Evaluation of technology learning

Definition of Terms

Evaluation is a holistic approach. All the phases of learning must be seen because all of them contribute to the
total development of the child. Evaluation therefore must judge the strength of the content selected, the
strategies employed, and the instructional materials used.

Technology is the science of the application of knowledge to practical purposes in a particular field. It means
the totality of the means employed by a group of people to provide itself with the objects of material culture.

LEARNING - is the act of acquiring new, or modifying and reinforcing existing, knowledge, behaviors, skills,
values, or preferences which may lead to a potential change in synthesizing information, depth of the
knowledge, attitude or behavior relative to the type and range of experience.

The standard student evaluation of learning must change. This is justified by the fact that not only has the new
generation changed into digital learners, but traditional world has metamorphosed into digital world.
Assessment needs to conform, not with the literacy of the past century but the new literacy of the 21st century.
This is a literacy that uses digital tools in preparing students to face a high-tech world. Teachers must adopt a
new mindset both for instruction and evaluation. Evaluation must be geared to assessment of essential
knowledge and skills so that the learners can function effectively, productively and creatively in a new world. It
must use evaluated tools that measure the new basic skills of the 21st century digital culture, namely:

SOLUTION FLUENCY- is the ability to think creatively to solve problems in real time by clearly defining the
problem, designing an appropriate solution, delivering the solution, and then evaluating the process and the
outcome.

INFORMATION FLUENCY- is the ability to critically think while engaging with, creating, and utilizing
information and technology regardless of format or platform. Specifically, an information fluent individual is
able to: Recognize the need for information.

COLLABORATION FLUENCY- team working proficiency that has reach the unconscious ability to work
cooperatively with others.

CREATIVE FLUENCY- how artistic proficiency adds meaning through design, art, and storytelling.

MEDIA FLUENCY- Our visual learning capacity needs stimulation with rich media from a variety of different
sources. Media Fluency is defined by the 2Ls:

Listen - is about measuring the effectiveness of messages being communicated by media.

LISTEN Skills

MESSAGE • Verbalize • Verify

MEDIUM • Form • Flow • Alignment

Leverage - Leveraging means learning how to communicate effectively, and being able to identify the most
appropriate medium for getting a message out.
LEVERAGE Skills

MESSAGE •Audience •Content •Outcome

MEDIUM •Deliver •Review

DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP- The digital citizen uses the principles of leadership, ethics, accountability, fiscal
responsibility, environmental awareness, global citizenship, and personal responsibility, and considers his or her
actions and their consequences

The Four(4) Ds

DEFINE - Carefully consider the problem. Define the problem. Ask yourself the following questions: "What is
it that I have to do?" And "What other information do I need before I can do it?"

DESIGN - Carefully create a step by step plan of action to solve the problem. Determine which member of the
team will take responsibility individual tasks. Consider the end result. What should it look like?

DO - Execute the plan.

DEBRIEF - Carefully review the final product. Consider what worked well in the plan. Consider what did not
work well in the plan. Knowing the end result, discuss how to revise your plan and/or approach for the next
project.

MASS AMATEURIZATION - Mass amateurization refers to the capabilities that new forms of media have
given to non- professionals and the ways in which those non-professionals have applied those capabilities to
solve problems (e.g. create and distribute content) that compete with the solutions offered by larger,
professional institutions.

Roles of ICT in Teaching

 The term ICT (Information Communication Technology) simplified means any technology that has to do
with information and communication.

Roles that ICT plays in Teaching

E-learning or Online Learning

The presence of ICT in education allows for new ways of learning for students and teachers. E-learning or
online learning is becoming increasingly popular and with various unprecedented events taking place in our
lives, this does not only open opportunities for schools to ensure that students have access to curriculum
materials whilst in the classroom but also allows them to ensure students outside the classroom such as at home
or even in hospitals can learn.

ICT enhances subject learning

It is well known these days that the use of ICT in education adds a lot of value to key learning areas like literacy
and numeracy.

ICT promotes higher-order thinking skills:

One of the key skills for the 21st century which includes evaluating, planning, monitoring, and reflecting to
name a few. The effective use of ICT in education demands skills such as explaining and justifying the use of
ICT in producing solutions to problems. Students need to discuss, test, and conjecture the various strategies that
they will use.

ICT use develops ICT literacy and ICT Capability

Both are 21st-century skills that are best developed whilst ICT remains transparent in the background of subject
learning. The best way to develop ICT capability is to provide them with meaningful activities, embedded in
purposeful subject-related contexts.

