Jim,
That is a great way to collect data regarding technology. That will be so helpful to determine resources needed.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Charles,
What a great post! Alignment is so important. It may not seem to be important, but students will notice if there isn't alignment.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
In assessing the use of technology assessment tools in an online learning environment, the three most important things to consider are accuracy, reliability and student feedback. It is essential to continuously review and update the technological supporting course materials. For example, in our college we are required to do a QA course assessment of all the course modules and assignments. I find this to be helpful so that we can possibly find any glitches or content issues before the start of the course. Technology can be dependable and unpredictable. It is important as instructors to remain active within our course and technology assessments. It needs to be accurate and reliable. In assessing early on, we can possibly prevent any further challenges our students may face throughout their course learning experience.
The best technology assessment tool is to get our student's feedback as they are the key people who experience the online course experience directly. They can provide helpful feedback, challenges or concerns throughout their course experience.
Michael, these are great!
I find the "ease of use" is truly essential within an online learning environment. Our students face daily challenges and time constraints. We do not want to add any more frustrating challenges to their daily responsibilities. We simply want our students to have an enjoyable learning experience. Also, technical support is another important aspect that should be handy for our students.
This is a great question and one that I reflect on from time to time. I have never been a fan of technology for technology sake. First, you must consider the objectives that are being measured, and can they be effective measured given the assessment being considered. Second, user comfort level and access. The assessment must be in a format that the students are comfortable in using, and be based in a technology that is widely available. Many students are not willing or are unable to download software. Additionally, it the assessment is not in a format the student is comfortable with, they may not be able to complete the assessment at all. Lastly, there must be technical and instructional support. The instructor must be able to provide front line assistance and support with technical support available when needed.
Melissa,
You are so right. Your comment regarding accuracy is so important as well as reliability. We have state testing online and the computers each institution has varies greatly. This can really be an issue in high ed online ed.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Melissa,
Great point. You don't want technology to go from tool to barrier quickly. Students need to be able to focus on the learning not focus on the technology. Technology should be ubiquitous. (I love that word).
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Thomas,
I agree with you completely. Don't you wonder when the printing press made textbooks available, did they ponder the role of "technology" of printing? The learning should drive the use!
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
I believe the 3 most important things are ease of use, assessment quality, and efficiency.
Jeremy,
What do you mean by assessment quality?
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
When I look at the technology assessment tools I look at:
1. Does it meet the need? Am I using the tool for the right reason. An example of this is multiple guess testing. It is easy to grade (automatic) and it has it's place. However, if I am trying to gauge critical thought I am not sure this is the right tool and the instructor may just need to do a little more work and grade from a rubric.
2. Will it work on all platforms? More and more students are using iPads, Laptops, Smart phones and other such mobil technology. We need to make sure that the assessment tools work on all such devices unless we are setting the standards of the course so that it excludes non-working devices (and that could have cost implications and retention implications on the students).
3. Do the students respond well to it? I think the thought I am trying to share here is, "will the student take more time to figure out what the technology is (or how to use it) than answer the question?" I have seen an instructor add drag and drop matching to a quiz only to realize that the majority of the students on the iPads are unable to use drag and drop questions. Sort of an "oops...." moment.
-Chris
When assessing the use of technology assessment tools in an online learning environment, the three most important things to consider are:
1) function;
2) accessibility;
3) timely proper feedback
Dr. Christopher,
Wow, what a post! there are so many variables to "control" when it comes to the technology. You really can't control the device your students have so you have to think about multiplatform. I like to think we use technology that is "platform agnostic". You don't want the technology to be the barrier to learning.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
I try to always view the question from a students aspect not an instructors because it gives me an honest but realistic view to the cause and effect to the situation that technology assessment tools help me when teaching an online class. The first thing to consider is how will the outcome of learning be achieved using technology assessment tools from a virtual classroom. Second do the students know what is expected of them when they are being assessed for let's say a group project. Third what perimeters are being used in collecting data to properly grade and determine what the student used as a visual learner would use when taking an online class.
The three things I think are most important in online tool assessment are:
1) Variety - As the lesson stated, this is important to support various learning styles, in addition to multiple intelligences and the diverse mastery of different types of technology. When students are able to place value on their strengths, it can be easier to accurately evaluate challenges because there is a balance of positive and negative feedback.
2) Understanding - Students need to understand the purpose of the evaluations. We assume questions are structured well to get certain outcomes but personal preferences can be the motivation behind a student's answer resulting in an only inward-looking response. In these cases, students should be able to identify that answers are "personal preferences".
3) Realistic - In the lesson it states,
"Students should be asked to provide feedback on whether or not the technology assessment tools helped the instructor provide meaningful feedback and whether (sic) not the technology caused difficulty in the assessment process."
This seems to be unrealistic in the sense that, I personally do not think a student can assess tools from the standpoint of stating whether it helped the instructor provide feedback or caused difficulty to the assessment process, unless they have some experience with assessment. However, they can measure how much they felt the assessment tool help their process.
Dr. Vessel
Dr. Wilkinson,
When looking for an assessment tool I believe this criteria should be met:
1. Can my students understand it?
2. Can I use it properly?
3. How difficult is it to grade?
Too often what is good for the instructor is not necessary good for the students. As their instructor will I look professional when I cannot operate the assessment of my choice? While online learning is designed to assist the assessment process just how difficult is it to load answers into tests or to grade short answer questions?
Audrey,
All of your choices are correct by timeliness of PROPER feedback. Its not just about getting info in, it is getting meaningful data out.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Eyad,
This is a great strategy! We know through research the best way to be an effective online instructor is to be an online learner. It makes you empathetic to the student.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Cynthia,
Your post really made me think. You really examined the use to technology as to assessment and you make great about structure and response. You are right, if students don't answer in a specific way, it may the question not the person answering it!
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Peter,
I agree with you. I had a tool that was easy for me to build and easy for the student to use but I couldn't get information to report from the technology. It was next to impossible. That is a problem!
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
