Impact of 1:1 on Assessment

[Demetri Orlando]

An interesting thread developed on ISED this week asking whether schools where each student has a laptop [or tablet] have seen shifts in assessment practices. This question has arisen at my school also, and students are largely prohibited from using their tablets during assessment because of concerns that students with internet and communications access during testing might make use of those tools in a way which circumvents the intent of those assessments -- to measure the students' knowledge of course content. But of course, this question goes to the heart of the matter -- what are the outcomes we want? I like the idea of "open book" testing, or in this case "open tablet," that focuses more on problem-solving, collaboration, and making use of any and all tools you can connect to, but I understand that it is a big shift. This may be a good topic for discussion with our faculty.

In response to the original query on ISED, head-elect Steven Edele, of the Harbor School writes: ...given that it is a priority among many of our schools to graduate our students into top tier colleges and universities, the more standard assessment practices that have ruled the day will continue to hold sway. There are not a lot of formal assessments out there that measure a student's ability to research, problem solve, think critically, analyze, write clearly, and work cooperatively with others to complete a task and/or solve a problem -- all skills that most of us claim to be critical components of our educational program. Let's face it -- being able to complete a project that demonstrates mastery of these skills is all very nice, but not nearly as important as scoring well on the CTP, SAT, AP, etc.

Isn't this the reality? That we are still compelled to shape our practice in order to prepare students for these high stakes tests which measure a narrow type of learning/intelligence? What do you do when you teach? Do you shape some of your assessments to measure problem-solving, creativity, collaboration, etc? Are you interested in whether your students can locate good information and synthesize it into coherent writing on the fly? Can your students transfer and apply problem-solving algorithms to new problems, new scenarios, new situations beyond the narrow step-to-step pacing of textbook aligned progressions? Are we imparting the skills that are used in the world outside the classroom? As I work and as I see my colleagues work on projects we are more than eager to take advantage of the work of others.