Practical Applications and Recommendations
Assessments are vital in education as it allows the teachers to evaluate the abilities of the students. These assessments need to be done on various occasions and can be authentic and engaging demonstrations of the abilities of students to handle various challenges in a given disciples in real life context. Assessment lies at the heart of learning experience and the ways learners are assessed shapes their understanding of curriculum and even determine their ability to progress. The two assessment strategies used in many schools is the traditional and alternatives. Currently, with introduction of technology, computer technologies assessment methods are being embraced in schools. This paper deliberates on various computer technologies assessment strategies, employed in elementary schools and various tools, their advantages and disadvantages in enhancing learning.
The traditional methods of assessment used include true/false tests, multiple choices, short answers and essays. These assessment methods have some advantages as well as benefits. For instance, multiple choices strengths include being fast, easy and economic to score, reduce the chance of learners guessing among others. One challenge is that they may be time consuming and hard to create (Dikli, 2003). Alternative assessment methods include cognitive assessment, performance assessment and portfolio assessment. Performance based methods are often used as they encompass authentic and alternative methods. Strategies used in alternative assessment methods include exhibits, open-ended questions, demonstrations, computer simulations, hands on execution of experiments and portfolios.
The two areas that computer technologies can be used in the assessment in the elementary classroom are on the cognitive abilities of the students and on their level of mastery of skills of tasks and expression (Dikli, 2003). Traditional assessment such as multiple choices is one of the area that can employ computer technology while skills in the alternative assessments can be best adopted through portfolios.
Computers are increasingly being adopted to deliver objective tests / multiple-choice questions. These tests may incorporate wide range of question styles such as word entry, multiple response, gap fill and free format where by the entry of a student is compared to a correct solution using a computer key search. These tests are effective in testing factual knowledge and therefore allow examination of a wider syllabus for a short time, some limitations of these objective tests is that they do not indicate the process skills and higher levels. They can however be used in both summative and formative assessments as various scorings systems can be applied to discourage students from guessing. There are various package designed for electronic delivery of these tests, which includes EQL Assessor, Question Mark, examine among others. It is easy to enter the questions (Chu, Hwang, Tsai, & Tseng, 2010). The only challenge is in designing a variety of questions for computer-based delivery, which is complex and consumes a lot of time. The advantages of this computer technology are that many questions for every student can be designed with a paper that is made up of different questions but of similar standards. Instant computer marking allows easier and immediate feedback for students, students can sit for exams frequently, analysis of group’s responses to questions is also facilitated because of computerized recording.
Computer technologies can also be used in alternative assessment using portfolios to help in assessing the master of skills of the tasks and exercise. Portfolios help to illuminate the efforts of students and achievements in one or more areas. These portfolios require a lot of input from the students as well as the teachers (Pellegrino, 2001). Electronic portfolio is a technology based on authentic and alternative student based assessment applicable in elementary classroom. It operates like traditional portfolio but the only difference with electronic portfolio is that it is able to take up more space as information is stored on a hard drive or a CD or a floppy disk. Advantage of using e-portfolio, is that it is easier to use as it allows the teacher to get a broader, more in depth look at what students know well and that which they can do.
There are various advantages/ ways that new advances in computer and web technologies would benefit k-12 assessment. One of the advantages is that it allows the teachers to carry out frequent formative and summative assessments helping them to understand how their students are faring on. They are able to do this because; it is easy and does not consume a lot of time. It also enables the teachers to make quick decisions to adapt their teaching in case of an issue (Hwang, & Chang, 2011). Students can also assess themselves at their own discretion, pace and when ready. It also increases the level of students’ confidence as they are frequently informed of how they are progressing with their studies. Therefore, in elementary classroom, these technologies are essential in assessing how the students are learning and developing in their cognitive abilities.
Three-applications of using computer technologies in assessment in elementary classroom and K-12 include management of the assessment information. Using technology information can be presented in different ways to meet the needs and goals of different audiences such teachers, students, course organizers and external examines among others. The technology can also be used to prepare reports and to improve in their utilization. It is also used in the processing and administration of the students’ mark hence ensuring that his information is well recorded for future use (Ross, Morrison & Lowther, 2010). These computer technologies can also be used in the assessment of special populations. Special population may require some adjustments in the scores because they may not compete at the same level with the other students. Using technologies allows these modifications hence ensure that there is fairness in assessments (Davies, 2010).
