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Eric Kattwinkel

U.S. Plans Major Changes in How Students Are Tested - NYTimes.com - 2 views

  • The use of smarter technology in assessments,” Mr. Duncan said, “makes it possible to assess students by asking them to design products of experiments, to manipulate parameters, run tests and record data.
  • not only end-of-year tests similar to those in use now but also formative tests that teachers will administer several times a year to help guide instruction
  • In performance-based tasks, which are increasingly common in tests administered by the military and in other fields, students are given a problem — they could be told, for example, to pretend they are a mayor who needs to reduce a city’s pollution — and must sift through a portfolio of tools and write analytically about how they would use them to solve the problem.
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    $330 million given to 44 states to design new computer-based assessments that will "measure higher-order skills...including students' ability to read complex texts, synthesize information and do research projects."
Amanda Bowen

How Khan Academy Is Changing the Rules of Education | Magazine - 3 views

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    One teacher claims that "The idea is to invert the normal rhythms of school, so that lectures are viewed on the kids' own time and homework is done at school." - Do you agree that this is a good solution? 
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    That is the way a couple of my colleagues (science and math) use Khan and they feel it creates more opportunity to use them as a resource for their specific needs. The spend some time at the beginning of class to answer questions as a group and then students begin working on problems and asking for individual help during class.
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    I think the idea of distributing video tutorials and courseware for free is a powerful lever for change and education (Khan Academy, MIT OpenCourseWare, etc). While I'm intrigued by Khan Academy and see the benefit to help student who want to pause and replay lessons, there is a limit to it's use as an educational tool. In the article linked below, the Los Altos district currently piloting the program noted that they have not seen any statistical difference between Khan students and the control group. http://losaltos.patch.com/articles/school-district-expands-khan-academy-to-all-schools
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    I too am intrigued by this "inverting" of time spent in the classroom and at home. My idealized model would be to introduce learners to new material at their own pace out of the classroom (allowing for pausing, note taking, reflecting and/or rewinding) and focus classroom time on face to face guiding and coaching of clusters of students or individual students engaged in applying or exploring the current material. To help facilitate this (and assist with accountability) some brief form of pre-assessment before class or at the start of class could illuminate for student and teacher alike what material has been mastered and what needs more attention. The research report from the TIE Foundations summer reading appears to support this type of hybrid approach. => Marsha Lovett, Oded Meyer, and Candace Thille (2008). The Open Learning Initiative: Measuring the effectiveness of the OLI statistics course in accelerating student learning.
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    An added benefit of tools such as Khan Academy is the option for reinforcement. In a traditional K-12 school environment students do not have the option to watch a video of their class or spend personalized time reviewing a concept they need more time with during class time due to the required pace of school curriculum. An online learning tool allows a student to watch a lesson as many times as needed and to learn from an expert. Often if a student needs help outside the classroom the only people they turn to is parents, who may or may not know about the content themselves.
Erin Connors

Colleges Awakening to the Opportunities of Data Mining - 0 views

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    Arizona State University is using data mining to collect information on their students and help guide them to the "most appropriate major". also, in class, using data collection methods, teachers collect information to be used in assessment Ex: "Ms. Galayda can monitor their progress. In her cubicle on a recent Monday, she sees the intimacies of students' study routines - or lack of them - from the last activity they worked on to how many tries they made at each end-of-lesson quiz. For one crammer, the system registers 57 attempts on multiple quizzes in seven days. Pulling back to the big picture, a chart shows 15 students falling behind (in red) and 17 on schedule (in green)."
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    wow this is kind of bothersome on some levels and kinda amazing on other levels. While I can see the benefit of understanding where and how a student is more likely to succeed, I think there are some potential dangers with such a system. There is the what I would imagine the psychological effect of such a program and I am thinking particularly about STEM fields where women are already way under-represented and often self conscious about their performance, do you really also need a system telling you you shouldn't be majoring in that as well cause you're not performing at that point....or what about a student who really wants to be an engineer but maybe hasn't been fully prepared with the appropriate math courses in high school, would he or she be filtered into another major? I understand using such a system as a means to target help for example if a student could get an assessment of where they currently are, where they want to go and how to get there....
Jennifer Hern

