Journal No. 1 - Assessment

The one part of the Intel website in particular that I found especially interesting and insightful was the page on formative and summative assessment types. Reading the Types of Assessments page was an "aha" moment that helped clarify my conceptual ideas of how assessments can be used to evaluate student understanding and knowlege. Having taken a course in instructional design over the summer, thinking of assessments in terms of formative and summative makes so much sense and seems so logical. Nearly identical to the concept of formative evaluation, I could immediately grasp the significance and possible benefits of "formal" (my words) ongoing assessment throughout the course of learning. Having experienced first hand the effectiveness of feedback from formative evaluation for creating effective instruction, I am in complete agreement that formative assessment is often relegated to a secondary role in favor of summative assessments. Unfortunately, formative assessments are not used nearly enough and should be implemented as part of a regular classroom instructional practices.

However, I think "formal" is the key word here. I know many teachers, myself included when I teach fly casting classes, use strategies to elicit feedback from students to evaluate student learning and adjust their teaching on the fly. This is good instructional practice, but only utilizes one possible strategy of formative assessment for monitoring the progress of student learning. As suggested on the Intel website, I think the best way to implement ongoing formative assessment is by developing a "formal" assessment plan. Similar to instructional design, creating such a plan not only ensures that the assessments align with the learning goals and lesson objectives, but more importantly that there is plenty of opportunity for assessment when all the "action" is taking place during the course of learning as opposed to after the fact. Although, I understand and agree with the need for summative assessments and do think there are effective strategies for designing them, I think the website makes a valid and important point that most of the information collected in summative assessments primarily benefits the teacher and not the student. That is unless time is taken by the students to analyze the result of the summative assessment and apply it to future learning. Unfortunately, it's often the case that students are happy to be "done" with the assessment and teachers simply do not have the time to spend and must move on to cover other subject material.

As I was reading through the material on the Intel web site, I was thinking of ways that I could use that information in current role as a GA in the educational technology department. The part of the website that I found interesting in thinking about how to use the available tools in Blackboard Vista to help instructors develop effective assessment strategies were the detailed tables on the Assessment Strategies web page listing overviews of the methods, purposes, and instruments for the five main strategies. Although many of the assessment methods are currently being used in the Vista courses I've worked in and have participated in as a student, I think there is room for further improvement.

A couple examples that immediately come to mind how formative assessments might be improved using the tools provided by Vista include:

• Using grading forms (rubrics) that can be attached directly to discussions and assignments. Makes it easier for instructors as well since all grading takes place directly within Vista. AND provides explicit feedback to students who can view the scored rubric once.

• Using the assessment tool to create non-graded self-test that can be taken multiple times to reinforce core declarative knowledge or check for understanding and misconception.

• Using the assessment tool to create non-graded self-test of prior knowledge to be complete before the course begins and again after the completion of the course

• Using blogs, wikis, or journals to have students keep an ongoing record of their learning (newer version of Blackboard 9.1 has more robust tools built into the system; KSU will be piloting to this system starting as early as Spring 2011)

In general, I thought the Intel website on assessment was outstanding. I will definitely recommend and use this resource when working with faculty to develop assessment strategies for use in their Blackboard Vista courses.


Resources

Assessing Projects: Using Assessment to Improve Teaching and Learning. Retrieved September, 16 2010 from http://educate.intel.com/en/AssessingProjects

Journal #5 - Internet-Based Technology Resources

As a graduate student finishing a degree in instructional technology it's hard not to be enthusiastic about the potential of emerging web-based technologies and their possible impacts on learning in the classroom. Yet however great the potential, as a future instructional technologist I'm often faced with a recurring and appropriate question of "hype or hypermedia?"

Recently I was reminded of this question while reading a course textbook, E-Learning and Social Networking by Robin Mason and Frank Rennie. In a chapter titled Constraints on Course Design, Mason and Rennie comment on the possible "overblown" claims of the effects of web-based information and communication tools to mediate student learning:

"... most of these 'potentialities' are perfectly accurate. The more relevant issue is whether or not any are being actualised! There is no guarantee that these tools are wanted or desirable or without other insuperable barriers...".

A few paragraphs later, however, they counter their own argument with the following:

"Whether it is new, different, merely evolutionary, what the web was originally meant to be, or all of these, the fact is that it is a force to be reckoned with in education. This requires research, experimentation, and an open mind but not a gung-ho attitude." (Rennie & Mason, 2008, pp. 133-34)

While I might take personal exception to dispassionately pursuing these questions, I am in complete agreement with Mason and Rennie that successful implementation of technology in the classroom requires research, experimentation, and an open mind. And what better resource to turn to than the Internet and the World Wide Web to gain perspective on who, what, where, and how technology is being used to enrich and improve students' learning experience in the classroom.

