This week in class we discussed how some standardized tests are (or will be soon) given on the computer. I can see the advantages of this from an administrative standpoint, grading will possibly not take as long and results can be published quicker. However, I'm quite conflicted on whether this is actually good approach for the students.
As a class we listed many of the skills needed to take a test online that differ from the skills students need to take it on paper: typing skill and speed, spelling, and the ability to know how to note main ideas from a text on the screen when you can't actually use a highlighter or write in the margins. We talked about how there was different set of strategies or ways of thinking that would have to be taught in order to be successful on these tests and that it would be our jobs as teachers to help the students to learn these.
In order to get us thinking about how to do this, we first talked in our content area groups about ideas that we had for our classroom. Being a world language teacher who's subject is not actually on the particular test we were using as an example (the Smarter Balanced Assessment), it was difficult. We posed ourselves with the question: how do we teach the necessary skills and strategies needed to be successful on the test within lessons where we were teaching a foreign language. Since the subjects on the test are math and English, we focused more on the skills that would be needed for the English parts because in that way we could draw parallels between English and our foreign language (Spanish or French). It was really difficult, and although we came up with some ideas, they would definitely take a lot of time in planing in order to get them to function correctly and benefit the students. They would also be more difficult to implement given resource constraints.
Overall, by the end of class, I wasn't really convinced that testing from the computer was worth it. And by this I mean that I understand we are 21st century educators and that students are familiarized from a young age with technology. I understand that most are extremely adequate at performing tasks on a computer. But I also think about the students who aren't. I think about that although there are strategies that we could teach to help students with these tests, some may still prefer paper and physically being able to scratch out answers or write notes. Maybe offering the option of a computer test, but not enforcing it would be a good idea? Like I said, I see why people are pushing for testing on the computer, but I'm not sure it's necessary or best. Thoughts?
