Well, assessment is a teacher's middle name, isn't it? It is certainly an integrated portion of everything that happens in a classroom! And since I have a fondness for technology, technology-based assessment is right up my alley. In fact, my son's school only posts high school grades online, having done away with paper report cards...and I am perfectly happy with that! I have used the clickers that were presented in Week 15's lecture while participating in a focus study and I think that they could be a fun way to test students. At least, they could pull a positive response from a kid going into a test and maybe that alone could help them. It definitely could save time for a teacher! As far as rubrics as they are presented in Week 15's lecture, I can see how something this detailed would prevent argument over grades given, as well as give the students very specific goals to meet in their assignments. This seems to be something very suited to upper grade levels. The last tool presented was the Inspiration/Kidspiration methodology. Just from what I saw on the website, I am not sure that I would want to use this. Some of it looks interesting, but seems a little more complex than I would be happy using. Some of the facets of it were things I would like to use, but some of it seemed like an assault on the senses that would actually make someone like me, with ADD, more frustrated. Honestly, I would have to see it in a classroom setting over some time to make an objective assessment.
Over the course of this course, I have been introduced to quite a few technological tools that really brightened the prospect of teaching for me! As I said, I have a fondness for technology, and I can't wait to present some lessons to actual students that will be fun as well as educational! I already have plans for using Publisher and I also would like to try having my students create their own blogs for a class. Studying the copyright issues helped to allay some of my fears about using some of these tools, and helped me to better understand what to be careful of when using them. That is very helpful. Powerpoint seems to be very popular with students these days and can make for a great learning tool, and it is something I intend to make use of, too. Also, looking at wikis helped me to better understand how they work, and I think they could be very useful in the classroom. After that week, I did a little research on Wikipedia and how it is handled, and now I am not as afraid of using it as I was. Previously, I had frequently heard about how unreliable it is, but have since learned that it isn't exactly as people fear it is. While people CAN add to it, everything added is researched by people who work there...and it only becomes a permanent part of the site if it is proven. With all of these tools crammed into one semester, it has been a full course! But this class has opened up all kinds of options for me to use in the classroom. Thanks for that! This was well worth my time, money and effort! :-)
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