A survey tool adopted to find out on what the respondents thought about assessments in a professional development workshop was a questionnaire. Several questions were raised and responded to. Respondents were required to state their responses or mark them on Likert scale. The reason or rationale for using questionnaires is that, it is easy to collect information. Information can be collected from a larger portion of a group and responders are gathered in a standardized ways as they are objective compared to interviews. These are the reason for the selection of this survey tool. The theory on which this tool was adopted is that of objectivity. Because of the fact that the tool is objective and fast, it will allow enough information to be collected for analysis. Furthermore, the level of accuracy is high which makes the study findings more reliable. Therefore, this will help in ensuring that the learning objectives are met.
One of the limitation of using questionnaires as survey tool is that sometimes respondents may forget to fill some of the important questions or the questionnaires may not be returned causing poor generalability (Learning Technology Dissemination Initiative, 2013). Furthermore, because of the standardization of the question, it becomes difficult to explain certain aspects that the respondents may not understand and this therefore may lead to presentation of information that is not true because of misunderstanding. These problems however can be minimized by ensuring that question is well organized and has standard questions. Second is that the questions should be written clearly in a well-understood language to avoid any instances of misunderstanding.
The Likert scale has five options that the respondents are required to select one of them that they feel best explain the scenario of the question presented (Bertram, 2010). On the scale, five represents, strongly agree, 4 somewhat agree, 3 is neutral and represent neither agree nor disagree, 2 represent, “somewhat disagree” while 1 represents, “strongly disagree”
| Questionnaires | Strongly agree (5) | Agree (4) | Neutral (3) | Somewhat disagree (2) | Strongly disagree (1) |
| Do you think it is important to have assessments in school? | |||||
| Can both traditional and alternative assessment methods be adopted? | |||||
| Are true/false assessments effective? | |||||
| Do you support introduction of computer technologies in assessment | |||||
| Would you agree and support continuous evaluation and monitoring | |||||
| Is it appropriate to empower learners in alimentary school | |||||
| Is motivation essential in learning of students | |||||
| Should assessment be done once or continuous? | |||||
| Teachers and examiners should be liable for the performance of their students. | |||||
| Students assessment determines the level of skills and abilities of students at various levels |
The Likert scale above provides a clear understanding of how one of the students responded on various questions about assessment (Norman, 2010). From the responses, it is apparent that the colleague is optimistic that assessment is something that should be encouraged as it ensures that students’ learning is monitored and enhanced. Furthermore, it is important to empower learners in elementary school to enable them feel confidence that can be able to make it. They also require motivation and encouragement as they continue acquiring skills and knowledge. When students are encouraged and appreciated for the efforts they put in their studies they tend to work hard and in the end, they perform well.
Therefore, in conclusion, with advancement in technology, it has become evident that teachers and education stakeholders are adapting to computer technologies in their assessments. The reason for this is that it is fast and effective in helping the teachers to determine how their students are performing. Furthermore, student’s records can be well-managed and again retrieved later for review. Therefore, it is recommended that appropriate assessment strategies be adopted to help in determining or monitoring how the student person to enhance learning outcomes. Various survey tools such as questionnaires are appropriate in assessing how students are performing. Questionnaires can be used with Likert scale to provide a clear picture about the performance of learners in elementary schools.
References
Bertram, D. (2010). Likert scale. Retrieved from: http://poincare.matf.bg.ac.rs/~kristina/topic- dane-likert.pdf
Chu, H. C., Hwang, G. J., Tsai, C. C., & Tseng, J. C. (2010). A two-tier test approach to developing location-aware mobile learning systems for natural science courses. Computers & Education, 55(4): 1618-1627
Davies S. (2010). Effective assessment in a digital age. Retrieved from: http://poincare.matf.bg.ac.rs/~kristina/topic-dane-likert.pdf
Dikli, A. (2003). Assessment at a distance: Traditional vs. Alternative Assessments, The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology, 2(3): 1-7.
Hwang, G. J., & Chang, H. F. (2011). A formative assessment-based mobile learning approach to improving the learning attitudes and achievements of students. Computers & Education, 56(4):1023-1031
Learning Technology Dissemination Initiative. (2013). Questionnaires: Advantages and disadvantages. Retrieved from: http://www.icbl.hw.ac.uk/ltdi/cookbook/info_questionnaires/
Norman, G. (2010). Likert scales, levels of measurement and the “laws” of statistics, Advances in Health Science Education, 5(5) : 625-632
Pellegrino, J. C. (2001). Knowing what students know: The science and design of educational assessment. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press
Ross, S. M., Morrison, G. R., & Lowther, D. L. (2010). Educational technology research past and present: Balancing rigor and relevance to impact school learning. Contemporary Educational Technology, 1(1), 17-35
