Technology Assessment:

Issues Involved in Assessing Foundational Literacies

“The great urgency is for “technology literacy,” the need for students to see how society is being reshaped by our inventions…. The challenge is not [just] learning how to use the latest piece of hardware, but asking when and why it should be used.”

(Boyer, 1983, cited in “Technology for All Americans,” ITEA)

“Unless all citizens are helped to develop

technological literacy, many people will be

left feeling they are victims of technology

rather than beneficiaries.”

(Pucel, “Developing Technological Literacy,” The Technology Teacher, 1995)

What do I want students to learn and understand?

Ohio’s K-12 Technology Standards

1. Nature of Technology

2. Technology and Society Interaction

3. Technology for Productivity Applications

4. Technology and Communications Applications

5. Technology and Information Literacy

6. Design

7. Designed World

Three Foundational Literacies

Dimensions of Foundational Literacies

Knowledge Capabilities Critical Thinking and

DecisionMaking

Nature of Technology

Technologyand SocietyInteraction

Design

Designed World

Adapted from “Tech Tally: Approaches to Assessing Technological Literacy”

Defining Technological Literacy

How will I assess student learning?

Knowledge Capabilities Critical Thinking and

DecisionMaking

Nature of Technology

Technologyand SocietyInteraction

Design

Designed World

Adapted from “Tech Tally: Approaches to Assessing Technological Literacy”

Developing a Conceptual Framework

Remember

Understand

Apply Analyze Evaluate Create

Factual

Conceptual

Procedural

Meta-cognitive

Blooms’ Revised Taxonomy, Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001

Developing a Conceptual Framework

Dimensions of Foundational Literacies

‘…understanding somehow goes beyond possession [of knowledge]. The person who understands is capable of “going beyond the information given”…. When we understand something, we not only possess certain information about it but are enabled to do certain things with that knowledge.’

David Perkins, “Smart Schools: From Training Memories to Educating Minds”

Qualities of Authentic Assessment

• Nature of task and its context is relevant to learner. It represents “real world” problems or issues.

• Demonstration of knowledge within the context of a learning situation that involves active, purposeful deployment of understandings and skills.

• Allows assessment of what students can do, what they know, and how well they know it.

Types of Authentic Assessment• Portfolio

• Design Brief

• Journal/ Log/ Blog

• Debate/ Group Forum/ Town Hall Meeting

• Presentations/Digital Stories

• Modeling/ Prototyping

Aligning Assessment Methods with Assessment Purposes

-Design Brief-Portfolio-Self/Peer Assessment-Journal/Log

-Open-ended questioning-Concept-mapping-Interview-Debate

Adapted from Daniel Engstrom, The Technology Teacher, December/January 2005

Defining Assessment Criteria

• Clear assessment criteria that describe task expectations

• Criteria that students can use to monitor their own progress

• Criteria of the process itself not just the quality of the final product

Fluency

People fluent with the foundational technology literacies are able to continually apply what they know to adapt to change and acquire more knowledge to be more effective in their work and personal lives.

Adapted from “Tech Tally: Approaches to Assessing Technological Literacy” and “Being Fluent with Information Technology”