Chapter 10 Log

Thinking back on my favorite experiences when I was in school, I immediately remember the newscast we had to video tape lampooning Romeo and Juliet; the video parody of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead; and the book-on-tape we had to create for the short story we wrote. Looking back now, I realize that these were all alternative assessments supported by technology. Use and the scope of technology has increased tremendously in the five years that I've been out of school. Now it is so simply to create a quiz or survey on Google Docs that multiple groups have used it in their chapter presentations. Everyone in our class is required to maintain a blog, which is a great form of assessment with technology.

I like the idea of electronic portfolios. I have always been partial to portfolios as opposed to tests and many other forms of assessment; portfolios can help both the teacher and the learner see growth over a period of time. E-portfolios, as the book describes them, can be used for a wide range of things, giving the teacher flexibility. Traditional portofolios typically consist of whatever work has been done throughout the semester, which is almost always paper-based. E-portfolios can contain a variety of media, from text documents to spreadsheets to video and audio files. I can't imagine the fun I'm going to have as a teacher having my students compile e-portfolios! I plan to teach middle school social studies, and I could see an e-portfolio containing a newscast about a certain time period, a properly-maintained and historically accurate Twitter account of an historic figure, and a spreadsheet showing data (such as population or voting records) from a particular time period.

I never had any idea there were websites to help build a rubric. I tried to go to Rubric Builder, but the website is down and redirects you to a different site, where a new version of Rubric Builder is located. I was very impressed with the ease of use that Rubric Builder brings to the table. There is simply a keyword box to use to search for rubrics! I also discovered the Landmark Project, which hosts Rubric Builder. I found so many awesome tools on that website. Rubrics.com is no longer in use.

As I mentioned before, Google Docs is a geat way to assess with computer-based tests and surveys. I've used SurveyMonkey before and never really liked it much; I always thought it should be presented better. I think that right now, Google Docs blows all these survey and test services listed in the book out of the water.