Assessment: Process/Content/Design/Critique: Generative and Dynamic Evaluation in a

Digital World

Author(s): Robert J. Tierney and Theresa Rogers

Source: The Reading Teacher, Vol. 58, No. 2 (Oct., 2004), pp. 218-221

Published by: Wiley on behalf of the International Reading Association

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I 1 Process/content/design/critique: ___#^w M Genera*'ve and dynamic evaluation ^^r ? jn a digital world

Robert J. Tierney, Theresa Rogers

Our everyday lives have changed dramatically as digital technologies alter how and with whom we spend our time and how we communicate in our workplaces, communities, homes, and schools. E mail, Web searches, online conversations, blogs and e-diaries, digitally based media, online ex changes (of finances, photographs, music, and video), and Web homepages influence our daily interaction. As a consequence, our notions of liter acy and the range of literacy practices in our class rooms are constantly expanding and transforming with these new technologies.

Advocates of "new literacies" and "multilitera

cies" call for pedagogies that account for and help children become competent users of the burgeon ing varieties of text forms associated with infor

mation and multimedia technologies (e.g., New London Group, 1996). While schools may not yet be as well equipped as some homes, a growing number of schools are beginning to support the in tegration of these digital-based literacies in student learning and engagements. Emerging technologies afford new linked, online, and multimedia-based ways to interact and explore the world. However, these new literacies also represent digital and on line extensions of rich multimedia engagements students have had for generations. For example, curriculum models that allow for collaboratively based multimedia engagement, such as the Reggio Emilia, and other integrated curriculum initiatives have offered nondigital variations of these same possibilities (see Edwards, Gandini, & Forman, 1998). Consider the following three vignettes of classroom literacy involving new technologies and curricular goals.

Vignette 1: Getting to know someone

A grade 4 teacher and a teacher-librarian worked collaboratively with students to create a multimedia project on poetry. To begin, the stu dents were immersed in poetry. Their teachers read and dramatized poems and talked about character istics of the different forms of poetry. Students were then divided into two smaller groups, one us ing computers to learn the software needed for the project and the other to do choral readings of po ems for two voices. The choral readings were taped using a digital video camera and then edited using video editing software. Students also wrote poems; they illustrated them with crayons and pencils and used a word-processing program to publish them.

As a cumulative activity, the class collabora tively wrote a poem entitled "We Know Someone" and videotaped and edited a performance of it. Finally, all the pieces were pulled together using the video editing software. The project resulted in a multimedia video that included video clips, voice overs, background music, titles, and transitions. Once their work was complete, the students had an opportunity to share it, giving families a chance to see the diversity of the students in the class and how hard they worked together (from Pahl & Rowsell, in press).

Vignette 2: Peer pressure Youth were provided an opportunity to create

multimedia projects as part of the curriculum of an alternative literacy program. Two First Nations

?a 218 ? 2004 International Reading Association (pp. 218-221) doi:10.1598/RT.58.2.10

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(Native American) girls developed a video on the peer pressures they face. They decided to use pho tographs of their lives along with critical questions and statements. As photographs of the girls and their friends in various social situations fade in and

out, the written text appears with voice-overs from the girls and includes questions such as "Why do you dress the way you do?" and "Why do you act the way you do?" They close their video with the statement "Above all, be true to yourself." The James Horner composition from the film sound track of A Beautiful Mind (Howard, 2002) provides cohesion to the piece, integrating the music, voice, text, and images into a powerful statement about their lives. They are now in the process of posting the project on a secure website (Rogers & Schofield, in press).

Vignette 3: Imperial China Students were engaged in a multimedia project

that coincided with a museum exhibit of artifacts

dating back to China's earliest emperors. The stu dents were encouraged to explore various facets of life in China during early imperial dynasties. They

were also given access to the exhibit and related re sources, including experts on that period, videos, laser disks, photos, and print materials. The stu dents grouped themselves around common interests and, in the context of Web searches, began gather ing resources by reading books and pamphlets, scan ning photographs, and interviewing experts. Each project became a multimedia composite, involving development and capture of conversations, observa tions, scanned images, and video clips, and provided firsthand experiences of the cultural life of Imperial China (Tierney & Damarin, 1998).

Interacting with new literacies As students interact with these new literacies, we

must think anew about assessing, responding, and supporting them. What assessment criteria and prac tices might capture and support the richness of the processes and products in these vignettes? Consider vignette 2, part of a multimedia project in which youth integrated literature, creative writing, visual art,

and digital video (Rogers & Schofield, in press). An assessment rubric was developed that emphasized

the genesis of the projects, including biogra phical, imaginative sources of storytelling;

the integration and transformations of texts across media and genres;

the flexible use of various print and media tools; the links across students' out-of-school litera

cies (including cultural resources) and their in-school literacies; and

reflections in the form of "artist statements,"

including the ability to create and critique their

own and others' imaginative representations.

