http://albertgarciagotmath.weebly.

com/
Albert Garcia
EDU 225
February 8, 2015
Mr. M

Part 1: Assessment Technology

The link that I used for my on line assessment is
http://my.questbase.com/. Use this link to get to the Quest Base website, you
will get a prompt box to become a member in order to access the
information, please ignore this message and close this box. Once this is
done, go to the box on the right hand side that says look up an assessment.
In this box type in Algebra 1 Placement Test and it will direct you to the test.
Select the test and you may begin the test, each question is worth ten points
for a total of one-hundred points. Keep in mind that you have thirty minutes
to complete this test, thank you and good luck. This assessment is meant to
be used as a formative assessment for instructional purposes. This
assessment will be used to collect data to view student knowledge of Algebra
1, so as a teacher it becomes possible to get an idea where the classroom
lectures need to start. This assessment will allow to decide if it is necessary
to spend time on beginning fundamentals or just proceed to the more
advanced procedures and techniques of Algebra.
ANSWER KEY
1. 0.875
2. 24 gallons
3. 1/6
4. 20
5. 0.056
6. 78.75
7. 23.1%
8. 8/25
9. 420 inches
10. 3 miles

You can earn a total of 100 points. Each question is worth 10 points.
In todays classroom where students learn in different ways and
students learn at different intervals it is highly important that teachers today
break through these different obstacles. The way to counteract and teach
around different learning styles and learning disabilities is to have the
capability to collect data and analyze data through assessments.
Traditionally, assessments had been conducted as a paper and pencil
session, but honestly this is time consuming and gathering all the data and
putting the numbers together this way is just not fast enough. Technology
has allowed us to be able to get immediate and real time results in collecting
data that can be analyzed to produce immediate results and adjustments.
The key in using these tool is to gather formative and summative
assessments that will allow students and teachers to have more control on
shaping the learning experience. Therefore, using software can provide
students with a positive learning environment that can ultimately help boost
their confidence when it comes to learning. Nix and Willie (2011) commented
that the more we can prepare and develop learner skills in managing their
own learning environment, the more we will be equipping them to be
successful learners
The argument of assessing student learning has been an ongoing
discussion for quite some time. Most educators like how formative
assessments brings results so that a teacher can focus on making
adjustments to instruction and others beg to differ and really like how

summative assessment evaluates a students learning abilities with an

overall test at the end of the school year or session. Technology has really
changed the game in giving an upper hand to teachers in the speed that
they can conduct these assessment and return valuable feedback to
themselves and to the students. Assessment is very important to learning
whether it be formative or summative. Therefore, it is important that both
are incorporated into assessing the learner to improve the learning
experience. Using software to facilitate assessing students in the classroom
can be an advantage because of the ease to distribute these assessments
and to the speed that a teacher can gather and utilize the analysis to
improve learning and to make modifications to better accommodate students
with learning disabilities or disadvantages. I would have to agree with
Hernandez (2012) that instead of focusing on the distinction between
formative and summative assessment, the concept of learning-oriented
assessment provides a more satisfactory perspective when considering the
links between assessment and learning. (Describe how teachers can utilize
technology to facilitate the ongoing efforts to assess student learning in the
classroom. Remember the focus of this section is using software to evaluate
student learning. You can incorporate resources here to validate your
rationale on how technology facilitates assessment. You can use subheadings
to define specific sections of your paper.
(Quest Base) This is a great software that can be used to assess
students in the beginning of the school year to make sure that students are

at the level that they need to be in order to direct the classroom in the right
direction. It allows to create a question bank where the teacher can focus in
specific questions designed to evaluate the way that they wish to. In fact, the
teacher can access these results immediately and continue class with the
adjustments needed in place without wasting too much time. Overall, Quest
Base allows the teacher to use this type of software a continuous form of
assessment throughout the year to produce a more successful learning
environment and to promote self-motivated learning. Quest Base (2015) says
that enables organizations to measure knowledge, skills and attitudes
securely for certification, regulatory compliance and successful learning
outcomes.
(Netop Learning Center) This software is great for teaches to use
and integrated into their classroom curriculum. In addition to all the great
things that other on-line software has to offer like test, quiz and survey
generators. Netop Learning Center allows the teacher to upload lesson plans
and lectures and gives students the opportunity to engage in this and
actually comment on the areas that they feel they did not get enough
information in the lectures. This absolutely great feedback because this
allows the teacher to really look at this and come back and touch bases with
these students in those areas and possibly with the whole class if needed.
This is a great way to reach out and promote positive learning to those
students that might have had some trouble understanding and grasping a
section in the lectures.

