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Web Sites (all sites will open in a new window)
Assessing Technology Skills. Using the guest login option, users can learn how much they know about technology and assess their abilities to use it effectively in the classroom. Scores will help teachers evaluate whether their skills are on the entry, emergent, fluent, or proficient level in such topics as basic technology concepts, technology productivity skills, technology integration into the curriculum, and technical troubleshooting.
Assessment and Evaluation of Technology in Schools -- from the National School Boards Association Technology and Learning Conference, 1996. How to evaluate the use of technology in the classroom and writing an evaluation plan. Identifies the top nine toughest goals to evaluate and lists the possible indicators for measuring success for each one.
Benefits of Technology Use -- Getting America's Students Ready for the 21st Century: Meeting the Technology Literacy Challenge. A Report to the Nation on Technology and Education, United States Department of Education, 1996. An annotated overview of the main benefits of technology use, interspersed with short descriptions of school's experiences with technology and brief quotes from teachers and students. Concludes with Characteristics of Successful Technology-Rich Schools.
Learn About Evaluation from the Innovation Network, Inc. Though not specifically about ed. tech, this site provides excellent guidelines for telephone interviews, focus groups, group discussions, face-to-face interviews, surveys, and questionnaires. You can also view, print, and download dozens of data collection instruments which have been successfully used to help nonprofits assess organizational effectiveness, user satisfaction, and a great deal more.
Learning With Technology Profile Tool for Engaged Learning from the North Central Regional Technology in Education Consortium. This online profile tool will help teachers quantify their current level of engaged learning and their level of use of high-performance technology. It consists of a multiple choice questionnaire that takes about 30 minutes to complete and then creates a simple bar graph of responses. The tool can be used alone or to profile a group (an individual class, all of the classes that you teach, your department, your school, or your district).
Multimedia Project Rubric from WestEd. Several planning tools available in PDF format on such topics as "School Technology Planning Template," "Instructional Planning Guides," "Incorporating Technology into a Unit of Study," and "Multimedia Rubric."
NC Advanced Technology Competencies. The Advanced-Level North Carolina Technology Competencies for Educators. Another overview under five headings of Essential Knowledge and Skills and Expanded Knowledge and Skills about how teachers should use technology to enhance classroom learning. For each of the five categories there is a detailed Self-Assessment Tool.
NC Basic Technology Competencies. The Basic-Level North Carolina Technology Competencies for Educators. A listing of the skills needed for teacher competency in the use of technology for information accessing and communication among educators. For each of the nine main headings there is a detailed Self-Assessment Tool where the skills are listed again--some broken down further into sub-skills.
Profiler Online Collaboration Tool from the South Central Regional Technology in Education Consortium, funded by US Department of Education. The Profiler online survey inspires cooperation and collaboration among teachers and students to help them improve their skills in relation to a general topic. Users can employ the Profiler to strengthen their school district's ability to share expertise. Individuals can take a survey to assess their technology abilities and find someone within their school who can help them strengthen these skills.
Project-Based Learning Checklists Completing class projects can be fun for your students, especially if they know exactly what is needed. Creating guidelines can be time-consuming though. This site provides online forms you can complete and print to automate the process of creating guidelines for projects in a variety of content areas and grade levels.
Protocols for Conducting Credible Interviews from Innovation Network, Inc. Site includes information to help schools and districts with such technicalities as pre-testing interview questions, selecting a sample of the population to interview, and recording interview responses.
Reflective Assessment. This section of a longer online document provides several suggestions a leader might use to assess the ability of his/her organization to initiate and sustain change.
Staff Use of Technology: Self Evaluation Rubrics.
from the Bellingham (Washington) Public Schools, 1998-99. A good, quick overview of a teacher's level of computer knowledge and experience. Based on the Mankato Scale from the Mankato, (Minnesota) Public Schools. Uses a 4- level rating scale over 13 categories.
StandardWriter Software. At this site, you can download a demo version of this software which will walk you through the process of creating rubrics and product guides in a step by step fashion.
State Technology Survey from the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education, 1998. Site provides detailed information about the survey itself and the results. Can be used as a model for other states or for districts or individual schools.
