be used as both an assessment tool and a student resource to personalize learning?eva walsh
Inquiry Synthesis
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Daily Archives: March 14, 2016
Transformation
This past Thursday I was able to experience how what we teach in the classroom can be transferred to students learning at home. As their show and tell, one of my students brought in their iPad and showcased a story that they had written about themselves using Book Creator. It is an app that has been utilized within the classroom. He was able to transfer the skills that he had mastered in the classroom to a project at home. He created an All About Me story that showcased a few of his favourite things. He was able to bring together text and visuals to represent what he considered to be important. It was interesting to see how he was able to transfer his skills and how proud he was of his work. The student also disclosed that he taught his siblings how to use the app. Throughout his presentation, the student was proud of the work he had done and how he was able to transfer his skills.
Tech-Friendly Tools
“Formative assessment identifies areas where students are excelling and struggling so that teachers can best alter their instruction to meet the needs of all students.”
Using technology as a formative assessment tool allows teachers the ability to immediately see where their students may be struggling and adjust their lessons accordingly – they can shift their lessons to answer student questions. Technology may also offer teachers an alternative to pen and paper. If they prefer, they may use technology to enhance their pre-existing formative assessment.
Using technology allows teaching to plan with a purpose. They may use the data they collect to plan their next lessons – they may spend more time on a concept that the students may not be having difficulties with or they may move on to the next topic, if all of the students have mastered the concept. The patterns that teachers may find in their data can help to find patterns in individual learners and tailor groups for student success.
To utilize technology effectively within the classroom, teachers must first find what works for them. It is through this inquiry that they are able to explore various modes of formative assessment and discover what works for them and their students. Upon finding what works, technology can be used to tailor lessons and work toward student success.
Burns, Monica (2015). Empowering teachers with tech-friendly formative assessment tools. Retrieved from: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/tech-friendly-formative-assessment-tools-monica-burns
Integrating Technology
“Integrating technology into classroom instruction means more than teaching basic computer skills and software programs in a separate computer class.”
Edutopia suggests that technology integration should support four components of learning: active engagement, participation in groups, frequent interaction and feedback, and connection to real-world experts. As I have come understand, integrating technology into the classroom should be seamless. Rather than make technology a separate class, it should be integrated across the curriculum and should be utilized in all areas of study – supporting the wider curricular goals. It offers students a new and exciting way to learn, which will keep them engaged and reduce behavioural problems within the classroom. Technology also offers teachers a new way to teach. Rather than be the figure head at the front of the room, teachers are able to offer students an alternative form of learning where they can utilize their own skills and seek the teachers help as a context expert. The teacher is able to use technology to enhance their teaching and offer students the ability to search for answers and become critical thinkers. Technology integration, therefore, more beneficial when it is used as a tool alongside the curriculum content and with the guidance of a trained educator.
Edutopia (2008). Why integrate technology into the curriculum?: The reasons are many. Retrieved from: http://www.edutopia.org/technology-integration-introduction