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Assessment in Schools Technology Education and ICT

A Jones, B Cowie and J Moreland, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand

2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Introduction

In this article we address the issues related to school-based

assessment of student learning in technology, including

information and communication technology (ICT). We

begin by explicating the nature of technology and the char-

acteristics of technology education and then explore the

relationship between curriculum, assessment and pedagogy.

A sociocultural perspective on the nature of the discipline,

curriculum, learning and assessment, and their associated

interrelationships underpins our analysis.

Nature of Technology and TechnologyEducation

People use technology to intervene in the world to expand

their possibilities, applying both intellectual and practical

resources. Technology encompasses a broad range of activ-

ities, including the transformation of energy, materials, and

information. Technology is not only about artifacts, but also

how and why those artifacts are developed and the impact

they might have on people and our world. It encompasses

more than ICTs, such as computers, the web, and e-mail;

it is about products, systems, and environments. It can

include electronics and control technology, materials tech-

nology, food technology, structures and mechanisms tech-

nology, and production and process technology.

Technology is included as a curriculum area in many

countries in all continents and regions, including Europe,

Asia, Pacific, Africa, and the Americas, where increasing

the levels of technological literacy is seen as of intrinsic

value for individual development, as a particular insight

into culture and for the betterment of society. The most

compelling personal reason for studying technology is that

it is a major and, some would argue, a determining feature

of the world we inhabit. As part of culture, young people

need to be introduced to technological practice so that theycan understand its nature and be able to participate in it at

some level. If technology is indeed a determining feature of

the world we inhabit, it follows that young people, as future

citizens, need to understand how it shapes the world.

Technology Education and Assessment

Assessment models must accommodate the specific fea-

tures of the subject and the characteristics of teaching and

learning in that subject. In the case of technology, there isa need to accommodate its complex multidimensional

nature. When we look at the development of technology

education many of its roots can be traced to traditional

technical subjects that emphasized only skills teaching.

More recently, it has been linked with and subsumed by

science and also conflated with ICT. Consequently, tech-

nology education has struggled to establish itself as a

school subject with its own identity. The primary focus

of technology is to intervene in the made world to extend

human capabilities as opposed to understanding the world.

Technology encompasses both technological knowledge

and technological practice and their interrelationships.Technological knowledge and practices are context depen-

dent. They are associated with and structured by objects,

artifacts, and tools in action embedded in social andcultural

practices. Its characteristics as practices, as well as a body of

knowledge that are crucial to technology education. The

uniqueness of technological knowledge, processes, and

skills has not always been recognized in general education.

Technology education needs to be concerned with involv-

ing students with the identification, exploration, and solving

of technological problems. Technological problems encom-

pass multiple and interrelated conceptual, procedural, soci-

etal, and technical aspects. A comprehensive technology

curriculum includes an understanding of the nature of

technology, technological knowledge and understanding,

technological practices, and the relationship between tech-

nology and society. This complexity poses a number of

challenges to traditional approaches to assessment.

Assessment and Views of Learning inTechnology and ICT

This article offers an analysis of assessment in technology

and ICT that is grounded in a sociocultural view of

learning. Individual and cognitive notions of learning andachievement have dominated the thinking about assess-

ment. This has contributed to the predominance of individ-

ual testing as well as to a focus on written assessment toolsin

tightly controlled environments. Such approaches are inap-

propriate for technology and technology education. Social

views of learning endorse the view that knowledge is

sociallyconstructed and context dependent. Human actions

are situated within a historical, cultural, and institutional

setting. Sociocultural theory proposes that knowledge

emerges through social and cultural activity where tools,

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artifacts, and systems mediate thinking, action, and interac-

tion. From this viewpoint, technology assessment is a

situated social and cultural activity that cannot be separated

completely from the classroom or from ongoing student

teacher interaction.

Assessment of Technology Including ICT

Assessment brings with it connotations of testing but inter-

national research suggests that formative assessment, now

often referred to as assessment for learning, is one of the

keys to enhancing student learning and engagement. In

formative assessment, teachers and students use assessment

information to enhance student learning within the class-

room and on a daily basis. In summative assessment, tea-

chers and students use assessment information to sum up

what has been learned. Traditionally, distinct summative

assessment tasks have been used to generate data for this

purpose. Formative assessment and summative assessmentdo not need to be seen as independent practices. Effective

formative assessment practices can contribute to summa-

tive assessment. When formative and summative assess-

ment practices mutually inform each other, teacher

assessment practice can become seamless and optimally

productive. Effective summative practice reviews learning

and can contribute to decisions about further teaching and

learning and thus can have a formative function for both

teachers and students.

Role of the Teacher in Classroom Assessment

Teachers cannot design and evaluate valid assessment tasks

or interact formatively unless they have a clear sense of the

ideas of the subject. Teachers need to have an appreciation

of the nature of the discipline, its organizing concepts,

mediational tools, cultural values, and symbolic and lan-

guage systems. For teachers to be effective technology

assessors, they require clear understandings of the complex

multifaceted nature of technology. Valid teacher assess-

ment in technology needs to encompass:

1. conceptual (knowledge and understanding of relevant

concepts and procedures);

2. procedural (knowing how to do something, what to do,and when to do it);

3. societal (aspects related to the interrelationship be-

tween technology and groups of people); and

4. technical (skills related to manual/practical techni-

ques) aspects.

