Assessment Technology

Blog Post
Assessment Technology
Student Assessment Technology
There are many ways teachers can utilize student-centered technology to facilitate
classroom assessment. Three software web tools that are recommended because of their
technological importance to support formative and summative assessments are, Socrative,
Blubbr, and Polleverywhere. These tools are of great importance because of their use in
measuring students overall achievement and monitoring of student performance and progress.
When using technology to facilitate the ongoing efforts to assess student learning, Pros outweigh
the cons as well as having a positive impact on student achievement.
Technology to Facilitate Ongoing Efforts to Assess Student Learning
Teachers can utilize technology such as software and web tools to facilitate the ongoing
efforts to assess student learning in the classroom by incorporating it into the daily curriculum.
Technology is fun, always up to date and kid friendly. With the use of websites, students engage
in a more relaxed and fun self-assessment. Theorist suggest that Formative assessment a type of
self-assessment is more effective in the enhancement of student learning (Drouin, M. A., 2010)
According to ISTE standards, Technology can be used to facilitate and inspire student learning,
Design and develop digital age learning experiences and assessments, Model digital age work
and learning, Promote and model digital citizenship and responsibility and Engage in
professional growth and leadership (ISTE standards, 2007). In other words, a teacher has
endless possibilities on how to use technology to teach, monitor, assess, entertain and even test
her students. The great importance and connection between assessment technology and the ISTE
standards; is that the standards clearly provide reasoning and validity for using technology to

Assessment Technology

assess student learning. For example ISTE Teacher Standards 2.a.b.c. and d. express that all
teachers should meet the following standards and performance indicators(ISTE, 2007); teachers
should design, develop and evaluate authentic learning experiences and assessments that
incorporate new tools and resources to maximize content learning to develop knowledge, skills
and attitudes.(ISTE Teachers standards, 2007)
Blubbr
Blubbr is a web software page that is utilized to test a student on his/her comprehension.
Blubbr allows the creator of the assessment to search short clips and ask questions after every
clip selected. In Curiels Blubbr, content is aligned with California Common Core Standards 2.
(Curiel, M. 2015)The content area of this specific blubblr is to demonstrate command of the
conventions of Standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking. This assessment
is a fun series of short video clips that explain the 5 common parts of speech that are followed by
a serious of questions. The purpose of this assessment is to evaluate the students learning. This
type of assessment is a summative assessment. It compares the information that the student
learned at the end of the instruction and compares it to common core standards. The data
collected from this summative assessment would provide me with input on how much the student
has retained from the lesson. It will guide them also to realize their knowledge and what they
need to learn. This type of assessment is great to help the students not only learn the information,
but by repetition, the student can memorize the fun musical kid friendly tunes and clips and
apply the information in their future classrooms.
Socrative
Socrative allows teachers to be involved and to access students educational activities on
electronic devices with access to the web (laptops, desktop, tablet, smart phone) Provide a

Assessment Technology

specific example of how it can be used in the classroom; what content area and will it be used as
a formative or summative assessment, justify your reasoning. Reference all sources properly.)
With Socrative, teachers can create assessments ask questions in real time, and receive results
immediately, with this web software teachers can create reports, and run assessments from any
browser and device. The best part of Socrative is that it saves teachers time allowing more
collaboration, and discussion. Socrative for example will be used in a classroom after a fun
lecture or related educational video. The teacher will create an assessment and post it on her
projector visible to the entire class. Answers to questions will be accessed by the teacher on her
device after students answer by using their own technology devices. It may also be used to assess
the student in a summative testing assessment after the lesson. Students will answer the questions
provided by the teacher on the projector, but submit them via Socrative. The teacher will retrieve
information via her device; create her own assessment and results according to the results
submitted by the student. It is up to the teacher to repeat the assessment depending on the results;
She may use the assessment as a formative assessment by conducting the test during instruction
or for the sole purpose to help improve student learning. (Wininger, S.R., 2005)

Polleverywhere
Poll Everywhere will be used to simply question students understanding and to opinions
on the subjects learned. It is a simple poll creator that works instantly and can be accessed via
any web devise such as a laptop, desktop, tablet or smart phone. It is neat because it not only
saves time and money, but also saves trees by eliminating the use of paper. The teacher (creator)
types the poll question, clicks on create and shares the poll with her chosen audience which
is her classroom. Students will have access to these poll questions as long as an account is

