Digital assignments: How shall we grade them? A couple of years ago, I took the decision to encourage students to submit their assignments in forms other than the traditional, paper based essay. It was about time. Should we persist in assessing students in modes of communication they may never use in the real world? Clearly, there are several questions to contemplate here. The first question is how do you grade these assignments, if they are not presented in traditional essay mode? The second question is how can you ensure that students put the equivalent cognitive effort into say, a video, as they would into a 4000 word assignment? Whatever you decide to do, it will be imperative that you ensure all assessment criteria are applied equally across all assignments, no matter what wrapper they are presented in. There are further, procedural and administrative issues that each institution will need to deal with. I'm certain this is not complete. Photo from Wikimedia Commons Digital assignments: How shall we grade them?
Projects at High Tech High Project Based Learning at HTH High Tech High: buy the book These projects are examples of the work that is done at all of the High Tech High Schools. It is our record of what we have done and how to get there. Contrary to what you may have heard on Oprah, not only do High Tech High students read books, but they actually produce books too. Humans have always had an innate desire to explore past the boundaries of Earth to the Moon and beyond. This senior math project was the third and final project for the "Computational Thinking" class. During this 2 week intersession course, students learned about the physics of surfboard design, and created handplanes in the woodshop, which we then used for bodysurfing. Second graders took on the role of scientists to investigate the role of bees in our ecosystem, and the various ways bees are being threatened. Everyone loves a good carnival! Students will discover how humans interact with nature in urban ecosystems. A community is a system.
Assessment in open spaces Photo: Tay Railway Bridge (Dundee) CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 Tim Haynes “We have to build our half of the bridge, no matter who or where we happen to be.” – Colm McCann Summary: Learning and pedagogical relationships are transformed when we engage with students in open online spaces or networked publics. These can become ‘third spaces’ of learning, beyond the binary of informal and formal learning. Once a closed classroom (physical or online) becomes open to the world, assessment options multiply, with many more opportunities for student choice, voice and creativity, and of course, feedback. [Slides] [Audio interview] xx This post summarises my talk at the eAssessment Scotland 2013 conference, “Assessment in Open Spaces”. The eAssessment Scotland conference is a completely free, 2-week event which is open, distributed and accessible. In this context, I examined three spaces in which networked educators meet networked students, and explored the affordances of these different spaces. Like this:
8 Questions Answered By Popular Social Networks The number of popular social networks may seem overwhelming. We can share links, ideas, comments, jokes, pictures and everything else, and new social media options seem to pop-up everyday. This may discourage learners, teachers, instructional designers and eLearning professionals from using the fantastic benefits of a social presence on the internet. Social media may overlap – and they often do in some ways – but they are not equivalent. Each offers its own unique set of attributes. One way to stay oriented in this seemingly chaotic jungle is to keep in mind what is the underlying communicating need that drives the usage of these media. The video here focuses on 8 popular social networks and discusses the questions lying behind each of them, using the point of view of learning. Facebook: What are you studying right now? Founder of SlideTalk, a company focused on converting PowerPoint presentation into engaging talking videos.
Roger Tilles warns of 'dangerous' overemphasis on education testing Originally published: October 2, 2013 9:42 PM Updated: October 2, 2013 10:23 PM By JOHN HILDEBRAND john.hildebrand@newsday.com State Regent Roger Tilles leads a public Q & A at the Port Washington Library. (Oct. 2, 2013) (Credit: Barry Sloan) One of the region's top education policymakers warned a Port Washington gathering Wednesday night that what he termed a "dangerous" overemphasis on testing threatened to undermine a statewide movement toward high-quality Common Core academic standards. The speaker, Roger Tilles of Great Neck, who represents Long Island on the state's Board of Regents, said he supported Common Core, like most educators, because "it makes kids think." Tilles said, however, that Core standards were becoming confused with new tests that were rushed into place in April, and were being used to rate students' achievement and teachers' job performance. "I really don't want to see the Common Core lost, and I hear that," Tilles said. State Education Commissioner John B.
A Review of “SymbalooEDU, the Personal Learning Environment Platform” | ELTWorldOnline.com by Christopher Harwood Centre for English Language Communication National University of Singapore Introduction Created in 2010, SymbalooEDU is an educational version of the original Symbaloo application founded in Holland in March 2007. It is a software application that enables learners to organize, integrate and share online content in one setting or Personal Learning Environment (PLE). The platform also allows educators to create mixes of tailored resources and share these mixes with students. What are PLEs? Downes (2005) uses the term “e-learning 2.0″ to refer to the shift in web-based learning from read-only to read-write learning. How does SymbalooEDU work? The application has a grid layout, with color icons (called tiles) within each space. What makes SymbalooEDU different from other bookmark resources? Uniquely, SymbalooEDU allows users to add resources or links to projects quickly through its update function. Any Criticism? References Attwell, G. (2007). Downes, S. (2005).
Letters: Modern language exam grades translate into poor results It is well-known that the UK is losing out culturally and economically because of inadequate foreign-language skills among English native speakers. This problem has been significantly exacerbated by the fact that pupils choosing modern languages have not been rewarded adequately for excellent performance. Ofqual has acknowledged in its corporate plan 2013-16 that "relatively few A* grades are awarded in modern foreign languages when compared with other subjects with a high proportion of A grades". This finding confirms evidence by schoolteacher associations that has repeatedly been presented to Ofqual and the exam boards since introduction of the A* grade at A-level in June 2010. The disadvantaging of modern languages candidates in school examinations has been blighting the subject at all levels, and will continue to do so until the unfair grading is addressed effectively.
