ASSESSMENT TECHNOLOGIES: I>CLICKER & BLOGGING

Educators aim to impart knowledge and promote learning. Assessments evaluate and/or measure effectiveness of teaching strategies along with student learning and performance. Therefore, an assessment should be constructed appropriately to achieve its intended goals. As technology plays a prevalent role in education today, assessment technologies may be ideal to access learning. This blog explores how i>clicker and blogging can benefit learning environments.

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i>clicker

I>clicker is interactive technology designed to increase participation, confirm understanding, and measure performance (iclicker, n.d.). Educators use this technology to promote engagement and dialog with students. Features include LMS integrations, real-time polling, integrated gradebook, results chart window, mobile response, and anonymous mode (i>clicker products, n.d.). I>clicker allows educators to assess as learners participate using remotes or mobile devices. "Instuctors can generate Excel reports of aggregate and individual response data" (i>clicker, n.d.). As a future educator, I would implement i>clicker to assess student learning and performance from the data collected as students participate. I would also use i>clicker to obtain instant feedback to generate discussions and align teaching strategies. The URL below provides additional information about services and products offered by i>clicker.

https://www1.iclicker.com/products/

References

icliker.com (n.d.). i>clicker. Retrieved from https://www1.iclicker.com/

iclicker.com (n.d.). i>clicker products. Retrieved from https://www1.iclicker.com/products/

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Blogging

Blogging is a creative tool for learning as it expands the walls of the classroom (Richardson, 2010). Blogging allows students to publish knowledge and skills learned. This makes it an effective assessment instrument. Audio and video can also be used to explain and demonstrate objectives. Blogging promotes feedback and dialog as well. As a future educator, I would incorporate blogging as an assessment by asking learners to create and maintain blog posts to reflect understanding of course material. I would also ask learners to demonstrate skills using audio and/or video in their blogging. The following URL provides additional information on utilizing blogging in education.

http://halfanhour.blogspot.ca/2009/04/blogs-in-education.html

Reference

Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.