Technology Assessments

I think it is important to have an understanding of what level the teachers and students are on their technology skills. As new technology is coming into a school it is easy for a teacher to miss out on new techniques and tools that they can use to boost student performance or increase their own productivity. If the administration is putting the money into this I believe they have every right to assess teacher’s capacity to use the technology. By assessing the teacher’s skills they can better tailor professional development for those specific areas that the staff is having issues with. There is no point in having teachers go through training if they are already proficient in the area. It is also important to gain insight from the teachers to see what kind of technology will be best for their classroom. It’s easy to go buy new equipment, but if it’s not practical for a specific classroom than the school is just wasting money.

As the administration is assessing the faculty it is important to assess the students as well. Having taught freshman in high school it is a challenge to get a grasp of where they are academically and technically when they come onto campus. A lot of times we assume that students are great with technology and know how to use it. Yes, there are the technology TEKS that students should have mastered by the eighth grade, but most schools are not at this level yet. If I can see the results of my student’s technological assessment I can do a better job of lesson planning. I have made the mistake of assuming student’s can do a specific task on the computer and ended up having a lesson go down the drain because of it.  

The problem with assessments is getting an accurate result. Teachers have to fill out the STaR Chart for their districts. My question is how accurate are these. Anytime people fill out a survey they may not always be truthful. I don’t mean to say that they are lying on purpose, but when it comes to surveys people can get in a hurry and just put answers down. Or the survey may be confusing to some and they are not sure how to answer so they just guess. Before this class I didn’t realize what they used the STaR chart for. Now that I have learned a little more I will put more thought into the survey questions.