Technological Literacy For Administrators by Doug Johnson and Eric Bartleson, from the American Association of School Administrators. Planning for good administrative use of technology requires that administrators assess their own technological skills so they can plan for their own professional development needs. This site consists of simple rubrics for use by administrators and other leaders covering ten categories. A school district can also pre/post test the effectiveness of its staff development efforts by asking administrators to complete the rubrics (anonymously) before and after a learning opportunity.
The Technology in My Life Survey from "From Now On," Jamie Mackenzie's web site. To assist in establishing a district's five-year staff-development plan, teachers are asked to rate their own level of basic computer literacy and to rate how important each topic is to them; how they feel about learning new technologies and programs; and how comfortable and proficient they feel on topics to do with basic computer technology. Points are used to rate each answer, and a final assessment of the teacher's "stage" of technology is rendered-- Survival, Mastery, Impact, or Innovation.
Tests & Services Directory from Educational Testing Service (ETS) Network. This directory lists titles and descriptions for about 200 varied educational tests and assessments organized by topic, by sponsoring group, and alphabetically. It provided links to their web sites, or explains how to order them by email, by telephone or mail.
Workstation Evaluation Plan. Workstation for Innovative Nonprofits (WIN!) from the Innovation Network, Inc. This site is not specifically about ed. tech. but is a great general resource for creating evaluation plans: "WIN! will walk you step-by-step through the creation of great program maps, complete with evaluation, action, and fundraising plans and budgets. As you type your answers to questions into WIN! it will save your answers and automatically transform them into plans and timelines to help your organization succeed! When you have completed your plan(s), we'll review them for free!"
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Books
Assessing Student Outcomes: Performance Assessment Using the Dimensions of Learning Model by Robert Marzano, et al, 1993. " Dimensions of Learning" is an instructional framework based on the best of what research and theory say about learning. Initially, Dimensions of Learning was designed to help teachers plan curriculum and instruction by using what is known about student learning. The framework's strong grounding in research and theory, however, makes it a natural partner for performance assessment. Marzano's book provides practical information on "assessment literacy," methods for connecting with standards, examples of tasks, and summary rubrics for content standards.
Designing Surveys That Work: A Step-by-Step Guide by Susan J. Thomas, 1999. Creating surveys that ask the right questions at the appropriate level for the intended audience is a difficult and challenging task. This book was created to support those educators who want to create high-quality surveys and be confident that the data they gather will be useful. Thomas offers easy, practical processes of preparing, collecting and summarizing survey data developed from her ten years of experience in working with graduate research projects.
Grappling with Accountability 2002: MAPPing Tools for Organizing and
Assessing Technology for Student Results by Bernajean Porter, 1999. This resource provides text and digital information to guide groups with a step-by-step process to develop and implement their own data- collection process. Practical frameworks, tools, processes, and strategies culled from years of experience take a systems approach to organizing and assessing the effectiveness of educational technology in ways that focus on instructional results rather than technical efforts.
How to Assess Authentic Learning by Kay Burke, 1994. The author provides clear, effective text with models of tools for authentic, alternative assessment strategies as well educating the reader on basic "assessment literacy" skills. This text is perfect for teachers and students to use technology tools like Inspiration software with assessment efforts in the classroom.
Multiple Intelligence Approaches to Assessment by David Lazear, 1994. "It is extremely desirable to have assessment occur in the context of students working on problems, projects, or products that genuinely engage them, that hold their interest, and motivate them to do well. Such exercises may not be as easy to design as the standard multiple-choice entry, but they are far more likely to elicit a student's full repertoire of skills and to yield information that is useful for subsequent advice and placement." Lazear provides extraordinarily rich strategies to document and assess student performance.
Together is Better: Collaborative Assessment, Evaluation, and Reporting by Anne Davis, et al., 1992. This book offers classroom-based innovative strategies to assess student's work. Most unique is the book's support of student as a partner in the assessment process. A three-way collaborative process between teacher-student-parent guides all assessment steps. Students are expected to be part of conferencing, collecting evidence, and reflecting on their learning. Easy templates, directions, and sample experiences make this book a treasure.
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