NAEP Studies - Achievement Gaps - 0 views

  • White students, however, had higher scores than Black students, on average, on all assessments.
  • While the nationwide gaps in 2007 were narrower than in previous assessments at both grades 4 and 8 in mathematics and at grade 4 in reading, White students had average scores at least 26 points higher than Black students in each subject, on a 0-500 scale
  • At the state level, gaps in grade 4 reading existed in 2007 in the 44 states for which results were available. Gaps narrowed from 1992 to 2007 in Delaware, Florida, and New Jersey, due to larger increases in Black students’ scores.
Maung Nyeu

http://www.kansascity.com/2011/11/22/3281924/high-tech-tools-click-for-learning.html - 2 views

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    Karen Cator, director of education technology with the U.S. Department of Education touts keystroke-sensitive algorithms are capable of guiding students for learning, accessible to teachers, parents and the students. "Education technology, as in the gaming world, has the ability to assess performance every step of the way, comparing students to classmates across schools, districts, states and the world, with immediate feedback and direction. No final exam necessary."
Katherine Tarulli

Study Shows the Effectiveness of Conceptual Learning in Math among Middle School Students - 1 views

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    This article details the findings of a recent study of 6th, 7th and 8th graders in Arizona that found that the students that used a new math and science curriculum called Adaptive Curriculum scored higher on post-tests and assessments than students with the traditional curriculum. The new treatment teaches conceptual understanding of math through content and technology, and emphasizes real-world, informal applications of math and science. 
Malik Hussain

One Man, One Computer, 10 Million Students: How Khan Academy Is Reinventing Education -... - 3 views

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    Interesting Forbes article about Sal Khan's journey. Mentions his recently published book "The One World Schoolhouse".  Highlights of his views reported in the article: "Khan would like to re-create the once common mixed-age classrooms that he believes encourage older kids to take responsibility for younger ones. He wants multiteacher classrooms to provide students with different perspectives. He would abolish summer vacation.... And he would eliminate letter grades altogether, preferring a more qualitative approach to assessment..."
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    Thanks for sharing Malik. Sal has done some nice work, and I'm wondering whether his mode of instruction can be used in other subject areas especially the arts and music. I'm guessing that it can, but his assessment mode would need to change from MCQs to something more qualitative.
Chris Johnson

(Article) Useless online student quizzes - 1 views

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    Article reviews a study discussing the actual effects of online quizzes on student performance. "However, Steenhuis and colleagues have found that this approach does not necessarily work and despite the fact that students perceive such quizzes as helpful, they may not be as useful to learning as both students and educators believe."
James Glanville

No Reason to Fear the Common Core Standards - Inside the School - Inside the School - 1 views

  • was recently at a conference led by Reeves and he mentioned that we must shift our emphasis in this regard and recommended a 90/10 plan: 90% formative assessment and 10% summative assessment.
    • James Glanville
       
      Key to common core standards is assessment, especially formative assessments to help guide students in mastering common core standards.    This is an area where I believe that technology can help in the classroom.
Matt Riecken

Redefining Learning Through Screencasting | Edutopia - 2 views

  • in the classrooms where I have been conducting research on student screencasting, one of the most remarkable and consistent unintended outcomes was that students, no matter how young or old, and no matter what discipline, intrinsically reflected, self-­assessed, and adjusted their articulation of understanding. Even when the screencasts were being made for an audience of zero, this phenomenon occurred. None of the teachers involved in the study ever instructed students to play back their screencasts or make revisions. The students just did it.
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    This is a very interesting use of tablets in the classroom. Students are using iPads to create 'Screencasts' that allow the them to create a kind of 'tutorial' using a mixture of elements (audio, images, drawing and text) to showcase what they have learned.
Chris Dede

Technology Is Changing How Students Learn, Teachers Say - NYTimes.com - 2 views

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    The important thing is not the use of technology, but the new types of content, pedagogy, assessment...
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    I just logged on to post the same article! The interesting perspective that I got from the article was that the teachers continued to harp on this idea that in order to retain student's attention they needed to constantly "tap-dance" for their class. Instead of learning from this attention shift, teachers are becoming annoyed by it. Use the technology to give the responsibility of engagement to the students and only wear the tap shoes when necessary to facilitate a deeper understanding etc.
Maung Nyeu

12/21/2011 - Higher Education Commission Launches Online Learning - Student Scene - Cha... - 3 views

