Chapter 10: Assessing Meaningful Learning with Technology

General Thoughts
I like the idea of using authentic assessment. When I was younger, I always felt like traditional assessments were boring and easy. I don't think that I payed much attention to what I was learning because I simply studied the information so that I would be able to reproduce it on a test. I think authentic assessments would have helped make learning more contextual and engaging for me. I think that many students would understand the purpose of learning when teachers use authentic assessment and they would be able to demonstrate their knowledge in a more complete and meaningful way.
I also like that assessment can be used for formative information. I just learned about that concept in my science methods class and think that it could be a very useful tool for teachers.

E-Portfolios
I really like the idea of e-portfolios but I wonder what grades they would be appropriate for. I guess it depends on the level of scaffolding the teacher would offer students, but I can't imagine a kindergartner or a first grader putting together a portfolio.
I like that by using the portfolio, the teacher can comprehensively look at student work and understanding. I also like that the grade is not based upon discrete assignments, but on a holistic product. I think that as a teacher, I would be hesitant to tell students that I am grading them on their progress not their product. I have had some high school and college classes where the teacher used this method of grading and it just made me try less at the beginning. I'm not sure if elementary students would understand this reasoning, but I am still wary.
I think that if using an e-portfolio, I'd kind of want to make it like a website so that students could share their artifacts with others as well as family members. I think this would be a great way to get parental involvement but I wonder if this changes the title from a "portfolio" to something else.
I also worry about available technology and wonder if this would be a limiting factor in whether I am able to have my students create portfolios. What if the school does not supply the necessary technology such as photoshop or a scanner. I wonder if there would be a way to obtain this soft/hardware with limited cost or if there is a free source for this technology.

Technology Based Rubrics
Before reading this section, I had no idea that rubrics could be created online or that there was a database of already completed rubrics for the teacher to search through. I think that this is a really interesting idea, but like the book, I have hesitations. I question how relevant pre-made rubrics could be for each classroom environment because of the diversity of experience and student population. I think that the rubrics would be more general and as a teacher, I would want to use specific rubrics to help in grading as well as student understanding of feedback. I would probably use the pre-made rubrics as a guide when beginning to write rubrics, but I would not use them to assess students unless I was really running low on time.
I think that the rubric generators are a better way to use the technology. They allow teachers to create their own specific criteria but also scaffold the process and make sure the user has precise elements defined and graded.
My only question with using rubrics is how can they be converted into a grade? I know the last bullet under the Good Rubrics section says to not convert rubrics into grades, but the classroom/school community runs on grades. How can students be given a report card without any letter grades on it?

Clickers
The first exposure I have had with clickers was when I was a freshman in college. I thought they were a really neat idea, but I would have never thought to use them in the elementary classroom. Now that I read the section however, I think that they would be a great addition to any classroom.
When I think about clickers, I see their initial benefit as a quick and easy way to give your students a formative assessment. The teacher is able to keep track of who responded and what answer they gave and so looking back at the data, the teacher would be able to figure out which students were confused and which ones are confident about their knowledge.
I agree that the use of clickers can be a good way to get students all thinking about the problem, even those who may need more time to arrive at their answer. However, I see this system as flawed. If students know that the answer will be given soon, some students may not bother responding to the clicker question. Other students may talk loudly among themselves and thus answers can easily be spread.
I also like that clickers do not require fancy or expensive equipment; all the teacher really needs is a computer, the clicker software, and an LCD projector. This is really good for teachers, especially those working in lower income schools, because it allows for an engaging and interesting activity without too much cost.

Computer Based Tests and Surveys
I've never really thought about computer testing other than simple multiple choice formats that are not that relevant to a technological and researched based education classroom. I am interested in learning more about the computerized adaptive testing (CAT) because I think it could be a great tool to scaffold learning and output measures. Often students feel frustrated because the test they take is either too complicated or too easy. This type of testing would remedy both problems because students who were gifted and may find the test too easy, would be able to go on to more difficult and advanced applications of the information. Students on the other hand, who are confused about the information, or those who may still be on a lower level of understanding, would benefit from more simple and straightforward questions.
However this usage creates more questions. How would students be graded? Would it be like the GRE where students who could only answer lower level question would be penalized and (even if they got all their simple questions correct) get a non-perfect grade? Or would students be given a particular test based on their own abilities and however they scored on the test, not as a relative measure, would be their final grade?
This section also talked about serveys. I think that surveys can be a quick and easy way for teachers to tell if students are understnading the concepts. I think they would be a good means for formative assessment and I think that they can even allow for more extended answers. As shown in figure 10.10, some sites even allow open ended essay questions in their surveys. A teacher could really use this to her benefit but I think this would be a time investment.