ETSC: Assessment Tools Overview
Student Products and Software
Scoring Guide for Student Products
This Web tool helps teachers evaluate student products that are created with technology. It focuses on the student's content knowledge and effective technology use. (Audience: K-12 teachers.)
An Educator's Guide to Evaluating Claims about Educational Software
Selecting the right educational software package has become increasingly complex. There are many issues to consider in selecting educational software:
- evidence of its effectiveness;
- alignment with your school, state, or district's standards;
- suitability for your students' needs and learning styles;
- and the total cost of purchasing, maintaining, and upgrading needed hardware and software.
The purpose of this site is to help you address the first of these concerns, namely whether the software has been demonstrated to be effective with schools like yours. This site will help you to use research to guide the development of school level initiatives that use educational software to improve achievement. A checklist will take you through the key elements that professional researchers consider when evaluating research.
This site also alerts you to the important features to look for in a study and how these features can influence a study's results and the conclusions drawn about effectiveness Finally, this site provides you with a printable buyers' worksheet as a quick reference guide. The worksheet will help you collect the key information you will need when evaluating a software package.
Teacher Self-Assessments
PILOT
A professional development resource to help educators identify their strengths and weaknesses in educational technology and chart a course for improvement.
Technology and Learning
enGauge
EnGauge is a Web-based framework that helps schools and districts plan and evaluate the systemwide use of educational technology. Developed by NCREL with the Metiri Group, enGauge provides a comprehensive view of critical factors that strongly influence the effectiveness of educational technology. It provides online assessments to help schools and districts gauge their progress with learning technology and develop an informed plan of action. It also presents information on the effective uses of technology to advance student learning and the educational system conditions required to use technology effectively. (Audience: K-12 administrators, technology coordinators, education policymakers, K-12 teachers, education researchers.)
Plugging In
This online document discusses effective learning and effective technology use, and puts them together in a planning framework for educators and policymakers. After reading about effective learning and technology, educators can use the provided framework to plan technology and technology-enhanced programs that promote learning. The document also proposes ways that policymakers can encourage the spread of effective technologies to more schools. (Audience: K-12 administrators, technology coordinators, education policymakers, K-12 teachers, education researchers.)
Learning with Technology Profile Tool
The Learning With Technology Profile Tool helps teachers and technology planning teams consider how they use technology to achieve engaged learning. The Learning With Technology Profile Tool is available as a free downloadable computer program and as a World Wide Web page.
Planning for D3T (Data-Driven Decisions About Technology)
Planning for Data-Driven Decisions About Technology, also known as Planning for D3T, will help school improvement teams generate a comprehensive technology evaluation plan. In addition, this CD-ROM can be used by administrators for allocating resources and by technology and curriculum coordinators involved in technology infusion. This thought-provoking resource asks school improvement teams to evaluate technology from three perspectives: the systemic organization, the teaching practice, and student learning.
Levels of Technology Implementation (LoTi)
Learn about Dr. Christopher Moersch's Levels of Technology Implementation (LoTi) Framework including the seven discrete implementation levels teachers can demonstrate, ranging from Non-Use (Level 0) to Refinement (Level 6). This framework can assist districts in restructuring their staff's curricula to include concept/process-based instruction, authentic uses of technology, and qualitative assessment.
Technology Support
Technology Support Index
The TSI is a framework that outlines effective technology support strategies. With the TSI self-assessment tool, school districts can appraise the quality of their technology support program and learn about possible improvements they can employ.
Based on your district's unique profile, which is obtained when you complete an online assessment, you will identify strengths and possible areas of improvement in the four distinct domains of the Technology Support Index:
- equipment standards
- staffing and processes
- professional development, and
- intelligent systems.
As a result, you will receive a technology profile and action plan for improvement for your district.
The TSI is not intended to be a comprehensive or comparative program evaluation, but rather to serve as a benchmark against which every district can assess and track its own progress. It also serves as a starting place for understanding effective technology support systems and how particular strategies can work together for effective support.
The TSI is based on research from a pilot project in 10 districts in the state of Washington. With this initial research and web tool development, ISTE is gathering feedback from school districts around the world about the usability and usefulness of the TSI. ISTE hopes that the TSI will be used as a tool for improving support systems that will positively impact teaching and learning. We encourage you to complete the TSI and to provide feedback about the TSI rubric, recommendations, and educational implications of its use.