Holly Ray

EDU 225
May 16, 2016
Instructor Larson

Part 1: Assessment Technology

I used the Kahoot! website to create the quiz https://play.kahoot.it/#/?quizId=e5355f499825-4491-bf54-d5131fe0ea30 . The link will take the student directly to the quiz and they can
choose to test individually or against other players. This quiz would be best used as a formative
assessment that could be used several times throughout the unit lesson. The basis of the quiz is to
be able to identify parts of the cell and their functions. Students who can identify and tell the
cells functions will excel when taking this quiz. Offering this quiz the very first day of
beginning the unit will help let the teacher and the student know where they are in the learning
process of this material. The teacher could then break the class into small groups according to the
needs of the students. About halfway through the unit the students could be quizzed again and
this could let the teacher know what students need more help. Using Kahoot! assists in teaching
standard S7L2. Students will describe the structure and function of cells, tissues, organs, and
organ systems.
Part 2: Blog Post
Introduction:
Technology has been a staple in the classroom since the beginning of the 21st century.
Utilizing technology to help teach and assess students is a great time saver for teachers across the
globe. Knowing both the pros and cons of using technology to assess students will help teachers
maximize their resources and allow them to expand more on the information taught. Knowing
what software to use, how to facilitate technology to assess students, knowing the pros and cons
of using technology to assess, and telling why it is important to ISTE standards are all important
factors to consider when choosing to use technology to assess students.

Technology to Facilitate Ongoing Efforts to Assess Student Learning

Teachers in the 21st century have been given an advantage over the old school ways of
testing and grading papers and measuring student progress. Technology allows teachers to make
quizzes, issue these quizzes online, and then be able to grade them within seconds in most cases.
Being able to incorporate technology into the testing process frees up time to spend more time on
the information to be taught. Teachers can offer students formative tests online that will help
gauge the students weaknesses and struggles and allow teachers to help make more individual
lessons for each students best learning habit (Davies, Dean, Ball, 2013). Using these tools gives
teachers the freedom from spending hours grading papers. They can issue the assignment online
and the student can take the assessment and have a grade given to them immediately in most
cases. Students can also see which test questions they missed and an explanation for the correct
answer given. Using this method, teachers can also include links in the explanation area of the
quiz to allow the students to research the topic more.
Socrative
Socrative allows teachers to build quizzes using multiple choices, true or false, or short
answer questions. This allows teachers to incorporate all forms of questions into an assessment.
When using Socrative, teachers can also choose the correct answer on the teacher addition,
which allows the test to be graded immediately. This is great for the student because they can see
immediately the questions they missed and also have an explanation of what the correct answer
is. Students love the instant gratification of having their grades immediately and help to build
their morale and self esteem (Mandinach, Cline, 1994).

Kahoot!

Kahoot! is a great way to test students both in both formative and summative
assessments. Teachers can create the quiz with as many or as few questions as they like, can
determine the amount of time the student can spend on each question, and can select the correct
answer so that students are given an immediate grade. Kahoot! also gives teachers the option to
print the quiz so that is can be done with paper and pencil as well. Students can take the test and
compete with their peers. They work towards earning points and stars that advances them to
the next level within the software. Students can retake the test multiple times if they would like
which helps them to learn the information.
Edmodo
Edmodo is a great resource for teachers, not only for the assessment area, but also for a
classroom connection for students and parents. Students are able to connect and talk with
students all over the globe. Giving them this connection encourages students to want to learn
(Saxena, Saomya 2013). Teachers can set up accounts for each student and group them into
classes. The students will be able to access their class work, homework, and assessments. Parents
can also log on and see their childs progress in the class. Having such a program allows parents
to be involved in their childs academic career. Edmodo is a great way to assess students in
formative and summative form. The student can log in and take their tests and know immediately
what they score. Teachers have a snapshot of what is going on with each student and can see
where they are struggling, their grades, and can communicate with parents.
Formative and Summative Assessments
Formative assessments are a progressive form of testing. They are low stakes assessments
that are done throughout a unit that lets both the student and teacher know what areas the student
is struggling. The summative assessment is a test that is done at the end of a unit to determine

