PLO 6

This assignment demonstrates PLO 6 "Evaluate technology resources to facilitate effective assessment and evaluation."

Assessment and Evaluation Using Technology

         
   Assessments and evaluations are important in order to gauge learning and comprehension of knowledge and concepts. Technology can be very effective in helping teachers, trainers and instructors assess and evaluate learning and program outcomes. Technology, however, has the potential to do more than just make our current approach to testing more efficient. A growing number of testing and learning experts argue that technology can dramatically improve assessment and teaching and learning. Technology allows for the collection, analyses, interpretation and effective communication of learning outcomes. The activity used in paper demonstrates effective use of technology in assessing and evaluating the success of a program.

Principles and Theories

            According to the Cognitivism perspective the “focus of instruction is to create learning or change by encouraging the learner to use appropriate learning strategies.  This perspective also states that learning results when information is stored in memory in an organized, meaningful way” (Instructional Design Knowledge Base). The lesson used in this paper requires learners to use the internet to view material and answer a list of related questions.  The revision of this lesson allowed students to create their own questions.  A self-questioning strategy, such as the one used in the revision of this lesson can help students understand what they read. Newby, Stepich, Lehman, Russell and Ottenbreit-Leftwich (2011) state that the “act of creating questions does not lead directly to comprehension. Instead, students search the text and combine information as they generate questions; then they comprehend what they have read” (p. 67).

Challenges

            The revision for this lesson was fairly simple. The most important thing was gaining a clear understanding of the program learning outcomes. Once this was established the process of selecting a lesson took minimal time because all that was required was to search through existing assignments. The program learning outcomes consisted of using “technology resources to facilitate effective assessment and evaluation and utilizing technology to collect and analyze data, interpret results, and communicate findings. The use of the computer to access the internet, student generated questions and recording the information in a student blog post successfully met these requirements.   

The Lesson

What do you know? 

The students already know the history of the Harlem Renaissance such as where it began, why it began and some of the key influences. They also know about the music, dance and art that were inspired by the Renaissance.

• What do you want to know? 

I want to know if the students understand or are able to identify or describe the significance of the Harlem Renaissance on African Americans.

• What are you trying to measure, determine, or define? 

I want to measure how students relate the literature, dance and music created during this period to African-American culture. I want to determine if the student’s comprehension of this subject lead to a complete understanding of the Harlem Renaissance on American culture. 

• How will you collect and record information. 

I will collect them information in student journals where they will record responses to various questions about the Renaissance.

EDU697 REVISION: I will allow the student to post the answers in their class blog posts.

• How will you report the information you collect? 

I will report the information I collect by informing students of their understanding and accuracy of the subject. This will be done through a grading rubric where the students will earn a specific amount of points for each response in their journal. I will also use this information in planning to discuss with other teachers so that we can access what we as teachers need to add, improve or delete from this lesson series in order to further student learning and comprehension and meet the course objectives.

• Are all interested groups included in planning and conducting the needs assessment?

The groups included in this assessment are responses from the previous year’s student surveys, the grade level planning staff and myself.

ABSORB ACTIVITY

Instruction:

 As you have learned, beginning in 1904, Harlem, centered around 135th Street and 5th Avenue, became a Mecca for middle-class African-Americans moving north from Hell's Kitchen, Clinton, and other neighborhoods in New York City. Black intellectuals, writers, and other artists were among the first inhabitants of Harlem, the home of the New Negro movement, as the literary and cultural aspects of the renaissance came to be called (ARTSEDGE: Drop Me Off in Harlem. (2014). 

Today you will use the computer to tour images, music and watch videos presentations of the Harlem Renaissance. You will also listen to an informational film that describes important aspects of the Renaissance and how it affected not only African-American culture, but the American culture as well.

 You have been given a handout with a list of questions. Read over the questions before you view the websites. You will record a separate response to each question in your student journals. The questions are designed to test your comprehension of the Harlem Renaissance. Feel free to ask any questions before you begin.

When you are ready to begin, log on to http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/interactives/harlem/faces/. There you will see pictures and image of artists, get to sample music and watch videos on the Renaissance.

EDU 697 REVISION: The student must view the grading rubric before beginning this assignment which details how it will be assessed.  The students will generate their own questions and record the responses in a blog post. This will allow the students to share and view questions posed by other students to further their comprehension of the lesson.

            Assessments and evaluations are crucial to teaching and learning. From homework and pop quizzes to standardized tests, assessments play a vital role in helping determine how well students learn. Technology offers new ways to conduct assessments, allowing educators to offer richer testing experiences and to gather feedback on a more frequent basis. In addition, technology offers ways to transfer learning from short term memory to long term memory which is one of the main principles of Cognitivism.  As seen in this lesson, technology allows for the collection, analyses, interpretation and effective communication of learning outcomes.

References

Instructional Design Knowledge Base (http://cehdclass.gmu.edu/ndabbagh/Resources/IDKB/models_theories.htm)

Newby, T. J., Stepich, D. A., Lehman, J. D., Russell, J. D., & Ottenbreit-Leftwich, A. (2011). Educational technology for teaching and learning (4th ed.).Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.