Handheld Learning

An excellent article on Ewan McIntosh's edu-blogs.com regarding the continued exploits of the e-scape project which is now in phase 3 and is developing new modes of assessment using mobile devices.

http://edu.blogs.com/edublogs/2008/03/e-scapes---taki.html

The technology platform is ultimately intended to be agnostic but is currently based on T-Mobile Ameo / HTC Advantage devices running RedHalo with API's (Application Programming Interfaces) enabled for two way connection to TAG Learning's MAPS assessment portfolio system.

Teachers and assessors can design and  set-up activities or exams that use the various applications on the target device. Work is captured, shared with co-learners and stored on a server where work and be reviewed and assessed via a standard web browser.

The 3rd phase is in Beta currently and goes out to pilot in the next month. Expect some dissemination of results at HHL 2008.

Hi,

Yes I have to agree from a primary point of view. The video clip that is shown seems to illustrate exactly the way that I would expect the vast majority fo KS2 (and 1!) lessons to function. I am always sceptical when a report bases itself on a sweeping generalisation of teaching. I got the impression that it is a secondary project (from my scan read) but teachers also exist in both primary and foundation stages. My experience is that most teachers who I work with use professional judgement on balancing the role of practical and "front of the class" teaching (and of course there are huge variations and nuances within that according to the teacher's own personality!) I would find it very difficult to generalise about them. Some already use technology as described in the project for a similar purpose.

Further to that is the idea of an ongoing assessment portfolio.

What is it for?
I have my own opinions on this but shall wait because I would be fascinated to hear what other people think the function of a portfolio (digital or otherwise) is.

Thanks
ST

One of the difficulties of assessing formative evaluation in DT projects is that many pupils are not at ease writing their thoughts, and fewer are all that competent at sketching detailed variations in design ideas.  This, especially, when required to record them on paper for a project folio.  Some, being insecure in the process, will even not start sketching a design till they think they have the perfect idea in their head, or because they think their ability to sketch is "rubbish".

Being able to record their thoughts on HHDs, whether by voice recording, or filming themselves explain what they have in mind, or with simple sketches, especially if they could be "beamed", privately to a peer or their teacher for an exchange of ideas/ feedback, would be a very positive support to all pupils, particularly those (above mentioned).  It would also be storable, and thus become part of their folio and provide evidence for the assessment of their evaluative abilities (as I believe is at least part of the rationale for the e-scape research).

Also, being able to sketch, however crudely, on touch sensitive screens, eg: most PDAs), without worrying about wasting paper, or the much quoted intimidation of a large sheet of clean white paper, can, perhaps, help the more graphically challenged to have a go, and thus to steadily improve their skills and understanding.
There is a danger that this facility could present "information overload" for the teacher, and therefore be counter-productive.

far too much assessment goes nowhere, the odds of it being much use appear to increase with the distance from the learner...

much of the best assessment at my school takes place with the teacher alongside the child, guiding and shaping their thinking; reacting to their understanding and observing their actions

combine this with an accurate summative assessment and things can happen that benefit the learner

the key is to share and use the information; the best, most exciting practice i have seen is when the same, accurate information is used by the leadership team, the governors and the teachers to guide the deployment of resources and staff whilst supporting individuals and groups of learners

that requires discussion, debate, and an understanding of the learner, the context and the curriculum

i have yet to see an e based system that does this job

and thats not cos i, or my excellent teachers feel threatened; its just that i am human, they are human and we can do it better!

Hi ThornUK,

yes I think you are right, younger children love to tell everybody what they are doing, it is the ego that Piaget et al went on about at length. I am not convinced that the self centred pyschological state that is described in young infants ever goes away though...hence the need for people to catalogue what they had for lunch, online!

I think you are right to highlight the difficulties of larger school settings for this idea of leadership assessing work. How does this fit in with Ewan's work on a "team" of assessors? Are they other pupils or a leadership in assessemnt group? The point that you were replying to is problematic in any assessment situation. If I work with five pupils instead of one will my understanding and time allocation be split to 20% each? Probably...or will spend more time on the lowest ability child because that is what happens!

What Carl seems to be suggetsing is that teachers are there for the critical moments, the key, possibly summative, occasions when there is a need to take stock of where the child is at and move forward. In practical terms with an education system that has roughly 30 kids in a class, that is a practical compromise.

What teachers are also doing, and I particularly note this in KS2 at the moment is to give the children the assessment criteria for each unit of work and mark against level descriptors. With this in mind, children are taught to write to address the level descriptors e.g., three pieces of speech to show evidence of correct use of punctuation, complex sentences in each paragraph to show aware of grammar etc. This is what is often called teaching to the tests and is pretty much ubiquitous in the year 6 classes that I work with (mainly locally but forays nationally have shown me nothing diffrent). This approach is also being introduced into classes lower into KS2 and even KS1. The idea being that you can track how "tick off" evidence of skills and achievements through their whole career.

Sound horrifying? Well that is what comes of publishing league tables and holding schools to ransom on their results.

Where this leaves assessment is in the hands of the children to a large extent. So I agree with you whole heartedly that children should be the filter for what is actually assessed and perhaps this is done in a more distant way, possibly by senior leaders doing a school literacy scrutiny of work as, at the end of the day, it will be a remote marker with no contact with the children who decides their "level". In schools where this is comoonplace (and it is held up as good practise by national bodies) the scrutiny feedback is given to the class teacher who can identify when and how to intervene to gve the best impact for moving forward.

This shoudl not detract from children logging whatever they like day in day out as it improves their reflective skills (not in a mirror like sense lol) and their literacy skills in that they often repupose parts of it for scrutiny by a wider audience e.g., teachers, parents or friends.

At no point in the near future can I see the "machine" being able to qualitatively mark the data other than in simple quiz based activities. A piece of writing with nuance and inference is too complex. Imagine you can understand all the parts of grammar/vocab in a foreign language. Would you get the play on words that refer to a cultural synmbol (such a national hero) and thus appreciate the nuance of the work? Maybe i'm being shortsighted.

I'm glad people are entering this debate though as it seems fundamental and prior to any use of a handheld in assessment.

 
ST

Yes I think you are right. The use of the handheld not only allows perhaps a more varied type of assessment (like a written test), video, sound recordings etc but it also puts the onus on the children to know what is expected of them and what they need to do to improve. That is why my initial questions in this thread centred around what we want assessment to do rather than how we should do it.

How this fits in with the e-scape work escapes me (I couldn't resist that pun, I do apologise). From the reading i have done around the project it talks about teams of assessment? Or am i being dim?

I was doing some work with y5s this week who each have a Tytn II. Their task was to write a story based around a basic joke (Two cannibals are in the jungle eating a clown. One says "Does this taste funny to you?" - type of thing). The previous lessons have been based around developing their writing to include appropriate adverbial phrases and subordinate clauses. None of this has been "assessed" although much of the work so far has been posted to a blog for other class members to see and nick good ideas from. The jokes, once written will then be uploaded as voice recordings to their Lp space for others to listen to. I have made the focus of the work the development of complex sentences. Now my intention is to "mark" this summative piece of work but if I feel that a child has really not grasped the concept then I know I can dig down to the "process" posts to see the development. At this moment i am not putting the onus on the children to decide which piece of work represents their understanding. Maybe after several tasks around the same topic my request might be that the children upload the piece of work that they feel best shows off their command of complex sentences.

From that I will instantly see which children a) don't even understand the concept all the way to z) where children have opening sentences as complex as the opening of Treasure Island (check it out for a grammar lesson!). This does not detract from the work that I help with in the lesson as that is part of the process.

I think that sounds most pragmatic right now,

ST