Conceptual Framework

John Dewey said, “Education is a social process. Education is growth. Education is, not a preparation for life; education is life itself.” Almost one hundred years ago John Dewey had educational reform right. In today’s world of technology and need for social networking John Dewey’s ideas can be implemented to the fullest. Students of today’s digital age are most truly engaged when they are placed into a social context. We as educators also want to instill in our students a desire to become lifelong learners. We are in exponential times where the information available to us is growing much faster than we could ever hope to keep up. With our current educational system of having students memorize everything we are setting them up for failure. Instead, in our upcoming world of twenty-four seven access, we need to teach our students how to access and sort through the information that they need. We also need to teach them how to work collaboratively in an online environment.

I have started doing this by having my students blog in the classroom. Students are required to reflect upon what they have been learning and how it relates to them in their blogs. Students are also required to work collaboratively by creating a classroom wiki. These tools are only the beginning in helping my students become ready for the twenty first century. If my school is representative of our educational system, I am becoming an educational reformer. I have already influenced several of my colleagues at my school and I hope to influence more.

I also have changed my views on assessment. In previous years I have graded students based upon tests, quizzes, homework, labs, and classroom skills. Currently my students are assessed on their blog entries, their wiki contributions, their projects, and their portfolio. Students have received a rubric for all of the different types of assessment they will encounter before they try to accomplish the task. Before, I do not think my students knew what a rubric was.
In order to truly prepare our students for the twenty first century, we need to teach them in a constructive, collaborative environment.

Module 9-2: Creating Your Own Rubric

Rubric

Self Assessment

Course Goals:
Effective assessments avoid unwanted sources of bias, interference or error.
Assessments arise from and reflect clear learning targets

Reflection:
In the past I have never been good at creating rubrics. I have always just kind of "eyeballed it" when it came to grading essays and projects. Putting fourth the time and effort to create a good rubric not only makes grading easier, but it furthers student achievement. I still need to practice creating rubrics with language that students understand and can follow. Students need to know what targets they are trying to hit before they can actually hit them. After my first week back at school, my students already have two rubrics for blog posts and projects that they will be completing. This section of the course has definately changed my future practices as a teacher.

Module 9-1: Designing A Performance Assessment

The Anatomy Apprentice

Course Goals:

Accurate assessment uses appropriate methods given the context

Module 8- 2: Create a Checklist

Checklist

Course Goals
Apply technology in assessing student learning of subject matter using a variety of effective classroom assessment techniques.

Module 7 - 1: Using Inspiration or Kidspiration to create assessments of reasoning

Inspiration Document

Course Goals:
Apply technology in assessing student learning of subject matter using a variety of classroom assessment techniques.

Reflection:
Inspiration has only begun to see use in my classroom. I have used Inspiration in the past for the traditional purpose of mind mapping, and helping students visualize concept connections. I learned how Inspiration can be used to create an assessment to push students learning. In biology there are so many topics that can be mapped by using inspiration. I plan on having students use Inspiration to complete assessments, but also create assessments for each other.

Module 6-1: Writing Questions

Table of Specifications

Course Goals:
Apply technology in assessing student learning of subject matter using a variety of classroom assessment techniques.

Module 4-1: Write an essay on "Reasoning"

Reasoning Paper

Course Goals:

Apply technology to facilitate the use of effective assessment and evaluation strategies in teaching.
With the assistance of technology, accurately measure student achievement of, and progress toward, learning objectives using a variety of formal and informal assessments.

Module 3-2: Barriers to High Quality Assessment

Barriers Table

Course Goals:
Accurate assessment uses appropriate methods given the context

Module 2-2: Breaking Down the Standards

Breaking Apart the Standards Document

Course Goals:
Assessments arise from and reflect clear learning targets.

Module 1-3 - Technology Exploration

Survey Monkey Reflection

I liked using survey monkey. I think it is a good way to receive feedback from peers. I will use survey monkey to assess student dispositions. It is a good way to receive feedback and get an idea about what the class is feeling like. Another good use of the technology would be to have the students create their own surveys for the class to fill out. This way they can get immediate feedback from their peers about a presentation that they did. I have already used survey monkey to get assessment back from my peers about a professional development session I did at the beginning of the school year. Survey monkey is a very powerful reflection tool and I plan on using it many different ways.

Module 1-2: The Purposes and Users of Assessment Information

User Table Document

Course Goals:
Assessments serve articulated purposes.