Beatriz Elena Veliz-Lopez

http://beavelizlopez.weebly.com
April 14, 2015
Lindsay EmBree

Introduction
Using technology to assess students learning in an informal and formal instruction and
assessments are becoming more popular in todays classroom settings. Assessment is the use of
a variety of procedures to collect information about learning and instruction. Formative and
summative assessment represent two classifications of assessment, each with a distinct purpose
(Johnson and Jenkins, 2009). It is very important to have a clear understanding of what the
teacher wants to assess and expect from the students. Some of the ways to utilize software to
support assessment are to use common core, state standards and research based instruction, it
gives insight to the students knowledge of a content area and fast and engaging questions to
assess student learning.
Technology to Facilitate Ongoing Efforts to Assess Student Learning
Teachers can utilize technology to facilitate ongoing efforts to assess student learning by
implementing the use of formative and summative assessment tools. There are many different
programs available, several at no cost, for teachers to use. The ability to assess and monitor their
students through technology, allows teachers to analyze the student learning to prepare other
means for success in the subject where students are lacking, go forth in the lesson should
understanding be reached or create more advanced subject teaching challenging the students.
Then, this data can be used to determine students needs on the spot, deliver necessary
interventions, and provide enrichment opportunities to students who have mastered the content
(Gunter & Gunter 2011). It is important for teaching, to give assessments early on before or in
the beginning of a starting a new topic; and to give plenty of notice to the students for them to
prepare. By using appropriate software to aid in the assessment process, teachers can easily

collect the data needed with little or no work on their part. It is also very important for teachers
to be properly trained on how to use the software correctly so that they get the optimal results.
Net Support School: Teachers can use this software to assess student learning because
it is built around current teaching practices for the continual assessment of learning (Net
Support Limited, 2015). Students will use this program to keep track of all that was taught in
class. The teacher can input the information she or he teaches, such as, lesson plans, screen
shots, class survey results, websites used during the lesson and copies of class chats. Teachers
can also implement student surveys to find out if students have understood the content
discussed in class. This is also a great resource to use for formative and summative assessment
that can be built by the teacher, pre and post lesson.
BrainPop: Teachers can use BrainPop to create curriculum-based content that supports
them and engages students. This program has other resources like quizzes, games, activity
pages and more coving many topic within Math, Science, Social Studies, English, Technology,
Art & Music and Health. BrainPop contents are aligned to and searchable by state standards
including Common Core.
Teachers can also use BrainPop to create pre quizzes to analyze where the students
knowledge of the lesson subject is at, then teach from that point of content. Then apply the quiz
after to analyze how much was learned or not learned and what needs to be re-taught. BrainPop
can be used as both a formative and or a summative assessment as the teacher deems best for
the students.
Prentice Hall Writing Coach: In Success Net Plus (https://www.successnetplus.com/)
you will locate Prentice Hall Writing Coach Program. This resource uses digital tools to help
students improve in their learning skills with digital feedback and instruction to become

successful writers. Teachers can search for certain skills or information in which the students can
be assessed for content knowledge in proper writing. Teachers can also managing classroom
instruction, customize program content, assigning student work, and track student progress with
a gradebook and reports. This can be used both as a formative and summative assessment. It can
be set up to give a pre and post lesson assessment to see the extent of content understanding, to
be used as a teacher guide of where to being with the lesson using this a summative assessing.
But it can have formative quizzes during the lesson to track the understanding of the material as
the lesson progresses. It is easy to set up and set up for grade level application from 3rd to 8th
grade.
(Formative and Summative Assessments)
Formative assessments help teachers to see where there students are at in their academics.
This assessment helps teachers know where they might need to adjust lesson plans and activities
to accommodate students in the areas where the students lack of understanding on the subject
less is at. This kind of test does not really have any value. It might be just a simple task of
identifying key points in a simple math problem or short story to see if students are
understanding the material. Summative assessments evaluate students work after the lesson has
been taught.
Questbase can be used for either formative or summative assessments. Teachers can use
online polls for formative assessment and have students create podcast for all of the research that
they learned about for a certain topic.
(Pros and Cons of using Technology to Facilitate Assessment)
List of pros and cons will always exist with anything that is introduced but even more so
in the education field. Since using technology to analyze data is becoming more common there