Assessment Technology

provided for them. The poll consists of multiple choice, free response poll, true or false, clickable
image poll, and Q and A brainstorm poll. Twitter recipients can also have access to your poll and
international phone texts are also accommodated via your account with Poll everywhere. It is
easy to create, simply type PollEv voting page on your browser activate your account and then
visit PollEv.com/yourname. After the poll has been completed by all students, it can be uploaded
and displayed directly on the teacher website and utilized as part of a PowerPoint or keynote
slideshow. This type is a great choice of assessment formative assessment since it measures
student achievement with the goal of increasing student performance. It has been revealed that
Formative Assessment use in a classroom have resulted in substantial learning gains. (Black &
William, 1998; Fuchs &Fuchs, 1986. As restated by Wininger, S. R. 2005)
Formative and Summative Assessments
The original purpose for formal testing was to differentiate among students with regard
to level of achievement (Wininger, S. R., 2005). Wininger also mentions that formal testing of
students is considered summative (after) assessment because it is the assessment that teachers
use after a lesson and is utilized to gather a final result for grading purposes. On the other hand
Formative (during) assessment as per Wininger, provides feedback to both student and teacher
about learning progress with the goal of improving learning and instruction (Wininger, S.R.,
2005) The difference between the two assessments is that Formative assessment is more informal
and is used to better the students performance whereas summative is for grade and final
comprehension result purposes. As discussed above, technology can be used by incorporating
many software web based software to facilitate summative and formative assessments. In some
cases some web software can be utilized as formative assessment and prepare the student for the
final summative assessment.

Assessment Technology

Pros and Cons of using Technology to Facilitate Assessment

Although, there is one Con of not every student has access to technology, the Pros
always outweigh the Cons. Technology is always available during school hours. As to the pros,
Technology is always changing and is most definitely a good source to be efficient in and have
access to. The importance of technology and ongoing efforts to assess student learning has a
great impact on student achievement. That 1997, Thirty-two states required technology training
as part of teacher certification requirements for licensing (Zehr, 1997, recited by Waugh, M.,
Levin, J., & Buell, J. 1999) In addition NCATE adopted comprehensive guidelines for
procedures teachers in training should learn about educational technology, according to
Guernsey, 1997; NCATE, 1997, (Waugh, M., Levin, J., & Buell, J.1999) .It is just a matter of
time until Technology competency guidelines are required in all states. Funding for classroombased learning technology is rapidly increasing. Most if not all educators would agree with
Waugh, M., Levin J. and Buell. it is perhaps not surprising that instructional technology is
growing rapidly in importance among teacher education programs. (Waugh, M., Levin, J., &
Buell, J.1999).
Conclusion
Teachers can utilize student centered technology to facilitate classroom assessment in
many ways. Three software web tools that are recommended because of their technological
importance to support formative and summative assessments are, Socrative, Blubbr, and
Polleverywhere. The importance of these tools is their ease in the use in monitoring of student
performance, progress and measuring students overall achievement Pros outweigh the cons as
well as having a positive impact on student achievement when using technology to facilitate the
ongoing efforts to assess student learning,

Assessment Technology

References
Curiel, M. (2015) Blubbr game- Parts of Speech. Retrieved from;
https://www.blubbr.tv/game/index.php?game_id=69040&org=3#sthash.Ss2lSN1q.dpuf
Drouin, M.A. (2010). Group-Based Summative Assessment Relates to Improved Student
Performance and Satisfaction. Teaching Of Psychology, 37(2), 114-118.
Doi:10.1080/00986281003626706
International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE)/National Educational Technology
Standards for Teachers (NETS-T). Retrieved from; http://www.iste.org/standards/netsfor-teachers/nets-for-teachers-2008
Learning Farm.com.Common Core Standards. Retrieved from;
http://www.learningfarm.com/web/practicePassThrough.cfm?TopicID=2567
Waugh, M., Levin, J., & Buell, J. (1999). The Technology Competencies Database: computer
support for assessment, teaching, and portfolio management. Journal Of Technology & Teacher
Education, 7(4), 351-363.

Wininger, S. R. (2005). Using your tests to Teach: Formative Summative Assessment. Teaching
of Psychology, 32(2), 164-166