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    Online courses are not students only, they are for teachers too. Tennessee offers free online courses to help educators maximize their knowledge of balanced assessment systems, including formative instructional practices, value-added progress measures and effective strategies to improve teaching and learning. Since Fall 2010, more than 270,000 courses have been completed throughout Tennessee by 42,000 educators.
Diana Mazzuca

The Problem with Lecturing - 13 views

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    An example of student preconceived notions preventing them from learning scientific concepts.
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    Interesting article. Dockterman speaks of Mazur all the time and it's nice to see the background.
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    Great find. It touches on two topics I'm pursuing this semester- conceptual change and how formative assessments can improve learning. Eric Mazur's approach is fantastic. I wonder how what he does can be applied to K-12 teaching.
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    http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=lBYrKPoVFwg This is a video of Professor Mazur using this strategy. I'm currently taking a class where the professor uses a similar type of engagement method and I find that it is much more interesting and results in deeper understanding than a typical lecture method.
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    Ayelet, I curious what class / professor.
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    Merseth. Do you agree with this characterization? Do you find that style effective?
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    Thanks, Diana. I can use this article in two of my other classes.
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    Great video - key quote "You can forget facts but you can't forget understandings." Yes - I would agree that Merseth and a number of other HGSE professors structure their courses for engagement in a similar manner. Requiring reading & active reflection (by via a written brief, case preparation, or online quiz) before the class / lecture is a great way to prep for deeper engagement and understanding. The genius in Mazur's approach is to use technology to assess before class and during class what his students understand and, more importantly, don't understand AND then tailor what he presents next to address misconceptions.
Harley Chang

The King of MOOCs Abdicates the Throne - 3 views

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    Sebastian Thrun, CEO of Udacity, has openly admitted that his company's MOOC courses are a lousy replacement for actual university class and instead will be taking his company to focus more on corporate training. I personally will reserve further judgement until after I finish the readings for next week.
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    I posted this article in G+ a day or two ago. Some of the better commentary surrounding this article below. Tressie McMillan Cottom: "Thrun says it wasn't a failure. It was a lesson. But for the students who invested time and tuition in an experiment foisted on them by the of stewards public highered trusts, failure is a lesson they didn't need." Rebecca Schuman: "Thrun blames neither the corporatization of the university nor the MOOC's use of unqualified "student mentors" in assessment. Instead, he blames the students themselves for being so poor." Stephen Downes: "I think that what amuses me most about the reaction to the Thrun story is the glowing descriptions of him have only intensified. "The King of MOOCs." "The Genius Godfather of MOOCs." Really now. As I and the many other people working toward the same end have pointed out repeatedly, the signal change in MOOCs is openess, not whatever it was (hubris? VC money?) that Thrun brought to the table. Rebecca Schuman claims this is a victory for "the tiny, for-credit, in-person seminar." It's not that, no more than the Titanic disaster was a victory for wind-powered passenger transportation."
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    Grif - where did the Stephen Downes quote come from ? I read the Rebecca Schuman article and don't really agree with her. To expand on the Schuman quote you posted - it's really interesting how she says the massive lecture format doesn't work but then provides two examples of massive technology that do work - texting and World of Warcraft. This relates directly to some of what we talked about earlier this semester. I don't think it's the 'massive,' as Schuman implies, that causes the failure of a MOOC. It's part of the design. Once the design is better and more engaging, then MOOCs may find that they have higher retention rates. Schuman: Successful education needs personal interaction and accountability, period. This is, in fact, the same reason students feel annoyed, alienated, and anonymous in large lecture halls and thus justified in sexting and playing World of Warcraft during class-and why the answer is not the MOOC, but the tiny, for-credit, in-person seminar that has neither a sexy acronym nor a potential for huge corporate partnerships.
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    The Downes quote was from OLDaily, which is a daily listserve of his that I subscribe too. I think the difference between texting/WoW and MOOCs is that, while both have many many users, the former two have means in which those groups are disaggregated into smaller units that are largely responsible for the UX/individual growth that goes on. I agree with you that massive is not necessarily the failure, in fact, I think it's the best thing they have going for them. However, until the design can leverage meaningful collaboration, like WoW and texting, the massive will remain a burden.
Cole Shaw

Berkery Noyes Releases Education Industry M&A Report For Third Quarter 2012 - 0 views

