How should we assess learning in the digital age?
Article
In the age of technology, we need to expand on the idea of what counts as data. Qualitative artifacts of learning such as images, audio, video, and text can paint a richer picture of what a student knows, understands and is able to do. A test or a grade alone cannot represent the complexities of learning. Today’s technologies, specifically digital portfolio applications, can document this data and facilitate a more authentic assessment process.
All assessment results need a place to exist. It gives us more control over the learning process. We should create containers for this data so it “holds still” long enough so students and teachers can step back and assess work as a whole. Tools such as Freshgrade, Kidblog, and Seesaw can be that space for this process.
What does this look like in action? We might consider a three-step process for this work: collecting student data, curating the results, and communicating the work.
Step 1: Collect Student Data with a Purpose
A teacher might begin by closely reading an academic standard. Next is an example, part of a Wisconsin social studies standard under the Economics strand:
SS.Econ2.b.4-5: Assess the roles of consumers (demand), producers (supply), prices, non-price factors (e.g. drought or a fad item), and competition in the product market.
This standard can be broken down into two tasks, along with an appropriate way to assess each task with the data to be collected (in bold).
This process of delineating the activities and assessments necessary for completing the task can be done with students. It serves as a rubric, only better: we are describing a standard of excellence instead of how to achieve a certain score.
Within a digital portfolio application, a teacher can create an authentic task associated with the learning statement. This ensures relevance and context for the work so we are not teaching skills in isolation. As the learning experience begins, students would have tablets, smartphones, or laptops on hand to collect evidence of their learning.
Step 2: Curate Assessment Results to Evaluate Learning
It is important to stress the word “we” with authentic assessment. One teacher cannot be everywhere. There should be an expectation along with instruction on how to successfully manage this assessment process. We can ensure this work is successful by building in checkpoints for reflection and self-assessment during instruction.
At a checkpoint, students are curating artifacts of their learning. They are examining their work and becoming a discerning observer of their own progress thus far toward goals. Their work is uploaded to a digital portfolio with intention, using both an appreciative and critical lens that’s guided by clear expectations. We can support students in this process by offering a series of questions they ask themselves, such as:
What are you proud of so far? What makes you say that?
How has your work shown growth over time as a learner?
Can you improve in any area? What might success look like in the future?
For instance, students might watch a video of their explanation of producers and consumers recorded from the beginning of a social studies unit. Now they can reflect on how their thinking has changed since that time. A student might add that reflection as text in the video’s comment section to document their learning and add context.
This is where the learning actually occurs: not in the moment, but after the moment has passed and time has been provided to examine one’s work. The curation of this information creates the association students need in order to understand how seemingly disparate points of growth over time are actually connected to each other.
With digital portfolio applications, students might also organize these artifacts into a slideshow that can be shared with families, especially when a body of their work is ready to be presented. It’s a product that also serves as a story of their process. In a way, the process is the product.
Step 3: Communicate Student Work with an Authentic Audience
Celebrating students’ work and their learning journey is a critical part of many learning experiences. An authentic audience can be anyone who will appreciate the effort that went into visible outcomes. If students know that their ideas and creations will be heard and seen by someone else, the relevance increases. It goes beyond getting the grade and becomes a meaningful task because someone noticed what they did.
Parents and other family members who have access to a student’s digital portfolio account will be notified when their work is available to view online. A teacher can guide engagement with these family members in the learning process by providing some tips for interacting with their child online. For example, family members can be provided with suggested comment stems, such as:
“Tell me more about…”
“Why did you include…?”
“How did you…?”
Even with celebration, we want to cause students to think about their learning instead of doing the thinking (and learning) for them. The authenticity in our responses shows respect for their work. As a personal example, my daughter recently posted the following image and reflection of her artwork in her digital portfolio.
Later in her reflection, she shared a critical assessment of her drawing skills. In my comment, I added that I thought the way she drew the person with the umbrella fit nicely with the mosaic. Both her reflection and my follow-up comment focused on the work, using terms of the discipline and how this piece represented her learning. Including a score or a grade in the assessment process here makes little sense.
This example supports the need for educators to reconsider how we assess student learning today. What we value as a society - creativity, resilience, ability to effectively communicate - cannot be measured with grades and scores alone. A process of reflection and renewal over time is more likely to reveal these capacities, which can be documented with digital tools that highlight what a student knows and how they came to know it. In this age of change, a focus on process seems as important as ever.
This article replaces my planned video interview with a 4th grade reader (technical difficulties). It was originally written for SmartBrief but instead finds its home here. Learn more about digital portfolios from my most recent book for ASCD.