what the student has learned. Usually formative assessments are a progress monitoring piece that
doesn't give the student a grade and the summative assessment is generally a test that is graded
and used in the students overall grades. Both can be done on the computer. Another way to use
technology is to use websites that allow students to test like i-ready.com. It offers formative
assessments throughout the lessons and then a summative test at the end of the lesson. Another
way to complete formative assessments would be using kahoot, Edmodo, or Socrative to give
quizzes. State testing is used as a summative assessment on a larger scale. Some students are
allowed to use a computer for the state testing and the computer would actually read them the
question and answer options.
Pros and Cons of using Technology to Facilitate Assessment
There are many pros and a few cons of using technology to facilitate assessments. Some
of the pros are being able to quickly assess the student on the information. Teachers dont have to
waste paper to do the assessment and will have the results at their fingertips. This will help the
teacher be able to easily see and compare the students results and place them in groups that best
suits their needs. Another pro is that the results are instant. Teachers dont have to take time out
to grade the assessments; the computer will do it for them. Another pro is that students tend to
think assessments like Kahoot! are fun because the quiz is given to all students at once and they
are competing to see who wins the game. This will encourage students to work hard by using
positive peer pressure. Some of the cons are that the students may be able to cheat using their
technology to take the assessment. If the students are using their own personal technology like
cell phones or tablets, they may access other websites and try to find the answers. They may also
take advantage of being able to use their technology and be on inappropriate websites or
websites that are unrelated to the information being taught.

Should a teacher only use technology to assess student learning? Why or why not?
Teachers should use both technology and old fashioned measures of testing students.
By doing so, teachers can gauge their performance in both elements and see if they work better
in one form or another. Some students may know a lot about a topic, but may be weak readers
and need the assistance of having the information read to them on the computer. This helps the
teachers be able to administer the test, without having to neglect the rest of the class.
What is the importance of assessment technology in connection with the ISTE standards?
Assessment technology allows the student to work on ISTE standards 5 and 6
specifically. ISTE standard 5 Digital Citizenship says that students will exude ethical behavior
and practice legal use of technology. Standard 5 also says that students will exhibit a positive
attitude toward technology that supports collaboration, learning, and productivity (ISTE, 2016).
Using assessment technology also helps students meet ISTE standard 6. Standard 6 covers
Technology Operations and Concepts. Students should be able to show a basic knowledge of
operating technology systems and perform certain tasks on those systems. By allowing students
to test online, they are gaining knowledge on how to operate these programs.
Concluding Paragraph for Software to Support Assessment
In conclusion, teachers have a great asset of technology in their classroom and anything
that makes their life easier is worth it. Using technology to assess students gives the teacher
many benefits like spending less time grading papers, and being able to take quizzes built by
other teachers to use as well. There are pros and cons to using technology in assessments but the
pros by far appear to outweigh the cons. The students seem to respond more to online learning as

well. By using assessment software such as Kahoot!, edmodo, and socrative, teachers, students,
and parents can all be connected in the education process.

References

Davies, R. S., Dean, D. L., & Ball, N. (2013). Flipping the classroom and instructional technology
integration in a college-level information systems spreadsheet course. Education Tech Research
Dev Educational Technology Research and Development, 61(4), 563-580. doi:10.1007/s11423013-9305-6
Mandinach, E. B., & Cline, H. F. (1994). Classroom dynamics: Implementing a technology-based
learning environment. Hillsdale, NJ: L. Erlbaum Associates.
Saxena, Saomya. (2013, November 6). Retrieved May 08, 2016, from http://edtechreview.in/trendsinsights/insights/743-using-technology-for-student-centered-learning-environment