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    A financial / investment perspective of the Education industry is offered in this report. I think the interesting thing is this section: "With the implementation of the Common Core standardized curriculum, the focus on content is becoming less about differentiation and more about delivery through emerging technology platforms," stated Mary Jo Zandy, Managing Director at Berkery Noyes. "Interactive assessment tools that measure student progress, particularly in the quantitative disciplines, will thus become even more important in K-12 education as schools aim to meet specific testing benchmarks."
Irina Uk

Teachers Find iPad Slide-sharing App Nearpod Like 'PowerPoint on Steroids' -- THE Journal - 0 views

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    How teachers use Nearpod, and iPad app similar to PowerPoint to engage students and do formative assessment.
Danna Ortiz

What to test instead - Ideas - The Boston Globe - 2 views

  • A new wave of test designers believe they can measure creativity, problem solving, and collaboration – and that a smarter exam could change education.
  • Reengineering tests has become a kind of calling for a group of educators and researchers around the country. With millions of dollars of funding from the federal government, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, as well as from firms like Cisco Systems, Intel, and Microsoft, they have set about rethinking what a test can do, what it can look like, and what qualities it can assess.
  • computer simulations, games, and stealth monitoring
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  • Chris Dede at Harvard
  • Such predictions require a clear sense of the qualities a person needs in order to thrive.
  • There are just a lot fewer jobs where you’re not doing information-seeking, interpreting, problem-solving, and communication than in the past.”
  • engineer tests
  • equire people to exercise a bundle of complex skills at the same time,
  • rafting computer programs that take advantage of so-called stealth assessment, a method of judging test-takers without telling them exactly what’s being judged.
  • When we test, we’re really probing for certain qualities—the particular mix of knowledge and ability—that tell us a student is ready to move ahead, or an employee will be an asset to the firm.
  • developed a 3D video game to test scientific skills
  • students
  • evaluated
  • rocess they go through to attack a problem.
  • Harvard developmental psychologist Howard Gardner participated in an effort to design new kinds of tests in the humanities that could be graded objectively.
  • Ultimately, he found that the nuance required to measure softer skills collided with the demands of standardization.
  • A test becomes a sign post,
  • t becomes an example of what to strive for.”
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    How test designers are trying to move away from standardized tests to computer programs that can measure a myriad of skills simultaneously through simulations and "stealth monitoring."  Both Chris Dede and Howard Gardner are mentioned.
Stephen Bresnick

MOOC: Massive Open Online Course | - 2 views

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    MOOCs, or "Massive Open Online Courses", are a relatively new model of distance e-learning where hundreds and sometimes thousands of participants all take an online course together. The instructional mode of the courses is fairly decentralized; since there are so many participants in the course, the individual students cannot typically expect to have much individual interaction with the professors running the course. As a result, individual members of the MOOCs take on roles of peer teachers, and these roles are assumed organically (i.e. nobody invites them to become teachers in the course, they simply step up and take the reins). The assessment of MOOCs is extremely flexible; there are no grades and people only participate in what they want to participate in. The theory is that the MOOC creators put the learning environment into place, and the participants learn what they want to learn; less participation simply means that they will not learn as much. Thought this was a though-provoking model of eLearning and the changing role of the instructor in an eLearning environment.
Stephen Bresnick

Brown attacks testing and data as main measures of school success | EdSource Extra! - 0 views

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    Jerry Brown, Governor of California, speaks out about the ineptitude of standardized tests as a comprehensive, accurate way of measuring student learning. This idea is germane to most of what we are learning about the virtues of performance-based assessments, constructivist approach to learning, and the future of education. Does anybody think that there will ever be a time when standardized testing is replaced by something more effective? Emerging technologies like augmented reality simulations and multi-user virtual environments could be candidates for the replacement of standardized paper-based tests. Interesting to think about...
Hessa Ahmad

New Survey Highlights Best Practices For Online Learning Programs - 0 views

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    Survey participants identified four key factors as "extremely important" in building a successful K-12 online education program: -Reporting and progress monitoring tools that enable teachers to assess student comprehension and identify those that need additional help; -Teacher who are readily available to assist struggling students; -Educators specially trained to teach in an online environment; -Rigorous curriculum, designed to accommodate different learning styles, that keeps students focused and engaged.
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