The criteria were developed and refined in the context of classroom conversations with students and were in addition to evaluations of the students'

ability to work together to achieve their goals. Listen in to one evaluation conversation with one

of the girls as she talked about her project: "We wanted to create something that could help people; all the kids seemed to be going through this." What texts and tools did you use and how? "We used a storyboard and knew what images we wanted to use, and then we learned how to put it together us ing [the editing software]." How did the film con nect your life in and out of school? "It was an opportunity I fell in love with. I could voice my own

opinion." What did you take away from the experi ence? "I learned I don't have to be bothered by peer pressure.... But my next film will be more autobio

graphical and address issues culturally, because people see First Nations people as drinkers, disrup tive, getting pregnant...but there are people like me who have direction." The teachers then encouraged this student to further develop her cultural voice and

media skills by creating her own video. With the help of students, the teachers and col

laborators participating in the Imperial China proj ect (vignette 3) used a combination of approaches: (a) digital working portfolios as depositories for students' plans, research material, early drafts, and various clips; (b) show-and-tell discussions stem ming from sharing their projects and describing their process; and (c) self-assessment that includ

ed narratives and rubrics based upon looking at their work through a variety of lenses. These in cluded the following.

Assessment 219

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Project development: selecting and using re sources, designing the projects, and recursive

goal setting. For instance, students discussed what they wanted to do as they directed team members to materials on the Internet and to

books and images and suggested how they might interact with one another. They addressed content and resources in terms of relevance and

the ways images and text might be juxtaposed

or linked in a hypermedia environment.

Collaboration: how students worked together

to shape the project, and what they individual

ly and collectively negotiated and contributed.

We considered how students were socially po

sitioned and how that helped them to explore,

develop, or establish expertise.

Products: what was presented and how the in

formation was integrated in the multimedia environment. We were especially interested in the juxtapositioning and complementary nature of the media.

Self-critique: in terms of content knowledge and literacy learning. In particular, we want ed to know what students learned about

China and how they improved their literacy

range and expertise through their engagement

with the project.

The integration of print and multimedia tech nologies illustrated in these vignettes provides stu dents with opportunities to integrate multiple literacies for a variety of purposes. We define litera cy as "the flexible and sustainable mastery of a reper

toire of practices with the texts of traditional and new

communication technologies via spoken, print and multimedia" (Education Queensland, 2000a, p. 9). More broadly, these digital technologies "enable stu dents to become: capable information technology users; information seekers, analyzers and evaluators;

problem solvers and decision makers; creative and ef

fective users of production tools; communicators, collaborators, publishers and producers; and, in formed, responsible, and contributing citizens" (International Society for Technology in Education, 2002, p. 4).

These examples of assessment criteria reflect the lenses and approaches we are beginning to use, and they include assessing the interrelated and re cursive aspects of process, content, design, and cri tique. Evaluating multimedia projects is difficult.

We need to develop criteria that support the dy namic, creative, and even edgy work students pro duce. Each digital project requires unique criteria developed in the context of evolving (rather than existing) examples. Multiple lenses help make us attentive to what the new technologies and the stu dents are teaching us.

We see the main goal of evaluation as promot ing productive ongoing conversations (Johnston, 2003). We expect any learning initiatives enlisting new technologies to expand conversations among teachers and students about plans, progress, and fu ture directions, along with support for the advance

ment of students' strategies. As changes take place at "breakneck speed" (International Reading Association, 2001), assessment must be dynamic and generative or risk limiting students' develop ment. We recommend assessment approaches that emerge from, rather than supersede or constrain, classroom-learning possibilities. Finally, we rec ommend dynamic assessment tools, such as elec tronic portfolios and homepages, which can serve three purposes: as construction zones where plans, resources, and learning pursuits are housed; as a space where products can be archived and cri tiqued; and as a vehicle for communication among schools, students, and families.

Tierney teaches at the University of British Columbia (2125 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada). Rogers teaches at the same University.

References Education Queensland. (2000a). Literate futures: Report of

the literacy review for Queensland state schools. Brisbane, OLD, Australia: Author.

Education Queensland. (2000b). New basics-Curriculum or ganizers. Brisbane, QLD, Australia: Author.

Edwards, C, Gandini, L, & Forman, G. (Eds.). (1998). The hun

dred languages of children: The Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education. Norwood, N J: Ablex.

Howard, R. (2002). A beautiful mind[Motion picture]. United States: Universal Studios.

220 The Reading Teacher Vol. 58, No. 2 October 2004

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International Reading Association. (2001). Integrating liter acy and technology in the curriculum. Newark, DE: Author.

International Society for Technology in Education. (2002). National educational technology standards for teachers Preparing teachers to use technology. Eugene, OR: Author.

Johnston, P. (2003). Assessment conversations. The Reading Teacher, 57,90-95.

New London Group. (1996). A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Designing social futures. Harvard Educational Review, 66(1), 60-92.

Pahl, K., & Rowsell, J. (in press). Understanding literacy ed ucation: Using new literacy studies in the elementary classroom. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Rogers, T., & Schofield, A. (in press). Things thicker than words. Portraits of multiple literacies in an alternative secondary program. In J. Anderson, M. Kendrick, T. Rogers, & S. Smythe (Eds.), Portraits of literacy across families, communities and schools: Tensions and inter sections. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Tierney, R.J., & Damarin, S. (1998). Technology as enfran chisement and cultural development: Crisscrossing symbol systems, paradigm shifts, and social-cultural considerations. In D. Reinking, M.C. McKenna, LD. Labbo, & R.D. Kieffer (Eds.), Handbook of literacy and technolo gy: Transformations in a post-typographic world (pp. 253-268). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

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/-\ The department editor welcomes reader comments. E-mail pjohnston@uamail.Albany.edu or write to Peter

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