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
the 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. This
is especially true of quantitative data in this case study,
and of data on the web from any of the related vocational areas
we have mentioned.
- 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, with pupils
working in groups on a single data management task, you will
need to ensure that monitoring and questioning gives you access
to reliable assessment information.
- 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. This is especially true of this
case study activity, where making things look different is less
important than managing the information, which is in turn less
important than understanding how to extend the data management
techniques to other Key and Vocational Skill areas.
- The
key measure of success is of course in the pupil's understanding
of the Key Skill Communication related elements in the key objectives
of the case study. There is a danger that providing multiple
stimuli or varieties of information source to the pupil to get
him or her to understand comparisons 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 - this is why the case study does not include
all possible web sites for the vocational areas. It will be
the pupils' job to find those needed for their own areas.
- 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.
- 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 building of the spreadsheet
from data found on the web is an obvious example of this, but
so is observing a pupil make intelligent decisions about the
worth of any World Wide Web site or a resource supplied with
this case study.
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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