Shi~Kia Carter Presents

Collaborative Learning Community: Student Reflective

Assessment

Abstract

Every teacher’s goal is for their students tosucceed. Assessments measure success inconcept understanding. Therefore, teachers need to prepare their students for these assessments. Issues may arise around question language or question format. The teachers must help the students overcome these roadblocks without compromising purposeful instruction (Greene & Melton 2007). The following presentation examines two areas of assessmentsthat teachers can utilize when integratingtechnology-based learning.

Introduction

• With the vast push for technology integration in our schools systems, multiple perspectives have emerged.

• The Blue Team researched the effectiveness of several formative and summative technology-based assessment tools on the front lines of engaging the students and create higher level learning in the classroom

• The following presentation will cover:

– Whether the tool is Computer-based or Web-based – Tool cost– What data the tool produces– How can it drives instruction– How the tool Integrates Differentiate Instruction

Formative Assessment Tools

Digital Storytelling

(Robin, 2008)

Digital Storytelling• Short form of a Digital film-making that allows

people to share aspect of their lives.• Users become creative storytellers through

writing a script and developing an interesting story.

• Various types of multimedia utilized during this process; including,

• computer-based graphics, recorded audio, computer-generated text, video clips, and music so that it can be played on a computer, uploaded on a web site, or burned on a DVD (Robin, 2008).

Video Editing Software

Audio/Music Software

Photo Editing Software

Computer-BasedWindows Movie MakeriMovie (installed)

Final Cut Pro ($1,000)

Pinnacle Studio ($50)

Video Studio Pro ($70)

Web-BasedAnimoto ($3/video or $30/year)

VoiceThread ($60/yr)

Wildlife Filmmaker (free)

Computer-BasediTunes (installed)

Windows Media PlayerWeb-basedFindSounds ($50)

Garageband (free)

Audacity (free)

Computer-BasedAdobe PhotoShop ($700)

iPhotoWeb-basedGIMP (free)

Picnik(free)

Pixlr(free)

Splashup(free)

(Czarnecki, 2009)

How can Digital Stories be created? A couple very productive, free and kid-friendly tools can be found at http://kidsvid.4teachers.org/ and http://www.kitzu.org/ Other tools that are important are as follows:

Results of Storytelling can Drive and differentiate instruction

• Rubrics set the values of the expectations in a student’s digital story

• Because the student is given access to a rubric from the beginning of the lesson, the teacher’s instruction should be driven by these goals.

• Based on the results from her story tellers, the teacher must decide to re-teach, enhance or pull-out a small group for further guidance.

• Differentiation: Because expectations can be accomplished in different ways through story telling, students are given the opportunity to represent their learning according to their learning style (Sadik, 2008).

Learner Response System

Activotes

What are ActiVotes

• Quick response assessment tool.• Provides instant feedback from teacher• Empower students to engaged in classroom

discussion and build self-confidence• Promotes differentiated instructions through peer

collaborating• It stimulate discussions, enhances interactive

learning, and lively responses.• Creates a spontaneous, but focused learning

environment.• Engages creative thinking via polling and solid

debates in understanding of key concepts.

What data does the tool produce?

• Versatile—Use ActiVote with or without an ActivBoard and view assessment results in a wide range of intuitive formats, such as graphs, pie charts and Excel spreadsheets.

• Wire-free technology—ActiVote integrates seamlessly with all of Promethean’s interactive solutions without awkward cables.

Activotesstudent response system

Is the tool computer-based or Web-based?

• Operation and use of the ActiVote devices requires ActivInspire software, Promethean

• ActivOffice and/or ActivHub (all included). Importing ExamView® and XML files, exporting

• questions and answers to Excel® requires ActivInspire Professional Edition (included) or

• Promethean ActivOffice (included). User with administrator/privileged access rights required for software installation

Research - ActiVotes • In a study involving several classes of varying

disciplines, Abrahamson (1999) found that students had a better understanding for the subject matter, enjoyed the classes more, and did more thinking in classes where student response systems were used.

• When using the ActiVotes, the teacher and the students are able to get immediate feedback (Promethean, n.d.), with it being “almost like you are one-on-one with each child at the same time” (Johnson & McLeod, 2004-2005, p. 19). The opportunity that the interactive whiteboard offers for continuous assessment and immediate feedback is an asset to this form of technology.

Data Driven and Differentiated instruction summary...

• ActiVote encourages students to engage, interact with and contribute to lessons, resulting in stimulating discussions and lively, insightful debates.

• Streamline instructional management—Instantly gauge student comprehension and identify student achievement trends.

