EDTC 6431 Learning with Technology: Module 4 Solution

What ways can I assess students using technology and design, rather than the traditional paper essay, in my secondary ELA classroom?

In an article, suggested by Caroleigh, it mentions the importance of using technology in education.

"We need to get out of the 20th century mindset and re-envision what assessment can look like for the future.  That HAS to include technology. Our students are using sophisticated technology every day and to try and test them without it makes absolutely no sense.  We need to embrace technology (flaws and all) and use it to help us with that core purpose for measuring individual student growth."

This article continues and discusses ideas to help teachers assess students using technology. The one idea I can see myself actually using in the classroom, is having students have an online portfolio or blog where they can do their creative writing, free writes, or entrance/exit tickets for the day as well as showcase student work. "This is teaching our students how to develop [a web-presence] in a safe and secure way." I also allows for students to see each other's work and make positive and constructive comments. Lastly, it allows students to have all their work in one place and, hopefully, stay organized.

Another way to help students stay organized, while also having an online space, is utilizing OneNote, or a similar program. The school where I am currently student teaching, every student and teacher in the department utilizes OneNote. Daily tasks are presented in OneNote and students create their own folder that the teacher can access. They write notes, turn in assignments, and have access to daily tasks and calendars if they're absent or fall behind. All their information for the class is in their OneNote folder making it easy and organized

In regards to using these two programs for final assessments, students could use their online portfolio to showcase their assessments and a space to turn them in. What the specific assessments are, is the real chunk of my question and how to implement assessments that differ from the traditional essay. Two websites I came across to help implement assessments, one from our reading (buncee.com) and another from student teaching (piktochart.com) would be great resources to have students use as an alternative.

Piktochart.com allows students to pick layouts and personalize their designs with their own ideas as well as easily add their facts to create a final infographic. Using piktochart.com allows students to showcase what they've learned in a creative way, using technology and learning a new resource and skill, without writing yet another paper essay. By switching up the assessment and allowing the students some creative freedom, as well as having them pick an issue they care about, the hope is they'll be more engaged in their learning while also having the autonomy mentioned in section 4 for the Innovative Designer standard. This standard states, "Students exhibit a tolerance for ambiguity, perseverance and the capacity to work with open-ended problems." Students are learning a new skill, while also finding a new way to showcase information to their classmates, that they have an interest in. Relating back to their engagement, I'm reminded of the YouTube clip about growth and fixed mindset, it stood out to me how kids are more engaged in their learning when they're invested in it and have an interest in what they're learning. This is why having them do an infographic instead of another paper, will help them become invested in their learning and hopefully want to learn more and have some intellectual curiosity during the process of creating their infographic. I also appreciated the use of the word "yet" and how a simple word at the end of a defeating sentence can completely change the meaning. For instance: "I don't understand this project, yet." "I haven't figured out this project, yet." Adding that word is such a great way to change students mindsets. 

Buncee.com, the other resource I mentioned, allows students to create presentations that can be interactive and gives them another resource, other than PowerPoint or Prezi, to creatively showcase their work to their fellow students. While checking out this website, I found a link taking me to another site that gave ideas on how to use buncee.com in the ELA classroom such as book reports, character reports, and author research. They could also use the site to create a summary of the book by creating a shortened version of said book.

Referring back to a growth mindset, I believe it is crucial to be able to learn and succeed in school and part of that mindset needs to come from being engaged and not afraid to fail in class. While some students may be great writing essays, and prefer those over these nontraditional English assessment ideas, I know it's important that not all my students will shine in that area. By switching up their assessments by either having to do an infographic or create an interactive presentation, they'll be able to showcase what they know and have the confidence to continue to learn without the fear of failure. These two programs will also allow students to learn from one another and become more engaged in their learning because they'll be doing something different, hopefully challenging, and become invested in the final project. 

Resources

https://educationcloset.com/2011/08/01/using-technology-to-creatively-assess-students-and-teachers/

https://www.edu.buncee.com/home

http://classtechtips.com/2016/11/23/ela-projects/

RSA ANIMATE: How To Help Every Child Fulfil Their Potential

https://piktochart.com/