Usually when I do a workshop or presentation on this topic, someone in the audience says something like, “We should not base everything we do in the classroom on state assessments.” I agree. However, whatever we define as our school’s academic priorities must be something we can assess in order to see student growth. The problem with education is that we have been fuzzy in our goals and therefore we have never known if we have reached the goals or not. If your school wants “global citizens,” how do you know how the students are progressing in this wonderful goal? If your school is a 21st Century School, how does it measure the students’ growth in these skills? If your school is a character school, how do you assess and improve the students growth? If you cannot define it, you do not have it as a priority! If you cannot assess it, you do not have it as a priority!
If you cannot define exactly what the “skill” is and you cannot assess it, then you never will be able to use technology to help students reach it!
When I taught Spanish, I wanted my students to be fluid speakers. I defined this as saying at least 15 sentences about a given topic in a minute or as having a conversation in which at least five different questions were asked about a topic with the other person answering those questions. Once I defined it, I could plan how to help students achieve it. I used technology of cameras, television, images, recordings to help them be successful. I measured them frequently to determine how I could help them to be better.
How do you define the priorities within your subject area? How do you use technology to help students achieve those specific priorities?
© Harry Grover Tuttle, 2007
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Education with Technology Harry G. Tuttle 
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