• Enhance classroom efficiency—Self-evaluation helps increase student confidence and productivity

• Make learning fun—Engage students and enliven classrooms by encouraging active, hands-on participation.

Summative Assessment Tools

Concept Mapping

Concept Mapping(What Are Concept Mapping?)

– Graphical tools for organizing and representing knowledge

– Circular links that connects two or more concept or phrase.

– Shows relationship between two concept links

Concept Mapping(Location)

• Free downloadable software• Easy access online• Free version to use with ease• Paid version for more features

Free websites are:www.mindmeister.com

www.xmind.net

www.inspiration.com/inspiration

http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/main.page

Research – Concept mapping

- They are more effective in promoting knowledge retention (Poole & Davis, 2006)

- They influence concentration and overall test performance.

- They promote interaction and engagement between students and material (Hall & O’Donnell, 1996).

- Powerful evaluation tool - Encourages students to use meaningful

learning patterns- Effective in identifying valid and invalid ideas.

Concept Mapping (Summary)

• Concept maps offer instructors the opportunity to assess what links students can make between concept. The students can add their own prior knowledge to what has been taught and expand their knowledge base.

• The instructor can have a parking lot of terms that the students must have included in their maps and chart the missing concepts. The missing concepts could be re-taught.

WebQuest

What is a WebQuest?

• An inquiry-adapted online tool for learning• Based on inquiry and constructivism• Students can complete in the classroom or at

home. • Most or all of the information that are discover

and evaluate comes from the internet. • It help builds a solid foundation that prepares

students for the future. • Enables cooperative and collaborative learning

WebQuest - Research

WebQuest was developed in the spring of 1995, by Dr. Bernie Dodge. Dr. Dodge, a professor of educational technology at San Diego State University, developed and identified the concept of WebQuest while teaching an in-service class to teachers. He wanted to give his student-teachers a format for online lessons that would make the best use of student time while fostering higher-level thinking skills.

Online Authoring Tool(Cost)

Several different sites to choose from:• Fila mentality – fill-in-the-blank tool that guide you

through picking a topic. (free)• zWebQuest – instant software for creating

WebQuest in a short time. (free)• PHPWebQuest – a generator that allows teachers

to create webquests without the need of writing any HTML code or using web page editors. (free)

• TeacherWeb - Online tool for creating simple WebQuests, especially appropriate for younger elementary students. ($27 a year)

Data Produce

Students must follow a series of information to accomplish the quest to produce data.

These are;• Introduction - provides background information

and motivational scenarios like giving students roles to play.

• Task - a detailed description of what students will have accomplished by the end of the WebQuest.

• Process - the procedural steps learners should go through in accomplishing the task, with links embedded in each step.

Data Produce Con’t…

• Resources - a list of the resources (bookmarked web sites, print resources, etc.) that the students will need to complete the task.

• Evaluation - a rubric for evaluating students' work. The standards should be fair, clear, consistent, and explicit to the given tasks.

Summary

WebQuest, an interactive web activity, tailored to

specific subject-area content or topic and enables

students to accomplish a task or solve a problem. In

addition, it promotes higher-order thinking to

process information, employs collaborative learning

rather than basic information searching and recall.

Problem solving helps students to learn information

processing in an interactive manner with peers,

rather than alienation.

References

Czarnecki, K. (2009). Software for Digital Storytelling. Library Technology Reports, 45(7), 31-36.

Green, A., Melton, G. (2007). Teaching with the test, not to the test. Education Week. 26(45).

Johnson, D. & McLeod, S. (2004-2005). Get answers using student response systems to see students’ thinking. Learning and Leading with Technology, 32(4), 18-23.

Robin, B. R. (2008). Digital Storytelling: A Powerful Technology Tool for the 21st Century Classroom. Theory Into Practice, 47(3), 220-228. doi:10.1080/00405840802153916

References….

Sadik, A. (2008). Digital storytelling: a meaningful technology-integrated approach for engaged student learning. Educational Technology Research & Development, 56(4), 487-506. doi:10.1007/s11423-008-9091-8

https://http://www.prometheanworld.com/en-us/education/products/learner-response-systems/activote/~luckie/ctools

http://www.kent.k12.wa.us/curriculum/assessment/testing_ABCs/Standards-basedTests.html

References Con’t

www.webquest.org

Concepts to Classroom: http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/webquests/index.html

Conclusion

When researching technology-based assessment tools, the teachers’ focus should be on the content not on the question language or format. If teachers can help prepare students for these two areas, and write quality assessments, the students will have a major component for success.

The End!