Throughout my graduate studies I've come across a wide variety of web-based technology resources that provide both insightful and quality information for instructors seeking to improve their knowledge of technology use in the classroom. Some of these resources focus specifically on current pedagogy and instructional practices. Others offer news on the latest technology and links to open source software. Yet others provide research and studies based on current practices in K-12 and higher education. In addition to topic specific web sites, there are vast numbers of web sites that share the accumulated experience of teachers working "in the trenches" through freely available open resources such as technology related lesson plans, assessments, and grading rubrics. With the growing prominence of social networking, newer web sites are popping up that provide similar opportunities for professional educators to pool their communal knowledge, practical field experience, and peer review emerging technologies and their implementation in the classroom.

As is often the case with searching the Web the greatest difficulty lies in not in finding technology related resources for teachers, but sorting through and evaluating the vast number of web sites to identify those of high quality. A small sample of high quality FREE resources I've been able to find, or have been introduced to through the course of my studies, are listed below:

• Web 2.0 that Works is a web site devoted to Marzanno's framework for effective teaching and applied to technology tools; specifically with regard to how technology can facilitate current pedagogy and instructional practices. This web site lists an impressive number of Web 2.0 technology tools and categorizes them by instructional strategies. A similar site that features  research-based instructional practices for implementing technology in the classroom is the Focus on Effectiveness web site. Both of these websites offer excellent information and should be at the top of the list of any teacher interested in introducing technology into their classroom.

• Classroom 2.0 is a free community based social networking site devoted to anyone interested in Web 2.0 and Social Media in education. However, the discussions are far from limited to just Social Media. There are 30 pages of groups devoted to almost every aspect of technology use in education. This site is an excellent example of the power of social networking applied to the informal professional development of educators spread across the country and ranging from K-12 teachers to faculty in higher education.

• PBS Teachers offers a wealth of high quality technology related resources for K-12 teachers. The web site is organized around free technology lesson plans for the classroom (categorized by grade and subject), discussion groups, and professional development. In addition, PBS Teachers presents ongoing webinars (and an archive of webinars) featuring educational technology experts and PBS producers who share resources and strategies for creating rich technology experiences to improve student engagement and learning in the classroom. A similar type web site that offers an truly astounding number of resources for K-12 teachers, and often considered the online "bible" of technology related resources, is Kathy Schrock's web site.

• Faculty Focus web site is dedicated to providing current research and articles on "effective teaching strategies for the college classroom". As a future educational technologist desiring to work in higher education this is one of my favorite web sites. I particularly enjoy the articles that focus on current practices in delivering online courses and how to squeeze the most out of often limited course management systems using innovative instructional practices. Of course the topics are not limited to online course delivery alone and range from academic leadership to trends in higher education. This is an outstanding resource for anyone interested in online course development and delivery in higher education. A similar site that provides information for K-12 is THE Journal: Technological Horizons in Education.

• C4LPT: Center for Learning and Performance Technology is web site based in the UK that provides an extensive list of productivity and learning technologies tools. The tools are reviewed by technology users worldwide and each year a list of the top 100 technology tools is published. Although many of the tools require payment, enough FREE tools are listed to make searching through the lists worth while. Another nice feature is the comparison charts of popular tool platforms. For example, the current comparison is between twitter, Facebook, Ning, and Elgg. This is a great site to use when conducting research into specific technology tools within a particular category. A similar site that offers links to Web 2.0 technology tools is the Cool Tools for Schools web site. 

Journal #4 - Digital Image Libraries

Perception and Learning

Whether we realize it or not, we are ALL visual learners. For example, reading the text on this blog requires visual perception skills. In order to understand what I am writing, you must first perceive the information visually before it can be processed and a meaning "interpreted". Though we may not be accustomed to thinking of reading as such, it is primarily a visual skill that requires discriminating between foreground and background, size, shape, and position/grouping in order to create meaning through the connection of mental representations of knowledge with the shape and form of symbols we call "characters" when grouped together form "words" that are organized into "sentences" all of which contain individual meaning when combined express ideas, thoughts, concepts, etc.

It's not surprising that since much of the learning that takes place in the classroom is focused on interaction with textual materials, heavy emphasis is placed on developing reading skills. However, learning content through text alone can require complex cognitive skills and increased cognitive load, the effort expended to create or establish connections and relationships between the visual and mental representations of knowledge. This is especially true for learners that might have no prior knowledge, and therefore no mental representations, for a given content area. Or for communicating complex concepts and procedures that might require "holding" several mental visual representations at the forefront of one's mind while trying to create or establish mental connections and relationships between written text and meaning.