Teens prefer texting over phone calls, e-mail Year after year, study after study , teens are proving to be texting at an increasing rate. In a new survey by the Pew Internet Research Center, U.S. teenagers are talking on landlines and cell phone less, using more smartphones, and are averaging 60 texts a day--up from 50 in 2009. "Teens are fervent communicators," senior research specialist at Pew Amanda Lenhart writes in the study. "Straddling childhood and adulthood, they communicate frequently with a variety of important people in their lives: friends and peers, parents, teachers, coaches, bosses, and a myriad of other adults and institutions." More than 800 adolescents between the ages of 12 and 19 were interviewed for this Pew survey. Among the major findings were that texting by older teens, boys, and African Americans are leading the increase, SMS messaging is the dominant daily mode of communication, and the typical American teenager is sending and receiving a greater number of texts than in 2009.
Graduate School of Education | Publications Literature review Oldfield, A, Broadfoot, P., Sutherland, R. & Timmis , S. (2012) Assessment in a digital age: a research review. Discussion papers Series authors Patricia Broadfoot, Sue Timmis, Sarah Payton, Alison Oldfield, Rosamund Sutherland Other publications Patricia Broadfoot, Alison Oldfield, Rosamund Sutherland and Sue Timmis (in press, 2013) Seeds of Change: the potential of the digital revolution to promote enabling assessment in Wyatt-Smith, C and Klenowski, V (eds) The enabling power of assessment. Conference contributions Broadfoot, P (2012) Can Digital Technologies Transform Educational Assessment? Timmis, S, Oldfield, A, Broadfoot, P & Sutherland, R. (2012) Where is the cutting edge of research in e-Assessment? Timmis, S & Draper, S (2012) Assessment Reform, Innovative Technology, Improving Formative Assessment and Feedback: Are They at Odds with Each Other?
It’s Here–8th Grade Technology Curriculum! The eighth grade technology curriculum prepares students for their future not by teaching widgets and programs—though that happens—but by showing them how to be life-long learners. How do they decide what program works best for what inquiry? How do they acquire the use of tools they have never before seen? How do they self-assess their knowledge, insuring they acquired what they need? Here’s a quick overview of what you will find in this textbook: Scope and Sequence aligned with ISTE and Common CoreThemed units tied into inquiryExperiential learning with real-world applicationsOpportunities for students to express and grow in their creativityInternational mindednessArticles on tech pedagogy Each Unit includes: Here’s how to use this curriculum effectively in your classroom: Don’t be alarmed by the amount of material included in this textbook. Units include: Here’s a preview: 8th grade–TPT preview Sound good? Publisher’s website Teachers Pay Teachers Follow me Like this: Like Loading...
Assessment & feedback programme The JISC-funded Assessment and Feedback programme is focused on supporting large-scale changes in assessment and feedback practice, supported by technology, with the aim of enhancing the learning and teaching process and delivering efficiencies and quality improvements. Access project blogs here1. See further information on the programme themes, and all project outputs at the Design Studio2. A final summary report is now available which highlights the main themes and lessons learnt from the first two years of the programme - 'Supporting assessment and feedback practice with technology: from tinkering to transformation' 3(October, 2013). Overview Assessment lies at the heart of the learning experience: how learners are assessed shapes their understanding of the curriculum, and determines their ability to progress. This programme, focused on supporting large-scale technology-enhanced changes in assessment and feedback practice, seeks to address these challenges. Funded Projects7
Transforming Assessment and Feedback The Assessment and Feedback area of the Design Studio gives access to existing and emergent work of interest on assessment and feedback. In this area, you can explore topics associated with assessment and feedback, find out what we currently know about enhancing assessment and feedback with technology and follow links to emerging themes and outputs from the Assessment and Feedback programme. **New Briefings on Assessment and Feedback** Jisc has published four new briefings around key themes which have emerged from the Assessment and Feedback programme: Changing assessment and feedback practice with the help of technology Electronic Assessment Management Enhancing student employability through technology supported assessment and feedback Feedback and feed forward: using technology to support learner longitudinal development See also the final synthesis report Supporting assessment and feedback practice with technology: from tinkering to transformation' (Oct 2013)
Starting with an A “Imagine a classroom where everyone started off an academic year with an “A” grade, and in order to keep the grade, a pupil had to show continuous improvement throughout the year. In this classroom, the teacher would have to dock points from a pupil’s assessment when his or her performance or achievement was inadequate, and pupils would work to maintain their high mark rather than to work up to it. How would this affect effort, expectations, performance, and assessment relative to current practice?” Image by ludwg This is one of the questions we pose in our upcoming paper, due to be published next month, which explores the application of behavioural insight to educational policy and practice. Specifically, we are concerned with the socio-economic attainment gap – the difference in performance between pupils from affluent backgrounds and those from deprived backgrounds. So what is the big idea with everyone starting with an A? Comments
What are the advantages and disadvantages of portfolio assessment? Last month on the blog I mentioned that my school was dipping its toes into formative assessment in the form of writing portfolios. Overall, I’m very happy with the way it’s going, noting the advantages I discussed in my previous post. Nevertheless, it hasn’t been all plain sailing! With this in mind, I thought a follow up post might be in order, one in which I attempt to balance the pros and cons! Formative assessment, just to get you all up to speed, covers the range of informal diagnostic tests and techniques, such as learner portfolios, us teachers can use to assist the process of learning by our learners. 1. One great benefit of portfolio assessment for learning is that it is ongoing. Summing up why this is good: As learners work on their writing in classroom tasks, input from the teacher can inform, guide and validate each step of their writing process. 2. Cheating and plagiarism remain significant problems in academic settings. ‘students18′ by @yearinthelifeof (me!) 3. 4.