Technology Assessments

The purpose of technological assessment of educators and students is to make improvements in leadership skills and to help guide students toward important learning goals.   There can be no improvement of a skill or progress toward goals when there is no assessment accompanying that journey.  To that end, simply put, educators and students need technological assessments in order to find out if we're on the "right track."  Well-designed educator and student technology assessments will guide instruction and learning toward a set of goals, just as rails keep a train on its track toward its destination.

One of the pros of a technology assessment is to identify needs and determine the current skill levels of educators and students.  Without the pre-assessment of student ability, before the learning activity takes place, for instance, educators have no benchmark to guide their curriculum planning.  Conversely, waiting until the end of a learning activity to assess in a summative manner leaves no room to alter teaching techniques during learning.  Hence, after initial student needs are assessed, formative assessments should be done throughout the learning process to provide educators with feedback and to guide them on their journey of implementation of technology as a means of facilitating learning. This part of the assessment process is important because it is done during instruction and, therefore, affords the educator time for re-structuring the lesson and/or re-directing instruction, dependent upon the progress or lack thereof of the student.

Similarly, one of the pros of technology pre-assessment of educators is to provide feedback regarding skill levels, in terms of both strengths and limitations.  When an educator is aware of his skill level and of his ability to both use and teach technology, he is empowered with the knowledge of where to begin an activity, how to measure its effectiveness along the teaching and learning path, and how to use the results to determine when and where improvements and/or adjustments need to be made.  Armed with this knowledge about herself, an educator is ready to assess how students learn best and whether or not the teaching methodologies employed are effective and will result in a successful learning experience on the part of students, which is the goal of all assessments.

One con of technology assessment is its futile value in a technology-poor environment.  Assessing skills in the realm of technology does little in the way of guiding instruction and learning if the tools are simply not available due to lack of funds.  Another con of technology assessment has its roots in the complexity of integrating technology into the curriculum.  If there is an overall lack of leadership or lack of shared vision on the part of school leaders, assessment of technological ability in and of itself will not provide a path to follow.  Once technology skills are assessed, there must be support, leadership and a shared vision by all professionals involved, in order to give purpose and direction to the evaluation and ensuing teaching and learning path to follow.

The perceived need for technology in education may not be easily assessed in students if they had either a negative prior technology-based learning experience or none at all.  Without this scaffolding in place to base one's opinion on, students may not see the need for technology relative to their education and their eventual employment in a digital-age society.  Therefore, lack of prior experience can skew the results of an assessment.  Lack of a prior positive experience with technology, assuming some educational technology was used, is evidence of poor leadership skills on the part of the previous educator.  This underscores the desperate need for highly-qualified leaders and teachers in the field of technology who are capable of leading students by modeling and facilitating.  A positive learning experience with technology is achieved by allowing students to discover and chart their own learning path as they receive guidance, and formative assessments along the way, by a leader who will keep them on the "right track."