Tech2Go

Just read a good article in the Journal of Staff Development by Rick Stiggins & Jan Chappus. What A Difference A Word Makes is a discussion about the design of formative assessment in the high-stakes testing world of K-12 education. The little word that makes a big difference is “for”. Assessment FOR learning instead of assessment of learning.

Do you use technology in ways to help learners get a glimpse of their progress toward a goal. Do technology tools have any special role in helping learners own their progress? Can computers help teachers  provide timely,  high-quality feedback that students can use to improve performance before their summative assessment?

Sorry I can’t post the article (copyright issues) - but I encourage you to track it down from your colleagues, school library, public library, or subscription database. Here’s a link to a workshop handout  Rick Stiggins offered on the topic of the article. I found this using Google Scholar and I suspect there are other articles available.

At the heart of my questions and answers on this topic are the beliefs I hold concerning assessment and learning. I’d love to hear a response from you on any of the points raised in my blog post, especially how you articulate your assessment beliefs.