jlebaron

jlebaron

8p

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14 years ago @ Educational Technology... - Should We Shift ICT4E ... · 0 replies · +1 points

It is true that technology capacities morph constantly, creating a moving target that is difficult to assess with accuracy or relevance. But I wonder...? Is it "technology" that we ought to attempt assessing, or is it teaching strategy and learner production, which technology might or might not support? And what do we assess? Test results? If comparative test results show divergence between technology-supported and technology-scarce environments, should we conclude that technology is responsible for the divergence? Probably not.

While I agree with Negroponte's recent assertion that ICT should now be accepted as a basic utility, I disagree that we can therefore do away with attempts to assess the contribution technology can make to learning. Rather, I suggest that such assessment informs best when it is naturalistic and when it is keyed to deliberate intentions. Is the technology-supported strategy conceived imaginatively, to worthwhile purposes, and are the observable results consonant with intentions?

Readers might be interested in a recent hour-long radio interview with UCLA's Mike Rose on the "Meaning of Intelligence." His remarks touch upon some of the questions driving this debate, especially the issues he presents relative to schooling, the valuing of different ways of knowing, our predominant methods for assessing student performance, and alternative ways of viewing such challenges. You'll find the link at
http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/2...

14 years ago @ Educational Technology... - Should We Shift ICT4E ... · 0 replies · +1 points

Good point, Rob. I recall John Cowan (at the time of the British Open University -- Scotland) saying in his thick Scottish accent: "If you don't know where you're going, any bus will do." I can still visualize him saying this, and see that John is still active giving seminars and workshops based on his passion for formative evaluation and student-centred learning.

14 years ago @ Educational Technology... - Should We Shift ICT4E ... · 0 replies · +1 points

Please hear my audio comment at the link below:
http://fpamediaserver.wcu.edu/~jlebaron/ICT4E/Lin...

References for the two studies cited in the mp3 voice file are:

Lin, J. M. (2008). ICT education: To integrate or not to integrate? British Journal of Educational Technology, 39(6), 1121-1123. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8535.2008.00825.x

Peltenburg, M., van, d. H., & Doig, B. (2009). Mathematical power of special-needs pupils: An ICT-based dynamic assessment format to reveal weak pupils' learning potential. British Journal of Educational Technology, 40(2), 273-284. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8535.2008.00917.x

14 years ago @ Educational Technology... - Improving ICT Assessme... · 1 reply · +1 points

We are faced with the dilemma of attempting to assess with syntax that policy-makers, funders and MoE types are willing to accept, and the desire to produce meaningful information on what's really happening in schools and for learners. Rob, you raise the interesting question of timeliness. If we tolerate the publication cycle of traditional peer-reviewed scholarship, then we condemn ourselves perpetually to be "fighting the last war" (sorry about the bellicose analogy) and we will always lose it. Moreover, if we rely solely on the narrow focus of much empirical research, we risk discarding the important mysteries for the satisfaction of tracking down trivial detail. (I overstate my case, here, I realize.)

Mary, I agree with Rob that your quadrant helps illustrate the assessment challenge. It reminds me a little of Bloom's Taxonomy, but the matrix allows for greater analytical flexibility, elevating shades of gray to a full color palette. Perhaps assessment should be keyed to a descriptive model describing ideal learning environments and through structured observation, conversation and product-analysis, individual cases could be analyzed against a "best practice" standard.

By the same token for learners, goal-based learning attributes could be described against which learners' achievement might be assessed. Some of this assessment can indeed be quantitative, even test-centered, but not all of it. The point is that success would be measured against things deemed worthy of achieving, and narrative valued as highly as numbers, if not more so.

But I dream -- and ramble.... Back to the real world where I'll pick up my laundry, pondering the degree to which my shirts match my ideal model of cleanliness.

14 years ago @ Educational Technology... - ICT in Education Asses... · 0 replies · +2 points

Ian. You make a very good point. Because policy-makers are held accountable for the results of public investments made under their watch, they default to what they can understand and communicate crisply and easily. The notion that a true evaluation of any strategic or tactical effect requires in-depth observation and analysis of uncountable (in the strict sense) things is difficult to grasp when one's political credibility is on the line. This can lull decision-makers into the fiction the only things that "count" are the things that can be counted.