are bound to be benefits and faults in the teaching and or learning process. One of the pros that a
teachers might encounter in using technology to facilitate assessment of student learning is that it
helps to clarify marking criteria. By using a learner response system, educators are able to
create lesson assessment ahead of time or ask ad-hoc questions as the lesson progress
formatively assess where students are in the learning process. (Gunter & Gunter 2011). Another
pro is it makes it easier for teachers to all collaborate to assess students and students become
more engaged in the learning process, by enabling diverse assessment methods to be
implemented, supporting active learning, allowing more frequent formative assessment and by
extension promoting deeper learning and improvement (University
Of Reading, 2011).
One of the cons that teachers can come across in using technology to facilitate assessment
of student learning is if the internet is down or the program stops working. Another con is the
financial costs to run the assessment program. Then there is the con of teachers bearing more of a
workload and students feeling isolated If a shift to online assessment results in a reduction in
contact time or face-to-face interaction with other students, it might result in students feeling a
sense of isolation (University of Reading, 2011).
(Should a teacher only use technology to assess student learning? Why or why not?)
Teachers should not only use technology to assess student learning. There are multiple
ways to assess learning and that can be done through oral presentations and or reports.
Integrating diverse activities. may be easier for instructors and may result in better learning
outcomes for students. (Leopard 2012). Creating hands on projects such as a diagram to show
what the students have learned. Students could also produce step by step charts reflecting the
material covered as a formative assessment along the way.

What is the importance of assessment technology in connection with the ISTE standards?
The importance of assessment technology in connection with the ISTE standards is great.
Teachers can provide students with multiple and varied formative and summative assessments
aligned with content and technology standards, and use resulting data to inform learning and
teaching (ISTE, 2014). Teachers will use the data collected to build their lessons around and be
able to have more in depth assignments and lessons that the students need more help in.
Students can also benefit from using assessment technology. Students can, evaluate and
select information sources and digital tools based on the appropriateness to specific tasks (ISTE,
2014). After they have completed formative assessments they can benefit from using technology
to guide them in the correct direction in areas that they are struggling in.
Concluding Paragraph for Software to Support Assessment
In conclusion assessment technology is very useful, teacher friendly and more important
to me student success. I have seen where students are assessed till they are burned out and have
no inspiration to want to study. But with technology assessing and quick result data, I believe
students attitude toward assessing will be more positive. I also believe the more assessing with
technology friendly programs like Net Support School, BrainPop and Parent Hall Writing Coach,
teachers will become less stressed and more positive with time management friendly days. With
student success being the highly qualified teacher money incentive, I believe more teachers will
find it easier, and faster to have success within their classrooms with fast data analysis programs
and helpful tools on the internet monitoring their students content retention of the subject
material. Having results within seconds of grading assessments I think makes it easier for
teachers to re-teach the area of difficulty on same day or next day lesson, enabling them to move
along with a lesson knowing their students have a clear understanding of the objective being

presented. I as a future teacher would feel better moving forward knowing my students learned
what is needed to move on with the curriculum and having standard/common core mastery.
Would you like moving forward with some or all students understanding the current lesson
before starting the next one?

References

Gunter, Glenda A., Randolph E. Gunter (2011). Teachers Discovering Computers: Integrating
Technology in a Changing World (8th ed.) (pp. 378)

ISTE Standards for Students. (2014, January 1). Retrieved April 15, 2015, from
http://www.iste.org/standards/standards-for-students
ISTE Standards for Teachers. (2014, January 1). Retrieved April 15, 2015, from
http://www.iste.org/standards/standards-for-teachers
Johnson, E., & Jenkins, J. (2009, December 23). Formative and Summative Assessment.
Retrieved April 16, 2015, from
http://www.education.com/reference/article/formative-

and-summative-assessment/

Leopold, L. (2012). Prewriting Tasks for Auditory, Visual, and Kinesthetic Learners. TESL
Canada Journal, 29(2), 96-102.
Net Support Limited. Test and Assess. (2015, January 1). Retrieved April 15, 2015, from
http://www.netsupportschool.com/assess.asp