Performance Based Assesment/ Technology in Society

Performance Based Assessment:

It seems in the past decades schools have been obsessed and pressure into improve their students test scores. While test scores can be a valid indicator on the success of the student, there can be many other techniques that are better indicators on the academic success of the student.
The author John Seely Brown introduces two types of authentic assessment in his book. The first is a national certification, where the student is taking classes in high school with a specific focus in mind. That focus usually depends on a particular career, so if the student is looking to become an engineer he/she will take more math and science classes. Students can be divided into groups such as classes aimed at addressing academic, generic, and technical skills.
I don’t necessarily agree with Brown’s view on national certification authentic assessment. These types of programs have a place with technical schools, but introducing this type of program to the general population would have a positive outcome. If students focus too much on one or two subjects they miss out on skills of the other subjects. If a student is only taking math and science classes their problem solving and mathematical skills will be high, but the student will most likely struggle in their reading, writing, and comprehension skills because they are not taking any English or Social Studies classes. This path also puts too much pressure on students to choose a career at a young age.


How Has Technology Changed Kid Lives?

Growing up in the 1990’s and early 2000’s I can say that my generation was one of, if not the first to experience technology in almost every aspect of life. I would consider my adolescent’s pretty typical. I went to school, played sports, hung out with my friends, and did the normal activities any teenager would do. It was common when I was growing up and is even more common today to experience technology in every day life. Kids are playing video games,

watching TV, on their computers browsing the internet, kids are using technology constantly.
Schools need to catch up to this technological world. Students are coming to school and becoming bored techniques and activities teachers are using because they know that they can be stimulated so much more by staring at a TV for five hours. It is our jobs as educators to do something about this. I am not a proponent for technology to take over every aspect of education, but I do see a large need for students to experience and benefit from this technology boom. Some school districts are more fortunate then others with the their budget and the resources they are able to get, but there needs to be a state wide or federal push to make sure classrooms are some of the most technology friends institutions around.

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Is the Educational System out of Sync with Today's Technology?

           In chapter four and five of Collins and Halverson’s book titled, “Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology” they bring up song interesting points about he history of schooling in America and new ways of providing education to the youth of America.

            Is today’s world out of sync with the technological world we live in today, the authors of this book would argue that point. The authors have brought up some interesting ways of helping problem. In these chapters they are not necessarily talking about actual practices teacher could bring about in their classroom, but bring up some excellent cases in which technology has been used to benefit learners.

            Privately owned learning centers have been become popular in recent years to fill the gaps in the existing educational system. The authors made a good point about how one district hired a private learning center to provide extra after school support and tutoring for its students. If the teachers in the district are not providing their students with what they need, it’s imperative to achieve results from where ever possible and now learning centers are being called upon to help. I can personally say that learning centers have helped me. In high school I attended a SAT prep course at Kaplan, which I believe helped my final score on the test.

            Online Universities are also another way that technology has tried to help improve education. I personally am not an advocate for online universities. I believe higher learning should be done at universities or college campuses, where students have to interact and learn from each other. You are losing that peer to peer learning network when you are learning at home by yourself. But, to go against everything I said, results have shown that there is a place for these types of communities, particularly for professionals looking to advance their degrees and who do not have the time to go to a university campus.

Will Richardson "Social Networks" Reflection

In Will Richardson’s article titled, “Navigating Social Networks as a Learning Tool”, he presents the reader with a variety of positive advantages for the inclusion of technology in the classroom and he also mentions a few drawbacks to why technology and the internet can be dangerous to student learners.

Richardson brings up an excellent point where he states, “Instead of learning from others who have the credentials to “teach” in the new networked world, we learn with others whom we seek (and who seek us) on our own and with whom we often share nothing more than a passion for knowing.” He brings up such an amazing point in saying that the internet is there, but it’s the job of the user to access that information. The users will most times access information that they are truly interesting in which makes the learning much more authentic and relevant to the user.

Eighty percent of high school students in the United States are apart or engaged in some act of publishing online. Most of these are through sites like Facebook or MySpace. The younger generation is so much more adapted to handle this technology change and they are waiting for it with open arms. Navigating a computer might sound hard for some adults, but for children its second nature. Students are waiting for this asset to enter into their classroom on a regular basis.

We are all now a part of a larger world. In recent decades the term Globalization has popped up. Basically this term refers to the inter-connectedness of the world. We are part of a community that is much bigger than we can see on a daily basis. Students should be able to tap into this resource.

Richardson brings up some really strong points into the dangers of technology and students almost immediate access to technology. He comments with too much technology students will forget the simple things that are crucial and essential in learning. Skills like organizing skills- notes, index cards, folders, binders, etc. These items will become obsolete because a computer can do all of this for you.

