ECS 410 – JESSICA WIEDEMANN

Assessment in the 21st Century: Why Can We No Longer Rely on Traditional Forms of Assessment?

As society and technology become more advanced and sophisticated there are kore ways in which the forms of assessment need to evolve alongside them. Students are becoming more skilled in the use of newer technology because it is becoming integrated into their lives and becoming the main way of communication.

New ways of Communicating

Communication is being fed through technology more and more as there are more advancement in hardware and software. Socially there is a huge amount of transmission of information because of the technology we use; this does not exclude the communication in the classroom. Teachers and students alike are becoming more integrated into technology and the multiple modes of communication that the next technology brings. Traditional forms of assessment fall short in the next society of technology when these ways that we communicate have changed. Roswell and Walsh outline how new literacies affect the classroom and assessment in saying these new literacies require different modalities. They go on to say that “Multiliteracies as a pedagogy simultaneously accounts for linguistic diversity and the use of multimodalities in communication” (p. 56). Communication of information and knowledge has been shifting and assessment needs to shift as well. As society shifts toward multimodal forms of communication, education practices and assessment must also shift in the same direction. In order to properly prepare students for lifelong learning in an ever-changing society, they need to learn to adapt to change and adapt to the different modes of communication emerging in our world. Educational practices have been shifting slowly to accommodate differing learning styles and with the addition of changing technology there needs to be acknowledgment of the changing ways people communicate. Along with that acknowledgement through changing teaching practices, the assessment of learning needs to shift to become truer to the type of communication. The traditional forms of assessment fall short in integrating newer technological forms of communication.

Assessment to Teach

Assessment is not only used for the evaluation of learning, but it is also a tool for learning. When teaching these new literacies to students, an effective way of teaching is through an assessment or through an activity where students teach themselves. As the learning environment changes with the addition of technology to the classroom and to the communication style of the students, assessment changes along with this change in communication. Dochy and McDowell (1997) explain that as technology changes, the modes of teaching and education will change along with it. They go one to say that the role of the teacher in the classroom changes as well with the change in modes of communication. “In the future some of these tasks will be carded out by new highly specialized professionals such as the item-bank manager, electronic course-materials developer, multi-media development expert or study counselor” (p. 283).

Where Do We Go From Here?

The exponential change of technology cannot go unnoticed in the classroom. Rather than pushing these types of changes in technology away, teachers can enlist them as tools for learning and assessment. Seeing the great change that has occurred in communication even in the last ten years, there is bound to be more change to happen in the next ten years as well, and students need to be ready to take on this change. Teachers need to prepare them for a society that today, we know nothing about. Keeping students at the forefront of the knowledge of new ways to communicate gives rise to even greater changes in technology. in order for students to be put at this forefront, teachers need to be alongside students in learning new literacies. Although this is opposite to the traditional sense of what a teacher is (that they are the experts in the room), the process of teaching requires learning. With this positioning of teachers as learners alongside students, there is more opportunity of learning and teaching to happen for both parties. In the spirit of education, for the students to learn from the teacher, the teacher needs to also learn from the students.

“If we teach today as we taught yesterday, we rob our children of tomorrow.”
John Dewey

References

Dochy, F. J., & McDowell, L. (1997). Introduction: Assessment as a Tool for Learning. Studies in educational evaluation, 23(4), 279-98.

Rowsell, J., & Walsh, M. (2011). Rethinking literacy education in new times: Multimodality, multiliteracies, & new literacies. Brock Education: A Journal of Educational Research and Practice, 21(1).

Jessica Wiedemann

Jessica is a student at University of Regina. Her passion for helping others and advocacy for the prevention of bullying in schools has lead her to a career in education. She is a dog lover, photographer, and a food lover.

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What is Assessment? What is its Aim?

Assessment, in the theoretical sense, , is the evaluation of something or someone’s abilities. It can also be thought of as the degree in which someone or something fulfills its purpose. In the practical sense, assessment is what the teacher decides is a just presentation of evidence of learning. This can take any form the teacher wishes. Due to the decisions being made by the teachers, there is a lot of possibility for bias to cloud the judgement of the teacher. The theoretical must influence the practical in order for the assessment to be logical and a reliable determination of learning. The aim of assessment is to quantify abilities or work into a figure that is easier to see in relation to others’ work or abilities. There needs to be some sort of quantifier of the evidence of learning in order to know how close or far a student is from hitting the goal of the lesson or the outcome in the curriculum.

What is the Relationship between Assessment, Classroom Environment, and Instructional Practices?

Assessment, classroom environment, and instructional practices are closely related because they are all centred around the student-teacher relationship. Assessment is linked to classroom environment in that it plays into the social structure of the classroom and imposes a nearly invisible social order that can dictate the manner in which the classroom functions. The type of assessment affects the way students respond to class work which can create deviations between students will different strengths, depending on the type of assessment. Further, assessment is almost one with the instructional practices of a teacher because there is an interdependence of both on the other. This mutual impact that assessment has on instructional practices and vice versa gives the teacher the ability to manipulate the classroom environment and its social order. As well, the classroom environment affects the instructional practices and the assessment being used in the classroom. The students affect the environment of the classroom as much if not more than the teacher does. This goes outside the fact that the teacher is outnumbered by the students. The students participate in an isolated society within the classroom which in some ways excludes the teacher because of the authority difference as well as a the generational difference. The interpersonal relationships between students can affect the instructional practices depending on whether the social interactions between students are positive or negative. An example would be the use of group work or partner work. If there is a student who is excluded from the collective group of the classroom, because of other students or themselves, there is potential for further exclusion is there is group work imposed as an assignment. This situation affects assessment as well due to the social aspect of a group project or partner work.

What is Important to Keep in Mind When Designing Assessment in the Classroom?

As touched upon above, there are multiple aspects of the classroom that are linked to assessment and as such, the teacher needs to be aware of what is going on socially in the classroom when designing assessment. Mainly the things that need to be kept in the mind of the teacher when creating assessment are consistency, transparency, and redeem-ability of assessment. An assessment should be consistent in that it has the same level of expectations of the students in relation to the demands on the students, not that there should be the same type of assessment over and over. Transparency in this context translates into the teachers openness about what is expected by the assessment. Giving students the tools for success in their assignments and learning gives them more agency in their learning. Along with transparency, the need for redeem-ability in assessment in order to give students the option and opportunity to redeem failures. This quality shows students that there isn’t just one shot at assignments and there are options.

Assessment in the classroom needs to be evidence of learning that accurately documents what was attempted to be taught in that lesson or that unit. The teacher needs to be aware of their own biases, their own experiences and understandings of what assessment means and how it can be done in the classroom.

“Education is not to be viewed as something like filling a vessel with water but, rather, assisting a flower to grow in its own way”

Bertrand Russell

Jessica Wiedemann

Make sure to comment below and follow her on social media, she loves to reach out and connect with you!