Assessment for Learning

Assessment For Learning (AFL)

In this week’s assignment, we were asked to decide which tenent of “Electronic Portfolios as Digital Stories of Deep Learning” did we most related to and why.  I chose the tenent that stated:  “AFL should take account of the importance of (and foster) learner motivation.”  I thought of this as a very important part of learning in the classroom as well as through any type of technology.  If learners are not motivated to learn, it doesn’t matter what you present to them or how it is presented, it won’t matter unless they are open to learning it.  One of our biggest challenges as educators today is the fact that we, the teachers, are becoming more responsible for the students learning.  We cannot force them to learn.  Why isn’t there a shift of more responsibility being put on the learner instead of the teacher.  This is not as prevalent in college-level courses today, but it might be in the future if something doesn’t change in the lower levels.  We obviously have to assess how we can motivate learners but in the same token, learners have to be responsible for becoming motivated to learn through their own desires.  Thinking that using more technology will increase motivation may not be the answer.  Just because there is advanced technology available, this does not mean that the learner will use it to its full potential or as it is intended to be used.  Computer-based learning can be run through very quickly without the student really connecting any real learning to the process. 

We were also asked this week about the potential for portfolio assessment.  At this time there are a lot of pros and cons on using this method for assessment.  I believe that in a higher level of education, this probably has more value than at a lower level.  Having a portfolio of work would be an advantage to the student since it would be an excellent point of reference to return to at anytime in the future and almost at the learner’s fingertips.  However, if the portfolio is not created so that it can stay open for as long as the student desires then I think it might be more trouble than it is worth.  Being able to go back and reference something digitally would be much easier than trying to find it scribbled or written in a notebook somewhere that is falling apart and not as organized as a computer based tool would be.  It would be a huge advantage to be able to access all the information that you have learned in one nice place. 

I believe the creation of my portfolio will not only help me to reflect on my own learning, but also to advance my skills in the field of technology.  Having the ability to learn about new technology that is available to us both as teachers and students can only benefit our ability to be as successful as we can within our profession.  Having to learn how to input the information also helps us internalize not only how to do something but also the things that are new to us.  Many learners need to write things down to internalize them and this procedure does more than that.  The creator has to write it, or in this case, type it, figure out where it goes, make sense of how the technology works to accomplish a goal, and reflect on how successful they were at achieving a goal.