Assessing Technology Skills in Education

Assessment allows for students, leaders and teachers to understand more about their current abilities and needed growth areas.  As technological advancement continues and implementation in schools increases, assessment of technological skills becomes imperative to ensure that students and teachers are growing along with progress.

Teachers require assessment of their skills to focus current and future professional development to needed growth areas.  Teachers are at great risk of becoming comfortable in their current positions and need to be encouraged to increase their technology knowledge and skills base.  Targeted assessment of skills can foster greater implementation of technology across a schools’ curriculum.  The Texas STarR Chart is the only assessment used in my school district and provides limited personal feedback.  Other more beneficial assessments include the LoTi Digital-Age Survey and the The State Education Technology Directors Association’s (SETDA) PETI.  These surveys are comprehensive focusing on computer literacy, technology implementation and instructional practices.

As for students, the assessment process can detect whether or not the state technology curriculum is being implemented and learned.  With an ambitious goal of creating technology literacy in all students by the 8^th grade, we need markers to determine our success.  In my school district, technology assessment is embedded within the technology training program EasyTech.  As students advance through the course, they are assessed of their learning and new lessons are introduced.  This style of assessment secures short-term learning of technology skills but there remains a need to assess the long-term implementation and retention of this knowledge.

 Assessments do have some shortcomings however.  For one, they can be very time consuming.  Teachers often feel overworked and not inclined to spend extra time taking assessments.  This can skew data if the assessment is not taken seriously or is rushed.  Students are assessed at frequent intervals in all subject matters.  Adding more assessment time in the classroom can easily take away from instruction time.  Assessments are necessary tools but must be clear in their intention and focus to ensure their proper employment.