Technology and Alternative Assessment

I am beginning to feel a little redundant, but one of the opportunities I see inherent in using technology-based methods to assess student learning include the ability to incorporate a variety of student capabilities or multiple intelligences and allow the student to express his or her knowledge in a manner more conducive to the student. Also, the ability to give student choices and develop their abilities in other areas including technology when using technological based methods of assessment.

I also think the use of such methods takes away from the monotony of traditional instructional and traditional assessment. Perhaps the use of non-traditional assessment methods can only give students a chance to be more successful, but can also make the students more motivated and interested because the assignment or assessment presents something new and different.

Related to the chance for students to use creativity, alternative assessments can provide a more in depth look at learning. Going beyond traditional assessments allows students and teachers to beyond surface knowledge and explore and express knowledge and connections that cannot be provoked by pencil and paper assessments.

On the other hand, there are some potential challenges. One challenge is the vagueness or lack of explicit directions and expectations that can come with non-traditional assessment. Given a pen and paper assessment, most students know what to do, regardless of how well they can do. However, given a more abstract assessment such as PowerPoint presentation, e-portfolio, and digital movies, just to name a few, the expectations and directions can easily become clouded. Non-traditional assessments cannot be assessed as easily and readily as traditional assessments where there is usually just one right answer, contrastly, different interpretations of the same object, the likelihood that there is more than one right answer, and having different teachers grade the same project can highlight the differences in expectations and interpretations. Of course, this could be easily be remedied with clear expectations, model projects, and rubrics, this does require an extra step for educators and also requires a more objective mindset.

Nonetheless, to me, the benefits of such non-traditional assessments outweigh the potential costs and or challenges. In an era where assessment and accountability are such hot topics and student ability is more diverse than ever before, the need for non-traditional instructional methods and assessments is heightened. I look forward to implementing such strategies and methods in my classroom and I hope that as non-traditional forms of instruction and assessment become more mainstream, that the benefits will be heightened and any challenges will be smoothed out.