Chosen, Bespoke, and Connected: Benefits of Digital Student-Centered Assessments

As I've been engaging in my studies, I've been thinking about student-centered assessments, specifically  assessments that engage students because they have more choice in how they participate, assessments that allow for differentiation, and assessments that enable teachers to provide timely feedback. 

Chosen

from Henry David Thoreau's Walden, 1854

Regarding choice in digital assessments, I present the following example assignment. 

The topic is The American Transcendentalists. The assessment requires students to show that they understand the ideas important to the transcendentalists that we've been studying in an 11th grade English class. 

First, to briefly review what we've covered in our American Transcendentalist unit so far, I will provide students with a video from TEDEd or one that I make myself using  Screencastify. The purpose of this video is so that students can review these concepts multiple times and in their own preferred locations where they can best pay attention. 

The digital assessment would have students choose to complete one of the following three digital assessments to demonstrate their understanding of transcendentalist values.

1) Students would make a video of no less than three minutes in which they speak from the point of view of Emerson, Whitman, Thoreau, or Fuller. Students would use costumes and props, such as a fake beard, spectacles, or old-fashioned clothes. They would discuss at least three of their character's transcendentalist beliefs and include biographical information about their character too. Then, they would upload the video to YouTube. Next, using Nearpod or TEDEd, students would insert discussion questions into their video. This final version of the video will be turned in for their grade.

2) Students will visit a park, botanical garden, nature trail, or other places where nature is a focal point. They will bring a laptop and write a few pages in a Google Doc Journal (or write in a notebook and transfer their notes into their Google Doc Journal) about the transcendentalists' belief that nature fosters a connection with God. Students will take a selfie in each location and add it to their journal. Journals must include three different entries written at different locations. Each entry needs to be no less than 200 words, include a selfie, and at least one correctly-cited quote from Emerson's book-length essay, Nature. They will turn in their Google Doc Journal for their grade.

3) The Transcendentalists published a newsletter, The Dial, in which they shared views, reviews, and debated each other. Students will use Smore to create an interactive newsletter that explains at least three transcendentalist's beliefs in the students' own words. They would also be required to include links to media about the movement: at least one video and one article, both from scholarly sources. They will turn in this newsletter for their grade.

 

Bespoke

Digital assessments allow for differentiation for students who need extra time reading and answering questions. These students can proceed through the assessment at their own pace (as long as I design the assessment to have a comfortably-long time limit or no time limit at all). Also, students who need privacy when taking tests can take digital assessments from the comfort of their home, maybe in their rooms with the door shut and a "Test in Progress" sign taped to the front. 

These assessments also offer built-in help for students. For example, the quiz I created using Google Forms could include the option that if a student gets a question wrong, that student will be directed to watch a brief video that reviews the information. The student could then try to answer the question again. I could add such review sections so that they follow each question. 

Another way to differentiate a digital assessment is to enable text-to-speech for students with problems reading text. Text-to-speech is available on learning platforms such as Powerschool, Edulastic, and Nearpod (using Microsoft's immersive reader -- here's how to enable it).  

Connected

As for timely feedback, I can design assessments so that they send results straight to my and my students' emails. This way, I can respond to students' work more quickly, giving them more time to work on areas that are proving problematic Nearpod enables the creation of lessons in which formative questions are embedded along the way, whether the questions are inserted into videos (I love this option!) or are open-ended, requiring longer and more formal answers. Once students complete the Nearpod lesson, and even along the way, I can see how they did immediately and, again, intervene quickly so as to best help them succeed. 

A Wealth of Tools

It's such an exciting time to be a teacher -- there are so many tools available that I feel like I don't know where to start! But I think about The TPACK model for integrating technology in the classroom. The TPACK model suggests that it's best to start with content standards and pedagogy, and then layer in technology. 

It's hard not to be tempted to jump right in and play with the tools I've encountered, such as miro and Blooket, but I will do my best to use technology in the right ways so that it enhances my lessons and assessments, not just because it's cool and fun. The point, after all, is not to be a tech wizard, it's to teach English. Although I hope I'm learning to be a little bit of a tech wizard so I can effectively use technology in my classroom.