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Assessment Technology >> Choose One From Column B
3/1/2007
Real-Time Feedback
While ePortfolios certainly involve modern technology, the assessment process rarely can be established until an educator logs on to a student’s portfolio and inspects his or her work. For institutions looking for feedback in real time, this type of assessment simply isn’t fast enough. To accomplish realtime assessment, they have turned to audience (or personal) response systems from vendors such as GTCO CalComp (which recently launched Interwrite Learning, a new company focused on its interactive learning solutions), Allegiance, and Turning Technologies.
Calhoun's preliminary research suggests that students who achieve high scores on the PRS system also perform better on exams. The technology has even improved student attendance.
These technologies rely upon handheld clickers and other devices that students use in class to answer questions as they come up. During a lecture or presentation, the instructor poses these questions and gives students a finite period of time to respond. Students enter their responses via the device, which transmits them wirelessly to the instructor’s computer at the front of the room. Software on the computer then tabulates the results, and an assessment of the entire class appears within seconds. Instructors can then analyze the results, look for low scores, and identify individual students who seem to be struggling.
"Why should I wait a week or month to see if a student understands a concept, when I can assess that knowledge immediately?" asks Joe Calhoun, a professor of economics at Florida State University, which uses the Interwrite PRS system from GTCO CalComp. "This technology changes everything." Calhoun’s preliminary research on the technology suggests that there may be a positive correlation between PRS scores and exam scores: Students who participate in class and answer more PRS questions accurately, perform better on exams. He adds that the technology has improved attendance, and when students come to class, they are more involved than they used to be; instead of taking notes and leaving, students ask more questions because they know they’re being quizzed about things they don’t understand.
All of Calhoun’s students are required to purchase $50 "clicker" devices when they sign up for the class (the devices are used in many other departments, so students can use the same clicker for several classes during the same semester, or for multiple classes over several semesters). Students then register the devices on the school’s Blackboard content management system (CMS). (For more on Blackboard’s assessment offerings, see "Is It an ‘A’ for Big B?") At the beginning of every class, Calhoun downloads a class database from the Blackboard server, which tells him which students are using each clicker. After each question, the Interwrite software populates this database with information on students’ performance.
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