Technology Tools for Assessment and Evaluation

The combination of technology and the understanding of how the assessment-decision making process works allows for teachers to be extremely successful. While taking SPED 467, I have seen the great importance of effective decision making in the classroom. Good judgement, a quality gathering of assessment materials, and helpful technology will make a teacher's job more efficient and beneficial. As a future teacher, I will undoubtedly need to acquire good technology to supplement in my evaluation process. Before I reach the formative and summative evaluation steps, I will need to do the first steps of the CBE process of inquiry (fact finding, hypothesize, and validating). During these steps I will utilize technology to gather my information and sift through it. Test scores, records, and other sources that can be accessed on the computer will make a teacher's job of making decisions much more effective. After the teacher gathers the data, they will decide what to teach and how to teach it. While writing the lesson plan, technology will make the job more time efficient and effective. I feel that technology can be effectively integrated with assessment and decision making. In fact, technology makes the whole process much more efficient so that teachers can spend more time on interactive face to face with their students rather than spending all of their time contemplating their decisions.

The I-Generation

After reading this article, I feel a sense of distaste towards the way we use technology. As a kid growing up, i always looked at technology as a way for kids who had weak social skills to interact. I know that is a completely unfair generalization, but in many cases it is the truth. I enjoyed what Healy had to say about how using technology at a young age can be more harmful than useful. When I was young, and computers first came out, many of the children that struggled with social interactions were intrigued the most by computers. Many of those children have now grown up, and have horrible posture, are overweight, and lack social skills. I honestly believe that introducing technology, such as a computer, to a child in irresponsible. These are the years where children should be developing and interacting with the world that they know, and want to understand. The should be discovering knew things daily within their own world. By secluding a child to a computer monitor, they run the risk of losing out on these very important social skills. On top of this, these children could develop bad posture, and are at risk for carpal tunnel. I really enjoyed this article because it made me aware of the dilemmas of technology for children. I feel that in this society, technology is so helpful, and so instrumental for our fast pace of living, that we encourage everyone to use it in order to be successful. The problem is that if we start children on this track too early, they will be missing out on the life lessons that will help them with their humanity.

Bill Bigelow

In Bill Bigelow's article concerning the Oregon Trail video game, a sense of awareness is aroused in the reader. Bill calls for us to understand the complex social and ethical practices and non practices that we encounter when we use this game as an educational tool. Bill feels that minority groups are not portrayed effectively in this game, and that their stories are not fully told. Bigelow shows us that we encounter Native Americans and African Americans, but do not get to hear much about them other than a brief stereotypical statement. His whole agenda is to voice his frustration that schools still use this as an educational tool. He believes that all of the social insensitivity included in the game should be enough to make teachers think about not using this game as an educational media.
While I agree tat this game shows insensitivity to other cultures, and fails to develop the story of minority groups, I do believe that this game can be incredibly effective in promoting compassion, understanding, and ethical attitudes towards minority groups. In this game, the player has the mind set of a pioneer. Pioneers that left for the Oregon Trail had a certain mindset towards minority groups that are explored throughout the game. I believe that if the teacher that is using this game stresses the importance of this mindset, the game can be very effective. When a student understands that he has the mindset of a pioneer, he or she can differentiate the pioneer's attitude from the attitude of society today. While playing the game, students will be able to receive a historical perspective, and learn more than just about the Oregon Trail. They can learn about the importance of diversity and respecting other cultures. I believe that Bigelow strives to promote safe thinking and to have teachers really focus on equality. This is admirable, but abolishing the context of the game completely would allow for a loss of opportunity towards promoting the very aspect that Bigelow is concerned with. While I believe that the Oregon Trail should still be used in the educational system, I strongly encourage that teachers instruct the purpose of the game and how it fits into the mind set of Oregon Trail pioneers of old.

Digital Edge Project

Political Cartoons in the Classroom
The project that I read was about a high school in Sheboygan, Michigan that utilized visual literacy during social studies lessons. In this classroom, a lesson at the beginning of every class period would be for the students to try to analyze and discuss a political cartoon that the teacher or an assigned student had shared with the class. The students, every day, would use the information that they had learned in each proceeding class to interpret the meaning behind each cartoon. The overall goal for the students was to be proficient in comprehending the messages, themes, motifs, and symbols in political cartoons.
The technology being used in this lesson is visual literacy. Visual literacy is a picture that tells a story. A political cartoon is an aspect of visual literacy because a political cartoon usually includes an agenda, a protagonist, symbolism, and themes. All of these components are present in written literature as well.
I feel that this lesson plan could be considered controversial. While I, personally, am a supporter of educating our students on both sides of the political spectrum, many other people do not share my view. It would be completely understandable for a parent to not want their child to participate in a political cartoon activity because of the messages that they send. Many political messages include moral themes and values that parents do not want to expose to their children. Granted, this teacher had approved all of the student's cartoons before they displayed them to the class. However, the teacher can never be sure what might offend a certain child, parent, family, or culture. The smallest subtlety could go overlooked with ease. I feel that this lesson is controversial, but very educational as far as technology is concerned.
Visual literacy helps children to express themselves in many other ways than just words. Visual literacy allows students to understand and become proficient in the areas of themes, motifs, symbolism, and personal propaganda. Students are given another very creative way to express themselves, and how they feel about certain issues. In this example, the subject is politics. Political cartoons are very prevalent in our society, and can have a very powerful effect on the populous. Visual literacy is a great type of technology to teach to students of the high school age, as long as the subject material is appropriate. It is difficult to use political cartoons that express no bias or prejudice, so this type of lesson is undoubtedly controversial. However, I think that the students will benefit from this lesson by developing story writing skills, and gathering an understanding of the world that they live in.

Mitchel Resnick

Mitchel Resnick's article on "Rethinking Learning in the Digital Age" encompasses an idea that remains true for many people in the world, including myself. While reading this article, I have had an intervention with myself on my uses of technology, and how my practices don't align themselves with what I should be trying to reach. I find that I use technology solely for the purposes of retrieving information. This habit, as Resnick tells us, is more attributable to the television, rather than finger painting. I feel that technology is a tremendous opportunity towards the betterment of society, and it's citizens.
Education is the key to a knowledgable, thoughtful, and creative society. With new technology, students can discover and master new ways of expressing themselves, learning new material, or even helping others. As more advanced technology enters our society, students should embrace it as an opportunity, rather than a tool. Resnick describes how the computer and education should go together, but end up serving minimal services. He states that students know skills, but are not "fluent." I like this idea of fluency, and how it relates to the misuse of technology in the educational world.
I styrongly agree that technology is a great opportunity, and that students should learn how to opperate it, so that they themselves can create newer advancements. I am embarrassed to say that my homepage is google because the majority of my computer uses rely around retireving information. This is sad, because I want to learn newer ways of expressing my creativity, but I find that it is difficult. I wish that I had been taught how to use certain technology effectively, so that I may be prepared for my future ambitions. I feel that the educational world needs to embrace technology and prioritze it so that all students of every nation can profit from the great opportunities that technology brings.