Assessment and Technology

In my final blog for my Technology Assisted Music Learning course, we discussed assessment and professional productivity and how technology can be incorporated to enhance the processes. Technology can often make tasks simpler, quicker, and more accessible to the teacher, parents, and students.

To begin with, there are two main types of assessment, formative and summative.  According to Marzano (2006), formative assessment “involves both formal and informal procedures that provide information for the teacher and feedback to the student during the learning process. The goal of formative assessment is to allow the teacher and student to adapt their learning approaches to better achieve learning goals” (p. 146). While summative assessment “summarizes learning at a particular point in time, typically at the end of a project, unit, semester, or entire class. Through a summative assessment, teachers can determine whether students have accomplished learning goals and are ready to move on to new material or whether they need remediation” (p. 146). A teacher must use both forms of assessment to ensure their students’ success. Overall, formative assessment is used throughout the learning process, while summative assessment is used at the end.

In addition to formative and summative assessment, music courses also have authentic or performance-based assessment, which is equally as important. “Authentic [or performance-based] assessments require students to perform a task rather than to select or describe a response on a paper-and-pencil test” (p. 147). Music courses require this type of assessment due to the performance aspect of what they teach.  “A cognitive understanding of something doesn’t necessarily translate to the ability to do that thing (of course, the opposite is also true)” (p. 147). In music courses, teachers must use authentic or performance-based assessments in addition to paper-and-pencil assessments to determine the appropriate learning goals and scaffolding for their students. To become life-long musicians, students must be able to perform well on both forms of assessment, paper-and-pencil and performance-based.

Now the big question, how to use technology to make assessing students easier, quicker, and more interactive. During this module, we discussed numerous technology programs and apps that are useful for assessment. The first was Google Forms. Google Forms is a cloud-based program that can be used to create online tests and rubrics. Instead of creating a paper-and-pencil test that needs to be hand graded, a teacher can create a test in Google Forms using multiple choice, single text answer, paragraph answer, multiple checkbox answer, or drop-down list answer questions. After a student completes the test and submits their answers, their responses are automatically filed in a spreadsheet document, also contained in the cloud. Teachers can then use a program called Flubaroo to grade and email scores and test results to the students and/or parents. Additionally, teachers can use Google Forms to create online rubrics for papers and projects. The teacher can then complete the rubric for each project and likewise email results and comments to the students. Why create and grade a test when you can have technology do the grading for you?

In addition to Google Forms, a second technology tool we discussed was the SmartBoard. A SmartBoard is a phenomenal tool that increases the active engagement of students in the classroom exponentially. Students adore the opportunity to volunteer and interact with the board, by moving objects around the board, sorting items, or making selections.  Teachers can also use the board to create interactive assessments that can be saved for review after class or presentation. Teachers can also find numerous activity and assessment programs designed specifically for SmartBoards for free or purchase.

The final two programs discussed were programs used school-wide. For example, my school uses Aspen X2, which contains all grades and student information in one central cloud-based program. This allows grades and teacher feedback to be easily accessed by students and parents. A second example of a school-wide program is Class Dojo. Class Dojo is an online positive behavior incentive program, in which students are rewarded for positive behavior through Dojo Points. Likewise, students can lose points when the teacher deems it necessary. At fixed points throughout the year, students can attend incentive programs, such as a Fall Festival or Spring Fair, based on how many positive Dojo Points they have received. Additionally, parents are connected to the Dojo program and receive immediate notifications when their child receives a positive or negative Dojo Point. This keeps the parents informed on what is happening in the classroom at all times.

When incorporating technology, it is up to the teacher to determine what works best for him/her and the students. Technology will not replace generic forms of assessment, but it can make it simpler, quicker, and more accessible to the teacher, students, and parents.

References:

Bauer, W. I. (2014). Music Learning Today: Digital Pedagogy for Creating, Performing, and Responding to Music. New York: Oxford University Press.