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.