The author mentions the validity of online resources. Unless students are taught to evaluate online resources, they will not know what information is useful or correct. Students think that if it’s on the internet it must be true, that could be far from the truth. The job of educators now is to help students self evaluate these websites so they are truly accessing the correct information.

Online Videos and Learning

     So I just watched a video on Youtube of a young boy taping himself trying to start a fire with a bow, string, wood, and dry cloth. It was interesting because the boy was attempting by himself to learn this new skill. He made the video in order for people to comment on his video to help him become successful in his attempt to make a fire. This video shows how useful the internet can be and how much information is out their on the internet for people to access.

Bloom's Taxonomy                                      Bloom's Revised Taxonomy


     SCRATCH!! An online program that lets you create and share your own interactive stories, projects, games, music, and art can be an excellent resource for teachers, who are looking for new, engaging ways to help their students learn. This program lets students create their own projects by piecing together pre written codes. It's fun, different and can be a great alternative for teachers who are looking to get the most out of their students.
Check out one for yourself: http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/cpumaster930/2261813

     This program does an excellent job at exercising students high order thinking skills. Students are not learning knowledge to simply regurgitate it on a test, but rather applying and create fun and innovative projects that puts the responsibility in the hands out the students. In this case the child is organizing and producing their own authentic pieces of work.

Technology Enthusiasts vs. Technology Skeptics

Will Richardson's

Will Richardson's speech on the use of on the direction of education in the past decade and the coming years. He brings up some interesting points about learning and test preparation, constant observation and critiquing of teachers, and what a positive school environment should look like.

Richardson's main argument in his speech is schools are teaching to tests. Schools have become test preparation centers and are only worried tests scores and their success is based off those test scores. Richardson argues that the school environment should be filled with collaboration, investigation, discovery, and researching to promote academic success.

He also criticizes the way school districts evaluate teachers now a days. Teachers are under such high scrutiny and schools are doing what ever they can to help them. The problem is this help is not always the best. What schools need to focus more on is hiring the most high skilled and qualified teachers so you do not run into problems later.

Khan's Academy

This was actually my first time on Khan's Academy, I was surprised to see the amount of lessons and different subjects they covered on this website. After examining and testing some of the different topics and their activities I had a mixed opinion on this site. I found some useful places for this website, but also found places where I did not think this would benefit the student.

The time where I personally would use this tool and where I think it would benefit students the most, was if a students missed a class or a series of classes. If the student was absent they would be able to use these informative videos to educate themselves on the topic. In my opinion it will not be as effective as the actually teacher teaching it, but nonetheless rather then the teacher focusing on one student too much they are able to assign these videos to get the student caught up.

If a teacher is using this to teach an actually lesson in their class I personally don't see that as a good or effective model to use. In that case the teacher is just being lazy. Its their job to teach, not to put on a video to teach for them.

Some of the videos come with practice it yourself activities, which can be very helpful for the student to help learn and grasp the concept. Some of the lessons on Khan's Academy like all of the history lessons do not have this link.

Khan's Academy does have a place in education, but must be used with caution and used in the correct situations.

Technology has the Ability to Enhance Education

In John Seely Brown's book he states in chapter two that technology has the power to enhance education and learning. It opens up new doors for teachers to teach with and for learners to learn with. He also makes a case saying that just by putting computers in a school does not necessarily mean the students are going to benefit from them. Teachers need to be able to use technology efficiently and effectively. There are programs and tools that bring interactive learning models to the classroom.

Some of the skills I want to build in my students as a social studies teacher is research and study skills. Often in social studies and many times in other subjects students are asked to to research on a particular topic. There are many websites, databases, and programs out there that I want to make my students aware of and be able to get the most out of. These tool are essential for their learning now and especially in the future.

One instance I saw effective use of technology in the classroom, was a stock market class I took in high school. In this class we used a programs where we had to research, then buy and sell stocks. We were assembled in teams and we competed against each other and also other teams in the state.

Technology is everywhere and its about time to use all these resources in education. I would like to see more professional development of teachers in the area of technology so the school as a whole is able to benefit from these advancements.

Reflection: Scott McLeod Coordinator of the Educational Administration program at Iowa State University

In this article, Scott McLeod the Coordinator of the Educational Administration program at the University of Iowa presents his presents his argument about the use of technology in schools to the Ames, IA school board. McLeod not only has much expertise in this field, but when he heard that the district where his three children attend school was hiring a new superintendent and principal he felt his obligated to give his opinion on what type of candidate would effectively fill the position. McLeod argues that technology is taking over society and the job market is catering to those with these specific skills. He states that while many other sectors in society have changed to meet these new requirements, education and schools have not adapted properly and at a fast enough pace to keep up with this increasingly technological world. McLeod stresses to the school board that it is necessary to hire someone with adequate background knowledge and skills in the area of technology, to provide the students of this school district with the necessary skills to be successful in the future.