Chapter 10 : Assessments and Clickers.

          Assessment activities are used as part of a an assessment system to improve performance and learning. We execute this assessment system by observing the learners' performance through performance assessments. Performance assessments are tasks that allow a student to exercise the learned skills. We use these methods because they are tried and proven to be successful at helping students.

          E-Portfolios exist to showcase a students efforts, progress of knowledge, and abilities achieved through previous activities stored as samples of writing, videos, pictures, or similar items. It is the electronic version of what use to be an actual binder that falls into three different classifications: working , standards-based, and external evaluation portfolios. For teachers, they are useful for assessing different learning outcomes and actually encourage useful learning outcomes. Computer based tests are tests taken on the computer that are used to simplify the process of grading by giving an instant score to teachers. Unfortunately, this has not be the best way to go about testing unless it is a test that can adapts to each learner. If this is the case, being that it can adapt and it is constructed appropriately without rushing due to simplicity of its creation, the validity and reliability of the test will remain in good standing.

         The use of technology to create such things as e-portfolios and carefully crafted computer based tests will continue to be as useful as they are now and more so as we learn how to tweak them to be their best. Throughout my future career as a teacher, I see assessment activities evolving, becoming better and better, for teachers and students alike. Looking back on this chapter, all I can saw is wow. Being new to all of this, I had never heard of portfolios like this before. Same goes for clicker technology. I can only think back and imagine how much fun it would have been to use such a tool back in elementary, middle, or even high school. I would have been fully engaged for the single fact of thinking the class was a game show! I only hope that I work at a school that has such things when it comes time for me to find a job. 

Works Used:


Johnson, D., Howland, J., Marra, R., & Crismond, D. (2007). Meaningful Learning With Technology. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Copyright: It Must Be Respected and Online Safety: Safeguarding Our Children.

           We need to respect copy rights and fair use rules to have a just society. Using someone else's work without paying for it or proper citation is akin to stealing. If we let people continue to "steal", authors, artists, composers, and any other person benefiting from the material would not be able to sustain themselves as they would not make any money. To teach students how to go about using copyright material, I will lead by example, first showing how to cite properly and demonstrating proper usage of materials. If teachers do not introduce this concept to students early on, it is just going to cause trouble later on in life when they figure out the hard way.


            When someone mentions online safety, they are more speaking about keeping safe and sound from predators that are lurking on the internet. Online safety is a way to keep a child safe from the child predators by teaching them to not divulge too much information and to never agree to meet anyone off the internet. Cyber bullying is bullying done via instant messaging, social sites, and texting. The same principles that apply to online safety can be used for cyber bullying. Do not divuldge too much information, if a student finds that he is being cyber bullied or is having problems with a stranger online, they need to be reminded to speak directly to a parent or adult. For us adults, we need to go directly to the ISP or cell phone provider to report such issues with the saved texts, emails, or webpages. 

           I learn a lot with this activity. I did a terrible job on the copyright quiz, so I made sure to read the suggested webpages over thoroughly. I think it is imperative that we teach children about using the internet properly and how to safeguard themselves from predators and cyberbullying so that this extremely useful tool can be used to its fullest extent. As for copyright issues, as I mentioned before, it is hard to introduce everything that copyright covers to a student all at once. This is why we must introduce this train of thought early and build upon it as the student is expected to use it. By slowly introducing copyright rules and training them by example, we can really nail it home what it means to be respectful of other peoples creations and not to steal ideas or works for our own benefit.

Sources used:

Netsmartz Workshop. (2007, October 04). Retrieved February 16, 2011.
Copyright. (2011, February 02). Retried February 16, 2011.