Question Prompt:
Roblyer & Hughes (2019) discuss the importance and use of data collection and analysis in Chapter 4. Address examples of how you collect data from your students and how you use that data. Have you taught your students how to collect and organize data? What methods worked well for you?
Transcript of Video Response:
Chapter four of the Roblyer & Hughes text (2019) discusses the importance of data collection and analysis. I agree that data collection and analysis are critical to quality instruction. The most important reason for collecting data is for tracking student achievement in reading, math, and other subjects. This data is then used to make good instructional decisions for each classroom in general and for specific students. Without good data, it would be impossible to know where the gaps are in a student’s learning or to determine what a student already knows so he can be challenged more appropriately. The authors point out some of the technology challenges facing teachers. These include “limited proficiency with data and analysis content; difficulty in establishing hands-on, real-word data activities; and overestimation of students’ technological and data skills.” This study was published in 2019 before the Covid Pandemic of 2020. It is interesting to note just how true their conclusions were. The conditions of 2020 shown a light on the readiness and technological savvy of teachers and students when all learning became digital.
Fortunately, teachers have many affordable and user-friendly options for data collection. Assessment software generate quick formative assessments that teachers can give right in their classrooms as part of their lessons. Kahoot and Quizlet Live are good examples of tools for formative assessments. Rubric-makers and test-generators are effective for designing summative assessments to evaluate students at the end of units. Several software programs are effective at diagnostic assessment of reading and math. IXL, MobyMax, Nessy, and Khan Academy are a few tools that I have used in the past. The information gained from these programs is organized into reports that teachers can use to guide future instruction. This is one of the strongest features of these programs. When I know what my students’ specific strengths and weaknesses are, I can make informed decisions about the content to cover in future lessons.
Digital assessments have an advantage over manual assessment; they are not subject to bias and human error. However, they do have some disadvantages over traditional assessments. A program is not able to read a student’s physical or emotional state during testing. Only a trained teacher who knows her students can make that determination. A combination of trained teacher and quality software is the most effective means for collecting meaningful data that can be used to effectively drive instructional choices.
Teachers have been using digital assessment tools to collect data for several years; however, 2020 changed the ways that teachers teach and assess. Digital tools that work well in the physical classroom must be adapted for use in a virtual classroom. In a 2020 study, authors Jiao and Lissitz examined the unprecedented challenges that the coronavirus has brought to assessment in education. Test publishers have scrambled to adapt to the virtual environment of most schools. In the future, they will need to focus more on creating at-home testing that is suitable for distance learning. The authors state that publishers will need to make improvements in diagnostic testing and continue to emphasize that instructional delivery should be based on the assessment information they learn from the data.
I work both as an online instructor and as an in-person reading tutor. I collect data both manually and digitally. When I tutor, I primarily use the Wilson Language Program for teaching students who have learning problems. I use the Wilson testing material and other reading assessment tools to collect benchmarking data before I begin working with a student, and I test them again every few months. To supplement my Wilson instruction, I use online educational programs. Currently, I am using Nessy. The program guides the student through a diagnostic test to determine grade level for reading. It then prescribes an individually tailored program to target the students’ weaknesses. I can choose to allow the program to prescribe the order of lessons, or I can manually assign them myself. I haven’t taught my students how to collect and organize their own data, so I am interested in hearing how others do that in their classrooms.
References
Jiao, H., & Lissitz, R.W. (2020). What hath the coronavirus brought to assessment? Unprecedented challenges in educational assessment in 2020 and years to come. Educational Measurement, Issues and Practice, 39(3), 45-48. https://doi.org/10.1111.empir.12363
Roblyer, M. D., & Hughes, J. E. (2019). Integrating educational technology into teaching: Transforming learning across disciplines. Pearson Education, Inc.