also hit home. As classroom educators we have always been very isolated. As one of only three technology facilitators at my school I am even more isolated. Technology changes all that. At this point I wouldn’t say I am ‘doing it alone’ but I am very much on the periphery of the participatory ways of the web 2.0 world. I am an avid reader of blogs but have only personal blogs (unless you want to consider this professional). I have created content but I am so hesitant to put it out there. I look at the children I teach…and they don’t even blink before clicking the publish button.

This year I will actively participate in the conference. Perhaps this is the first step I need to take to move from the periphery to the center of it all!