d.
Assessing Learning
As
with any form of teaching, when the work is done it is essential
that accurate and valid forms of assessment take place. When you
are using ICT in teaching, several dangers arise that are not
otherwise so obvious. They stem from the easy availability and
ease of manipulation of information and ideas, and it is best
to be clear about them in this case study.
- You
need to be confident that the information received and used
by pupils has been arrived at 'deliberately' - that is as a
function of their acquisition of reflective or other subject-based
skills rather than by some accident of the World Wide Web. It
is easy to make the Virtual Economy change conditions - the
real question is how well pupils use this phenomenon in their
thinking about the impact of economics on businesses.
- You
need to be confident that the ideas are the pupil's own, or
that new ideas presented to them through the technology have
been assimilated in a way that is appropriate. Here extensive
questioning as pupils go through the process of remodelling
the economic factors is obviously important.
- You
need to be happy that both you and the pupils appreciate the
differences between presentation and content, and that the pupil
is not merely using the technology to make better-looking work
of the same standard as before. In the exercise in this case
study, it would be easy to make a re-modelling exercise look
good, without necessarily going through an effective process
of modelling.
- The
key measure of success is of course in the pupil's understanding
of the Business Studies related elements in the key objectives
of the case study. There is a danger that providing multiple
stimuli to the pupil to get him or her to recognise aspects
of economics will act as a non-reflective form of short-circuit
to understanding. Here the crucial point is to establish that
understanding has come through appropriate investigative means.
- Individual
and shared progress and achievement - often the technology will
have been used by pairs and groups, as well as by individuals.
Here you need to have a method of ensuring that credit goes
to the right pupil or pair/group for the work done or learning
achieved. With the case study, pupils worked in groups of two
or three, and this needs to be monitored carefully in practice.
- ICT
use and opportunities to assess learning. Throughout the time
you are using ICT to develop pupils' learning it is crucial
to keep an eye on where ICT allows you to intervene with an
assessment, or whether the ICT has provided you with an assessment
opportunity that you had not foreseen. The case study gave opportunities
to see how pupils performed when thinking about some fundamental
points in the relation between businesses and their context,
and careful monitoring can expose progress with ICT and with
Business Studies.
For
discussion with your mentor:
- How
may of the points made above have you seen in the course of
your work developing the case study, and are there any others
you expect to come across?
 Part
3: Evaluating the Use of ICT in Teaching and Learning
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