I’ve always found myself to be rather savvy with technology. I was never a “tech guru” but I have always been able to get by with most types of technology like laptops and phones. I’ve never really given much thought towards creative ways to use technology in the classroom, but who would’ve thought that you’d be able to use technology for assessment in the classroom in a FUN way? This week in class, we had an amazing opportunity to listen to a presentation on assessment from a fabolous, passionate educator from the Bulkey Valley, Sandra McAulay. Sandra opened my eyes to the possibility of technology in the classroom as a fun, engaging assessment tool. Essentially, assessment can be done directly on the technology itself, or technology can be used to document physical creations of learners that you wouldn’t normally get to assess (i.e. an pictoral example of a learner making 340 with base ten blocks). I loved this concept of documentation for assessment because it provides you with a physical photo as proof of learning that comes in handy for portfolios and meetings with parents. Some of the apps we were introduced to for assessment were Knowability, Pic Collage, Skitch, Chatter Kid, Book Creator, and Epic!
Sandra gave us an opportunity to use her ipads to see how she uses them in her own classroom. We went around the university looking for rectangular prisms to take photos of. We then used Pic Collage to label the length, width, and height of our respective objects to calculate both the area and volume. Doing math in this way was a unique, engaging experience that I would love to incorporate into my own classroom!
After this presentation, I’m interested in exploring new apps and differentiation techniques within technology. I love that technology can be adapted to so many different learning needs and seeing as differentiation is something I always struggle with, I will be looking to technology more often to help me. As educators, we need to evaluate our expectations of learners. Is our goal to just have things look good on paper, or are there other possibilities that we can look at with technology?
It is refreshing seeing your excitement and enthusiasm around fun ways of using technology for differentiation and assessing with this technology in your classroom. I am still used to the old school paper with A’s, B’s and C’s but these methods are much more engaging, go much further with relationship building and getting to know your students, and ties in well with our expectations of learners.