Blog Posting #1 – Technology Assessments - Week 2 - 9/6/2010

Education seems to have assessments for everything. In our current system, the technology assessments of teachers and students are one of the most important, so important that the state of Texas has implemented the STaR Chart assessment. “The Texas STaR Chart is a tool designed for use in technology planning, budgeting for resources, and evaluation of progress in local technology projects.” (Letter to all Texas Administrators, 2006) The STaR Chart has various areas in which a campus is assessed. The STaR Chart is completed by all teachers so that individual districts can evaluate where their district is in terms of technology use and what kinds of resources they need to budget for in the future. This is a reason to support technology assessment since it helps districts and the state budget for upcoming technology expenses. Probably the most important category of the STaR Chart is the Teaching and Learning area. “The traditional model of schooling with the teacher choosing what is to be learned and then serving as the source of knowledge is not adequate for 21st Century, world-class education. Roles of teacher and learner must continue to change.” (Texas Campus STaR Chart, p.4) This is the area that teachers should be the most interested in. We have to change the way we teach in order to help our students be successful in their future 21st century jobs. One of the possible problems that I see with technology assessment is the fact that perceptions may be skewed based on which teacher is answering the survey. For example, on some campuses, it seems that some teachers may not perceive a campus as advancing quickly enough. Unfortunately, teachers do not always see what is going on behind the scenes to upgrade technology in school districts. Students must also be assessed as to their technology skills. Most students are quick to pick up new technologies, but we must evaluate their skills with technology just as we evaluate teachers. We can do this at the school level using a self-assessment tool since there doesn’t seem to be an official assessment tool for students except for taking and successfully completing courses in technology.