Improve student learning through teacher’s decisions and technology – harry.g.tuttle at gmail
As students use Web 2.0 tools such as videoconferencing/Skype, etc. to interact with peers and experts, we need a tool to assess their learning. This digital age learning rubric focuses on expert videoconferencing.
Harry Tuttle's Web 2.0 Videoconferencing Rubric
My book, Formative Assessment: Responding to Students, is available through Eye-on-Education.
As teachers begin to have their students produce videos and share them about learning topics, teachers can benefit from having a digital age rubric that assesses the learning and not the mechanics of producing a video. Here is a Web 2.0 rubric on producing a video that focuses on 21st century skills.
Harry G. Tuttle Web 2.0 Movie/YouTube Rubric
My book, Formative Assessment: Responding to Students, is available through Eye-on-Education.
As teachers look at possible projects involving Web 2.0 tools, they can pre-assess using general 21st century skills assessments. Furthermore, they can use these general assessments during and after a learning experience.
Assessing 21st Century Skills in the Classroom Using Partnership for 21st Century concepts
Hotchalk, Jan 10 2009
According to the Partnership for the 21st Century website, the 21st century skills has four major categories: Core Subjects and 21st Century Themes; Learning and Innovation skills; Information, Media and Technology Skills; and Life and Career Skills
Learning and Innovation Skills Assessment (Use 4 (weekly) -3 (every 5 weeks) -2 (every 10 weeks)-1 (once a year) -0 (does not happen) scale
Creativity and innovation skill
____ Demonstrating originality and inventiveness in work. Example: _________________________
____ Developing, implementing and communicating new ideas to others. Example: _________________________
____ Being open and responsive to new and diverse perspectives. Example: _________________________
____ Acting on creative ideas to make a tangible and useful contribution to the domain in which the innovation occurs. Example: _________________________
Critical thinking and problem solving skills
____ Exercising sound reasoning in understanding. Example: _________________________
____ Making complex choices and decisions. Example: _________________________
____ Understanding the interconnections among systems. Example: _________________________
____ Identifying and asking significant questions that clarify various points of view and lead to better solutions. Example: _________________________
____ Framing, analyzing and synthesizing information in order to solve problems and answer questions. Example: _________________________
Communication and Collaborative Work
____ Articulating thoughts and ideas clearly and effectively through speaking and writing. Example: _________________________
____ Demonstrating ability to work effectively with diverse teams. Example: _________________________
____ Exercising flexibility and willingness to be helpful in making necessary compromises to accomplish a common goal. Example: _________________________
____ Assuming shared responsibility for collaborative work. Example: _________________________
My book, Formative Assessment: Responding to Students, is available through Eye-on-Education.
Several years ago, enGauge published its 21st Century Skills list. This collection provides the basis for assessing any Web 2.0 tool-based project.
Harry G. Tuttle's Web 2.0 Assessing using enGauge's 21st Century Skills
My book, Formative Assessment: Responding to Students, is available through Eye-on-Education.
Marc Prensky offers his ideas on 21st Century skills which I’ve converted into an assessment tool.
Harry G Tuttle Web 2.0 Marc Prensky's 21st Century Skills
My book, Formative Assessment: Responding to Students, is available through Eye-on-Education.
Another thought about putting plastic on windows to insulate the window. After putting the tape on the window and putting the plastic over the tape, the last step is to apply heat. The heat forces the plastic to attach itself more firmly and tightly to the tape. It changes the loosely fitting plastic to very tight and firm plastic.
How often do we apply heat to our student’s learning after they have had some basic instruction and practice? Do we present them with a challenging task that causes them to apply their learning to a high degree? Do we have them think at the analysis, synthesis or evaluation levels? Do we have them take their “book” learning and apply it to real life? Do we have them evaluate present conditions based on past ones? Do we apply heat to their learning?
How do you apply the heat to your students’ learning?
For any one who is interested in implementing formative assessment in the classroom, my book,
Formative Assessment: Responding to Students is available through Eye-on-Education.
How do we change our curriculums from memorization of facts to higher level thinking curriculums?
One way is to ask questions that require our students to compare and contrast. How is the American Revolution like the French Revolution? How is it different? How does the Spanish present tense compare to the Future tense?
Another way is to ask questions that ask our students to explain the consequences of some act. For example, Science classes can explore the implications of every American home using five compact bulbs on the energy use for the nation.
In a third technique students evaluate a situation. Which of these solutions is better and why? Math students can figure out which of three loans will be a better financial deal and explanation their reasoning.
Students will still know the basic but more important, they will be able to use the basic information in higher level thinking.
How do you cause you students to engage in higher level thinking?
Web 2.0 apps are called social networking. They build on people to people exchanges. However, I wonder what we evaluate in the Web 2.0 apps. Do we measure how much students learn academically? Do we measure how much they share that truly helps another student to grow academically? Social learning is a critical part of the learning process if we structure it as students coming together to learn from each other or learning together. The social is more the medium than the purpose. How do you evaluate your students Web 2.0 learning?
I recently gave a quiz on a textbook chapter; they had done six exercises applying the ideas in the chapter. The ten item quiz had application and evaluation questions; I had taken the questions from the book’s test bank.
As each student came up with the quiz, I corrected it. Next I asked the students to reread the question and tell me their thinking for their answer. However, about 3/4 of the “wrong” answers were not “wrong” if you explored the students’ thinking. In one question, the book had the correct answer as the four steps in the negative message, a student reasoned that it was more important to think about your negative message first and then plan your four steps around it. I agreed with him. In another question, a student said that a certain positive word in one of the answers might go against the negative bad news so she selected another answer. Good thinking.
I was overwhelmed by how thoughtful they were in their thinking. They were “right”!
At the start of the semester, I asked my 40+ college students to write down what they think of when they think of writing a paragraph. Then they formed small groups and combined their answers. What do you think were the top three answers?
Scroll down to find out.
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Spelling, grammar, and punctuation.
Every group came up with these three answers. These deal with the mechanics of writing, but not the content.
Only half of the groups came up with main idea.
No group listed pre-write or brainstorming. Nothing for revising . So much for the famous writing process.
The more we know about what our students think about a process, the more we can help them.
I saw a snow covered boat being towed up north into the snow belt of Central New York. I wondered about the logic. Maybe the driver is looking forward to the summer.
Many teachers evaluate what they do in a unit at the end of the unit. They decide what they could do better the next year they will teach that unit. They may decide to make changes in an upcoming unit based on some new information they have on the students’ strengths and learning gaps.
How often do teachers evaluate during the unit and make changes within the unit to provide students with formative feedback so that the students can improve in this present unit? Waiting until next year (summer for the boat) to make changes does not benefit this year’s students. If students are to learn the goal, then teachers need to evaluate (formative assess) what is happening frequently in the class and constantly give formative feedback for the direct improvement of students. Students may sink without our present help. Summer will be too late! Let’s give students daily or at least every other day feedback that moves them forward in their learning in this present unit. They can sail forward with our daily formative feedback and bask in their learning.
Education with Technology