Images, like text, convey meaning through visual perception. However, images have a distinct advantage over text. Images have the ability to convey a far greater amount of information in a much smaller space with far less cognitive load to process the information. Hence the truism, "a picture is worth a thousand words." As a result, images are powerful "shortcuts" for representing both simple and complex ideas, concepts, emotions, information, and procedures and have been used throughout history, well before the written word, as a communication medium.

In fact, in many ways our brains are hard-wired to process visual information with maximum efficiency. Consider the following regarding learner's predisposition to visual perception in processing information and the implications for student learning (University of Minnesota's Mind Mapping web page)

• Between 80 and 90 percent of information that we receive from our environment is visual. 
• Our brains can process 36,000 images every hour. 
• Our memory for visual images is extraordinary. In one study, subjects were shown up to 10,000 pictures. Later they were shown some of these images again, mixed in with pictures they hadn't seen. Subjects were able to identify previously seen pictures with over 90 percent accuracy. 

Visual Literacy

"Visual literacy is defined as the ability to understand and use images, including the ability to think, learn, and express oneself in terms of images"

Roberts Braden

Given that most of the information we process on a daily basis is received visually, it makes sense that visual images have a crucial role to play in student learning. Both in transmitting information and transferring meaning through understanding. Without question the new personal computer, networking, and World Wide Web technologies have revitalized and refocused the need for K-12 teachers and students to develop sound visual literacy skills.

Access to the Internet and World Wide Web has opened up a universe of information to both teachers and students, including a vast wealth of publicly available digital images that can be used to facilitate student learning. Perhaps the most significant development brought about by the new computer and Web technologies is the ease with which teachers and students can now take an active role in creating visual images to enhance their learning environment. This is due in large part to two factors 1) intuitive image editing and production software, especially newer Web 2.0/3.0 tools and 2) the growing existence of free digital image libraries on the Web which provide almost unlimited resources for visual content on every subject matter imaginable.

Give such ready access, teachers can incorporate digital images into a variety of instructional practices in the classroom.

• To enrich text based content and support problem based learning with images that illustrate, demonstrate, and explain

• Provide multiple mediums of information with use of text, visuals, and audio to engage dual modes of processing information for deeper learning

• To provide alternative or additional means of processing information for ELL students or students with learning disabilities that may struggle with large amounts of text

• For use in project based learning allowing students choice and the ability to express themselves creatively while demonstrating understanding of content matter
• To keep students focused and on track; used appropriately, digital images can be very stimulating and engaging

While such access to the vast image repositories on the Web can be an incredible boon to teachers and students alike, with great access comes great responsibility. Namely that of respecting copyright and attribution licenses for use of digital images. Indeed, an important aspect of visual literacy is learning how to determine when, where, and how digital images may used for educational purposes. Both teachers and students should be aware of the guidelines for educational fair use policy, different types of creative common licensing, what is meant by "attribution" and the "public domain" and most importantly how to properly check or research whether or not a digital image is "safe" to use.

Digital Image Libraries

Digital image libraries exist in many forms encompassing a wide variety of visuals including stock photography, clip art, illustrations, historical and news photographs, charts, maps, diagrams and more. Collections of images on the Web are organized and curated by private individuals, public institutions, non-profit organization, museums, and the U.S. government. Another fast growing source of digital images are user created image libraries, a by product of the "gift culture" of new social networking tools that encourages users to give as well as take.

A few examples of digital image libraries that might be of interest to teachers and students is listed below:

• Photos8 - Over 11,000 professional stock photography images free for use with link back attribution.

• Open Clip Art Library - Over 35,000 pieces of clip-art in the public domain.

• Yale University's Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library - Online collection of 90,000 digital images from rare books and manuscripts

• The National Art Gallery - All images are available for education use. Separate web site for younger school children to interact with real pieces of art and modify them to create their own "original" works of art.

• The New York Public Library Digital Image Gallery - 700,000 images digitized from the The New York Public Library's vast collections, including illuminated manuscripts, historical maps, vintage posters, rare prints, photographs and more.

• Great Images in NASA - Collection of over 1000 historical images mostly in public domain, but all free for use in education.

In addition there many Internet search engines that can help teachers and students conduct searches on the World Wide Web for images:

• Google Images - The most comprehensive image search tool on the Web.

• The Internet Archive - Thousands of public domain digital movies uploaded by Archive users which range from classic full-length films, to daily alternative news broadcasts, to cartoons and concerts.

• BestPhotos.US - Custom Google image search engine for public domain photos including images taken by employees of all departments of U.S. government.

• Spiffy.com - Search engine aggregator that searches a multitude of other public domain search engines. Claims to search over a billion public domain images.