ICT use motivates learning

Society's demands for new technology has not left out children and their needs. Children are fascinated with
technology and it encourages and motivates them to learn in the classroom.

ICT in education improves engagement and knowledge retention

When ICT is integrated into lessons, students become more engaged in their work. This is because technology
provides different opportunities to make it more fun and enjoyable in terms of teaching the same things in
different ways. As a consequence of this increased engagement, it is said that they will be able to retain
knowledge more effectively and efficiently.

ICT use allows for effective Differentiation Instruction with technology

We all learn differently at different rates and styles and technology provide opportunities for this to occur.

ICT integration is a key part of the national curriculum

The integration of digital technologies or ICT is a significant part of the Australian Curriculum for example, and
this is a trend that many global governments are taking up as they begin to see the significance of ICT in
education.

We live in a “knowledge economy"

This is an economy where it is vital to have the ability to produce and use information effectively (Weert,
2005). It is a time when ICT is pervasive and permeates throughout all industries in the economy whether it
may be health, education, environment or manufacturing (Moon, Feb/Mar 2007). The significance of ICT in the
Australian economy was emphasized in the recent article by Alan Patterson, CEO of the Australian Computer
Society, in his statement that the “ICT industry now rivals mining in terms of the contribution to the economy”
 Technology, Media and Learning

Technology- The word technology does not necessarily imply the use of machines but refers to any practical art
using scientific knowledge. Technology can make an ordinary person capable of superior performance and a
means, either printed or electronic, to distribute that instruction. 

Types of Technology

Assertive Technology

It includes mechanical, electronic micro-processor based equipment, non-mechanical and non-electronic aids,
specialized instructional materials services and strategies that people with disabilities can use either:

 Assist them in learning

 Make the environment

 Enable them to complete in workplace

 Enhance their independence

 Otherwise improve their quality

Information Technology

Provides access to knowledge and resources on a wide web component is the most prominent example of
information.

Technology of Teaching

Refers to instructional approaches that are very systematically designed and applied in very precise ways.

Roles of Technology in Learning

 Technology as tools to support knowledge construction

 Technology as information vehicles for exploring knowledge to support learning by constructing

 Technology as context to support learning by doing

 Technology as a social medium to support learning by conversing

 Technology as intellectual partner to support learning by reflecting

Media- refers to all modes of communication, including print and audio- visual forms and their accompanying
technology.

Learning- Learning is acquiring new knowledge, behaviors, skills, values, or preferences and may involve

synthesizing different types of information. The ability to learn is possessed by humans, animals and
some machines. It is also the development of new knowledge, skills, or attitudes as an individual interacts with
information and the environment.
 Types of Learning

Observational learning

The learning process most characteristic of humans is imitation; one's personal repetition of

an observed behavior, such as a dance.

Play

Play generally describes behavior which has no particular end in itself, but improves performance in similar
situations in the future. 

Multimedia learning

Multimedia learning is where a person uses both auditory and visual stimuli to learn information (Mayer 2001).

Informal Learning

Informal learning occurs through the experience of day-to-day situations.

Formal Learning

Formal learning is learning that takes place within a teacher-student relationship, such as in a school system.

Tangential Learning

Tangential learning is the process by which some portion of people will self-educate if a topic is exposed to
them in something that they already enjoy such as playing a musical instrument.

Instructional System and Instructional Technology

Instructional System

Instructional design (ID), also known as instructional systems design (ISD), is the practice of systematically
designing, developing and delivering instructional products and experiences, both digital and physical, in a
consistent and reliable fashion toward an efficient, effective, appealing, engaging and inspiring acquisition of
knowledge. The process consists broadly of determining the state and needs of the learner, defining the end goal
of instruction, and creating some "intervention" to assist in the transition.

Instructional Technology

Instructional technology is a specific technology field that deals with creating resources for learning.

The nature of instructional technology is traced back to academics like B.B. Seels and R.C. Ritchie, who
defined it as "the theory and practice of design, development, utilization, management and evaluation of
processes and resources for learning."

Technology Tools

Technology Tools- An electronic, digital or physical tool that can expand the human ability for performing
tasks or generating products. 

 GOOGLE FORMS
 GOOGLE CLASSROOM

 MICROSOFT TEAMS

Introduction to Technology for Teaching and Learning

TECHNOLOGY

 The word “technology” comes from the Greek word “techne” which means craft or art.