(ACT Quality Core) This is great sight that is mainly focused on

assessing a students readiness to go to college and help them get there so
that they may be successful. They provide testing and quizzes to assess their
level in math, biology and ELA for more of a summative approach type
assessment. They use both academic and real world based questions that
will challenge the students thought process. This can allow a teacher to
narrow down the students strengths and weaknesses so that they can use
this feedback to focus on specific areas instead of a broader range which will
allow the student to be a more focused learner. Overall, this focuses students
to place more emphasis on the quality of learning that they are investing in
their classes.
Too much emphasis is placed on why formative assessment and
summative assessment are so different. Heritage (2007) stated that to many
of todays teachers, assessment is synonymous with high stake standardized
testing. Although, this may be true formative assessment is crucial in the
fact that it gives teachers the ability to evaluate students and their lectures
along the way without testing that will affect the final outcome of a grade. In
other words Heritage says (2007) that formative assessment is a systematic
process to continuously gather evidence about learning. In summative
assessment the grade value is a high stake grade and will affect the final
outcome of that students grade and usually comes in the form of a mid-term
or final exam of some type.

Using technology to facilitate assessment has both its pros and cons,
but overall it has more advantages that can benefit teaching and learning.
Some of the pros that have come from using technology to facilitate
assessment include allowing flexibility to be able to evaluate a wider range
of skills with students, virtual learning environments allow teachers to
present assessment criteria much clearly and accessible to all students,
brings a boost to student engagement by enabling diverse assessment and
learning methods which supports active learning, and helps distribute the
learning and teaching evenly between teacher and student. The cons of
using technology can come from the fact that some of these soft wares may
be on the pricy side which can produce increase budgets for some schools,
which can include spending more time in learning to utilize the programs.
Another con is if this is accessible for everyone to use and also if students
with special needs will be able to access and operate the systems outside of
the classroom, and finally the implementation of such programs may take
some time to be put in place and there is also the risk of not the whole
educational administration to buy into using technological assessment.
A teacher has a great tool in using technology to assess student
learning and it is a big plus because it allows the teacher to witness real-time
results. This allows the teacher to see if what is being taught really is
understood and is being grasped by the students. That is why it is very
essential that teachers not only use technology to assess student learning,
but to assess their own instruction of the classroom and the lectures that

they are introducing in the curriculum. This is important because not always
is the blame for not learning be put all on the student. Teachers really need
to take a hard look at their own ways and make honest adjustments to allow
students to become successful learners even those with learning
disadvantages.
The importance of assessment technology in connection to the ISTE
standards is all about student-centered learning. The planning, teaching and
assessments centers around the needs and abilities of the student. The ISTE
(2015) states that it is important that when students take responsibility for
their own learning, they become explorers capable of leveraging their
curiosity to solve real-world problems. This is an ability that can be acquired
through assessment technology and the features offered through
assessment software. In addition, technology allows for an unprecedented
level of personalized level in agreement with the ISTE Standards (2015).
Ultimately, formative and summative assessment are equally
important in gathering valuable information on improving student learning.
As noticeable as it is that without software to support assessment
distributing these assessment and putting together well constructed reports
to help improve learning would take a very long time. Making much needed
adjustments to lectures and lesson plans would not be implemented in time
to help some of our students. Software such as Quest Base, Netop Learning
Center, and ACT Quality Core enables educators to engage learners and to
receive assessments in real-time which is an advantage to both students and

teachers. In todays classrooms that are equipped with students that are
very diverse not only in culture, but in the learning styles and learning
disabilities technological assessment software is great way to help educators
to overcome these obstacles.

References
HERITAGE, M. (2007). Formative Assessment: What Do Teachers Need to Know and Do?.
Phi Delta Kappan, 89(2), 140-145.
Hernndez, R. (2012). Does continuous assessment in higher education support student
learning? Higher Education, 64(4), 489-502. doi:10.1007/s10734-012-9506-7
ISTE Standards-Student-Centered Learning. (2015). Retrieved from.
http://www.iste.org/standards/essential-conditions/student-centered-learning
Nix, I., & Wyllie, A. (2011). Exploring design features to enhance computer-based
assessment: Learners' views on using a confidence-indicator tool and computer-based
feedback. British Journal of Educational Technology, 42(1), 101-112.
doi:10.1111/j.1467-8535.2009.00992.x
Quest Base overview. (2015). Retrieved from. http://www.questbase.com/product/