“Technology will never replace great teachers, but in the hands of great teachers, it’s transformational.”
- George Couros
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I recently (15 minutes ago, if I am being completely honest) spoke with a colleague of mine, Nicole, over Google Meet about the possibility of becoming co-presenters at the annual Michigan Association for Computer Users in Learning (MACUL) conference, which will take place in the spring of 2024. Nicole and I are currently elementary teachers at the same school (Nicole teaches 1st grade, I teach 5th grade) and we are the Instructional Technology Resource Teachers (ITRTs) for our building. As an ITRT, Nicole and I are both a part of our district's technology team (KTech Team), and as such, our district's Educational Technologist invited us to create a proposal for a workshop presentation to submit to the MACUL conference team.
I am currently in the midst of finishing my final two classes to earn my Master of Arts in Educational Technology (MAET) degree, so, when Nicole and I met to brainstorm possible workshop topics to present, my mind immediately went to what I have been learning in one of my current classes. Electronic Assessment for Teaching and Learning is an elective course offered through Michigan State University's MAET program designed to help educators navigate the integration of technology in assessment and support educators in creating assessments that are intentional, aligned, meaningful, and manageable. This class has been one of my favorite courses that I have participated in during my program, as I have always been interested in both how to create assessments that align with best practices, as well as how to integrate technology in the classroom to increase equity, engagement, and depth of learning.
With this assessment course already on my mind, I brought up the idea of presenting a workshop that helps educators create assessments that are aligned with research-based practices using various Google Suite applications, called, "Hey Google, Make Me An Assessment". We both felt strongly that we could create a valuable workshop around this topic, so we created our proposal and submitted it to the MACUL website for review.
Despite my excitement for this proposal, shortly after we ended the call I was left contemplating the affordances and constraints that electronic assessment tools provide. I proudly consider myself a "tech integrator" in the classroom and I try to intentionally use the tools and resources that technology presents, however, like all tools, I think it is essential that we approach tech integration with a critical lens. Technology has the potential to enhance the ways in which we assess our students, but, with that potential also comes the potential to damage our learners, if used incorrectly. Technology is advancing faster than ever before, and with this exponential growth, I argue that we still do not know how to correctly integrate technology in a way that it is only ever beneficial. And, like many other tools that we have used in the classroom, I am not sure that we will ever be able to come to the conclusion that technology has the potential to only be beneficial in the classroom.
With that said, I want to leave my readers with one question that we, as educators, should be consistently asking ourselves when we use technology in the classroom: What are the affordances and constraints of the tool that I am using, and how might these affordances and constraints improve, or possibly limit, the learning of my students?
Cover Photo Source: Created Using Google Assistant Application (Using Routines)
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