 Technology is not just machines. It is a “planned, systematic method of working to achieve planned
outcomes- a process not a product.

 Technology refers to “all the ways people use their inventions and discovers to satisfy their needs and
desires (Wikipidea).”

Information and Communication

 Information and communications technology (ICT) refers to all the technology used to handle
telecommunications, broadcast media, intelligent building management systems, audiovisual processing
and transmission systems, and network-based control and monitoring functions.

 It is an umbrella term that includes any communication device, encompassing radio, television, cellphones,
computer and network hardware, satellite systems and so on, as well as the various services and appliances
with them such as video conferencing and distance learning.

 It covers any product that will store, retrieve, manipulate, transmit, or receive information electronically in
a digital form (e.g., personal computers, digital television, email, or robots). 

ICT in Education

 There are some evidences that, to be effective in education, ICT must be fully integrated into
the pedagogy. 

 Despite the power of computers to enhance and reform teaching and learning practices, improper
implementation is a widespread issue beyond the reach of increased funding and technological advances
with little evidence that teachers and tutors are properly integrating ICT into everyday learning. 

What is Educational Technology?

 Educational technology refers to the art or craft on responding to our educational needs.

 It is a theory about how problems in human learning are identified and solved

 Educational technology “consists of designs and environments that engage learners.

 Educational Technology is a field study which is concerned with the practice of using educational methods
and resources for the ultimate goal of facilitating the learning process (Lucido and Borabo).
 Selecting Educational Software/Application

What is Educational Software?

Educational software, or computer application developed for the purpose of teaching and learning, arrived with
virtually the first desktop computers. It encompasses a variety of forms, costs and purposes.

Set Goals and Targets

Setting goal and target as and when one plans to buy or choose any educational software is so important. It is
important because by doing so; one can judge the software from 360 angles. They can ask vital questions such
as can the tool provide facilities to manage various entities.

Customization and Integration of the Product

Another question that one should definitely ask is – is the software customizable and scalable to serve large
number of users simultaneously? Can it be hosted on cloud and on site? Both the questions are important
because flexible support any institution irrespective of their size and complexity.

 Consistent Upgrades/Updates

 Ease of Use

 Flexibility

 Reliability

Overall Software Feature

Considering one’s unique requirements, it is important to pick up software which addresses the needs if not all
but most of them. It is also important to check if the product’s feature and function is offering greater business
value along with the purchase and licensing cost.

There are important factors to consider when one has decided to choose the best educational software.
And these are the following:

 Check if the software provides presentation capabilities.

 Checking out if the software has fun element in it.

 Check if the software provides curriculum adaptability.

Check if the software is not missing out concept mapping.

Ensuring Proven Security Features and Support

Data Security is of utmost importance especially when there are a lot of security breaches going on across the
world. Other factors that must be checked when speaking security are data redundancy, IP access controls,
robust role-based permissions, single sign-on and strong multi-factor authentication. Selecting software that
provides automatic data backup and recovery of data must also be considered in choosing educational software.
Budget Consideration and Pricing
Budget is an important aspect for the selection of Educational Software, so we should consider the funding
sources and the availability. A one-time allocation of funds requires the selection of technology with a long
lifespan.

Higher Thinking Skills Through IT-Based Project

1. RESOURCES-BASED PROJECTS

In this project, the teacher steps out of the traditional role of being a content expert and information provider.

General flow of events in resources based projects are:

1.The teacher determines the topic for the examination of the class.

2.The teacher presents the problem to the class.

3.The students find information on the problem/ questions.

4.Students organize the information in response to the problem/question.

2. SIMPLE CREATIONS

Students can also be assigned to create their software materials. There are available software material such as
Creative Writer (by Microsoft), Kidwork Deluxe (by Davidson),and Media Weave (by Humanities software).

Three kinds of Skills/Abilities:

 Analyzing

 Synthesizing

 Promoting

Five keys to remember

 Define the task

 Brainstorm

 Judge the ideas

 Act

 Adopt flexibility

3. GUIDED HYPERMEDIA PROJECTS

Instructive Tool- such as in the production by students of a PowerPoint presentation of a selective topic.

Communication Tool- such as when students do a multi- media presentation (with text, graphs, photos, audio
narration, interviews, video clips, etc.)
4.WEB-BASED PROJECTS

Students can be made to create and post web pages on a given topic. But creating new pages, even single page
web pages, maybe tool sophisticated and time consuming for the average student.