Amplify Your Assessment Practices With Digital Tools

Purpose & objective

The purpose of my session Amplifying Your Assessment Practice with Digital Tools, is to challenge educators to explore better assessment practices through the use of digital tools, in order to foster student agency and ownership of learning. By the end of the session, participants will be able to create authentic formative and summative assessments using a variety of digital tools including Flipgrid, Microsoft Forms, Book Creator, Pear Deck, and more that will empower students to demonstrate their learning in different and multimodal ways. Participants will have a deeper understanding of the purpose or role of Assessment For, As, and Of Learning and how they can utilize each type of assessment to better assess students, incorporate students in their assessment practices by providing opportunities for self-reflection and goal setting, use the data collected from assessments to inform their teaching and learning practices, and create more equitable and inclusive assessments. Participants will also learn about the important role timely, meaningful and accessible feedback plays in the students' learning journey. Participants will explore a variety of digital tools they can use to enhance their feedback and engage students in ongoing dialogue as part of the feedback loop.

Outline

Session Outline
Content, Activities, and Time
I will start the session with an introduction to Assessment For, As, and Of Learning and the role each plays in the assessment process, as well as how we can use assessment to foster student agency (focusing on voice and choice). (5-8 minutes)
I will then break each type of assessment down and make connections to digital tools that we can use to amplify each type of assessment including how we can create equitable and inclusive assessments that empower learners to demonstrate their learning and understanding in different and multimodal ways :
- exploring digital tools for Assessment For learning (formative) (12 minutes)
- exploring digital tools for Assessment As learning (formative) (12 minutes)
- exploring digital tools for Assessment Of learning (summative) (12 minutes)
I will wrap up the session with a look at the role of timely, meaningful, and accessible Feedback and how we can leverage digital tools (technology) to provide better feedback and engage our students in the feedback loop. (12 minutes)
Conclusion - share my contact information (4 minutes)
Process: to engage the audience I will encourage participants to explore digital tools along with me on their devices - I will also host a backchannel chat for ongoing questions that I can address throughout the session.

Supporting research

Books:
Inquiry Mindset Assessment Edition: Scaffolding a Partnership for Equity and Agency in Learning by Trevor Mackenzie

Developing Assessment Capable Visible Learners Grades K-12 by Nancy Frey, John Hattie, and Douglas Fisher

The Assessment Playbook for Distance and Blended Learning by Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey, Vince Bustamante, and John Hattie

Educational Duct Tape: An EdTech Integration Mindset by Jake Miller

Hacking Assessment: 10 Ways to Go Gradeless in a Traditional Grades School by Starr Sackstein