Technology the focus on hours of test prep, and it could increase the overall scores because students would be tested at the right time for maximum results.
New era of testing
It’ s time we ditched‘ pen and paper’ exams.
By Sue Beveridge
When it comes to education, no topic is more controversial than high-stakes testing. We know that quality feedback and assessment are essential – how else can we know if students understand what they’ re being taught? But how and when are two things many can’ t agree on.
Since its introduction, NAPLAN testing has been highly controversial – among teachers and parents alike – but if not NAPLAN, then what? How can we best devise a way to adequately measure learning outcomes?
DIGITISE TESTING There’ s no denying it – our children are growing up in a technological world. Their lives are entwined with technology in a way that many of us will never truly understand. And while we can argue about screen time limits and digital detoxes, the fact is our little digital natives are often more comfortable with a tablet or laptop than with a pen and paper in hand. So it only makes sense to change the testing environment to best suit the students, to give the test in the format they are most comfortable using.
We are slowly seeing assessment becoming digitised, which in my opinion will provide significant advantages for learning. As technology becomes more sophisticated, programs such as SMART response 2 can integrate beautifully into the classroom environment, allowing teachers to do quick and effective formative assessment, pushed to any student device with the click of a keyboard.
Professor John Hattie argues that the most important thing a teacher can do for a student is provide feedback, and as we move towards digitised testing, we’ ll also be able to move towards live, digital feedback, which will arguably be much more effective in terms of long-term learning for students.
UNSCHEDULED TESTING Where we’ d love to see testing headed is getting rid of scheduled testing altogether. Instead of the entire school( or country for that matter!) being tested on the same day, the dream would be for students to be tested when the teacher identified they were ready. No matter what day of the year it was.
By digitising testing and having tests readily available online, this is a highly feasible alternative. And it would be an absolute game changer. It would give teachers the ability to use their professional judgement about when a child demonstrated learning outcomes, ensuring that they were ready. It could be incidental in the school day and reduce test nerves, it may even remove
ASSESSING COLLABORATION From classroom activities to university projects to the workplace, working together in groups is one of life’ s most crucial skills. But we don’ t yet seem to be adequately testing collaboration in schools. Group assignments – yes, to an extent – but what about testing how a group works together?
In the Assessment and Teaching of 21st Century Skills( ATC21S) project – a collaborative effort between Cisco, Intel and Microsoft – the companies developed a way to test student collaboration. Students were paired together with each of the partners receiving one half of a maths problem which was to be solved by working together online. Rather than simply assessing whether the answer was correct, teachers were able to watch the students’ live chat to see how they interacted with each other.
One of the locations where this collaborative assessment was trialled was Melbourne University. There, researchers learned that there was a scope and sequence of skills as students collaborate. This is such important data as it will help educators to develop a set of competencies to adequately assess collaboration, helping students to develop and refine lifelong skills which will help them perform better in their professional lives.
We know that students need to be assessed. But as we change and adapt our teaching styles, we also need to change and adapt the way we test. And while changing the way we assess learning might take some getting used to, the fact is we now live in a world where new technologies allow us to shake things up.
By digitising tests, testing based on readiness rather than predetermined times, as well as finding new ways to test crucial life skills, we can completely revolutionise the classroom. And at the end of the day, if it’ s in the best interests of students, then surely it’ s worth making the change. ■
Sue Beveridge is the ANZ Education Advisor at SMART Technologies.
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