Instructional Technology Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

instructional Technology Paper - Essay ExampleSpecialized programs turn out facilitated the conduct of test that give priceless feedback on which to base further teaching schedules. This aspect - technology as an aid to scrutiny - is discussed by Neal Starkman in a feature entitled Special Consideration in the November 2007 issue of the periodical The Journal.The present system of testing followed by most schools across the country is to give a comprehensive, all-encompassing test at the send away of the school year. Students get this one-shot opportunity to prove their worth. This can be quite intimidating for students, leading to a pressure to perform that can be quite stressful. Most students cannot cope with this kind of pressure, which reflects in their overall scores as well as on the schools record. Year end tests, being of necessity alike(p) in nature, withal fail to assess idiosyncratic skills that a child may possess, as they have to be administered to the entire cl ass. Although slight variations exist in the form of semester tests or quarter wise testing, the model is essentially the same. Students be administered a standardized test and have to wait for the papers to be reverse before they can learn their scores. This is usually in the form of a report card in which the student is also ranked in relation to his peers. Individual strengths and weakness be overlooked in this from of testing. This advent of technology that enables frequent, individualized testing makes the old system irrelevant. Schools that have embraced technology have shown substantive improvements in their results.One of the examples discussed by Starkman is of the Oklahoma Citys Westwood Elementary School. The school discovered that one-size-fits-all tests(Starkman) did not present an correct view of students abilities. The school therefore introduced a variety of assessment programs such as Dynamic Indicators of canonic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS), Gates-MacGini tie Reading Tests, Accelerated Math and Edusoft software in order to conduct frequent individual tests. The benefits of electronic testing are manifold. Not only do they determine a students strengths and weaknesses but also suggest the direction future instruction should take, which can be a big help to a teacher. Moreover, since such tests are easy to conduct, they can be given as often as indispensable so that students and teachers get feedback throughout the school year. The schools principal, Jan Borelli who introduced this technology in the school transformed the school from a low performing school to one in which, students scored in the top 10 percent on the Oklahoma Core Curriculum Tests (Starkman). Some critics say that the school is going overboard by having cold too many tests, but the results speak for themselves. Similarly, other schools that have introduced technology in their assessment methods are also reporting dramatic increases in student scores. Introduction of the A+nyWhere Learning System in one school resulted in a two-grade equivalent increase in reading standards. There are many factors behind this including accountability and the fact that students get immediate feedback. Moreover, a computer program nevertheless gives the result. It does not judge or comment on the result and is thus not perceived by the students as a threat to their self esteem - the computer, is not giving them attitude... Students are not worried almost what their