Posting #1 Technology Assessments

Technology assessments have a worthwhile purpose for educators. These assessments help to identify areas of strength and weakness. There is an enormous emphasis on data-driven decisions in education. On my campus our data drives our decisions about our instruction. We base our tutoring and acceleration groups on data. The list could probably go on and on. My point is that data drives so many of the decisions we make within the context of teaching and education. Therefore, it only makes sense that we would also use data to assess where we are on the road to meeting the standards of the Long Range Texas Plan for Technology. We cannot fix what we are not aware of, so it is essential that we have assessments that help us evaluate what we are doing well and what we need to improve upon. The STaR chart is useful because it allows you to see a snapshot of just your campus. I appreciate that it is broken into different categories with very specific descriptions of each. This allows you to see that while your Infrastructure may be on target, there is still a need to improve upon Educator Preparation. The information and readiness levels are broken up in a reader-friendly format that makes analyzing strengths and weaknesses quick and simple.

While there are many advantages to using technology assessments such as the STaR chart, there are also some disadvantages. On one hand it is nice to be able to see a snapshot of your campus; however, on the other hand it doesn't necessarily give you an accurate picture of how you are doing with the technology standards. For example, there are some areas that I would view as a strength for myself that are ranked as a weakness with my campus because we are all lumped into a group together. Because there may be a majority of teachers on my campus who strictly use technology as a means for organization and classroom management, we may never move ahead to a more advanced level, despite the fact that a number of teachers integrate it into their lessons. Another disadvantage that I find with the technology assessments is that they are not all created equal. Some of the surveys we completed last week I found to be a bit irrelevant and meaningless. For example, there was one survey in particular that had questions that I had to mark happened less often simply because I do not have the technology readily available for my students. Once I had completed the survey it showed that I was at the very beginning stages, citing that I may occasionally use the internet or word processing tools. The explanation was ridiculous and did not apply to me at all. So, while some surveys are very meaningful others can be useless if the questions are too vague or general.

Despite the fact that there are both pros and cons to technology assessment I still believe that it is essential in helping us move forward with 21st century tools in our classroom.