Teachers need a clear sense of the conceptual terrain and

a pedagogical sense of the understandings the students

will bring. Teachers cannot provide experiences and

activities that guide and monitor student progress toward

the understanding of ideas if they themselves do not know

what the ideas are. Successful facilitation of student

teacher formative interaction requires a flexible grasp of

the subject matter being explored. With sound content

and pedagogical knowledge, teachers can respond to stu-

dent ideas both formatively and summatively.

Often in technology lessons, students design and create

an artifact or a virtual solution in response to a scenario

undertaken over several days. The long-term nature of

such technology tasks poses particular issues for assess-

ment. One way to help with building connections, conti-

nuity, and coherency is to think about these aspects when

planning. Teachers can first define the macro-task, that

is, the overall task. This macro-task needs to encompass

the technological conceptual, procedural, societal, and

technical learning outcomes. Then teachers can arrange

a series of interrelated subtasks, meso-tasks, which are

mutually important for achieving a solution to the macro-

task. Micro-tasks may also be planned by teachers and are

more localized tasks, embedded within meso-tasks. The

macro-, meso-, and micro-tasks form a connected networkthat provides structure, support, and direction for students.

In technology, it is essential that students work iteratively

when designing, making, and testing. Often in technology

classes, the design process is treated as a series of steps.

These steps can become ritualized with lessons structured

around each step so that students undertake the process in a

stepwise fashion, giving rise to a veneer of accomplishment.

When teachers include opportunities for students to distil

out the essential criteria for the creation of a technological

artifact, and these criteria are used as the foci, students

are able to work iteratively across designing, making, and

testing process.

Research indicates that when teachers plan for techno-

logical, conceptual, and procedural goals, they pay less

attention to social and managerial aspects in the class-

room, such as the need to take turns, work in groups, work

independently, and finish on time. Technology goals can

be expressed in terms of the knowledge, design processes,

and technical skills. After planning appropriate technol-

ogy goals, teachers are able to identify appropriate tasks

that afford opportunities for students to accomplish the

goals. Consideration of the demands and affordances of

tasks is essential for planning for the incorporation of

assessment for learning strategies, including the provision

of feedback. By knowing the ideas and skills inherent inthe tasks, teachers can be more clear about their focus for

assessment. Teachers may anticipate students possible

actions and ideas and they may rehearse how they might

respond. Rehearsal enables teachers to ascertain the tech-

nology knowledge and skills required, the suitability of

the activities for their students, and to foreshadow poten-

tial problems. By prior testing the teachers are more

aware of the demands, both conceptually and technically

of the tasks, and can interact more confidently and effec-

tively with students.

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Effective assessment in technology, both formative and

summative, focuses on the multifaceted and multimodal

nature of technology. Effective assessment accommodates

multiple modes such as drawing and modeling, not just

talk, but to communicate and develop ideas. Technologists

draw, make models and prototypes to develop and test

ideas. In technology, teachers typically engage students in

tasks that have a practical aspect. This provides students

with access to multiple modes for developing, representing,

and communicating their technological ideas. Drawing,

modeling, and manipulating materials can contribute to,

and are integral to, teachers and students exploring tasks

and negotiating ideas together. ICTs provide a tool in

technology for representing ideas. They can also engage

learners in building understanding through the collabora-

tive construction of an artifact or a shareable product in a

virtual environment. They can construct a virtual reality,

play with animated puppets, or build a three-dimensional

(3D) model of solar system. It is important that students are

allowed to use these multiple modes to represent theirideas in assessment settings.

Classroom Interactions and Assessmentfor Learning

Classroom interactions and feedback are central to teaching

technology formatively. One of the strengths of technology

lies in the way that ideas and concepts can be expressed in

concrete, practical ways. Through exploration of technolog-

ical ideas through talking and designing, students can begin

to see for themselves what they know and can do, and how

well they know and can do it. By listening to and interacting

with students, a teacher can provide feedback that suggests

ways in which students can improve their learning. Feed-

back, whether from teacher or students, is useful to both

teachers and students in providing information that enables

both teachers and students to modify the teaching and

learning activities in which they are engaged. There are a

variety of design and technology pedagogical approaches

that can contribute to students learning through formative

interactions and assessment for learning practices. These

include: comparing and contrasting technologies, categoriz-

ing and grouping examples of technology and recognizing

exceptions, and making predictions about technology activ-ities. Examining existing technologies helps students distil

the features of the technology. What is essential in these

activities is that the teacher makes it clear to the learners

that the activity is to explore what they think rather than for

them to guess the answer the teacher has in their head. This

process helps the teacher and the students to identify their

current understandings and what they might need to know

more about and where they might go next.

Categorizing and grouping examples of technology

and recognizing exceptions and talking about them are

activities that challenge students to justify their classifica-

tions in terms of technological ideas. These types of

activities enable learners to test their understandings

about the nature of technology and about particular tech-

nologies. Incorporating prediction activities encourages

students to apply their knowledge and understanding to

future situations, through which they can then either test

or realize their ideas. Problems may not be foreseen by the

students, and therefore need to be dealt with on the spot

by themselves, their peers, and/or the teacher. How tea-

chers deal with the emerging problems students face as

they engage with the task at hand, impacts on students

learning. Hence, how teachers engage with students for-

matively strongly affects how students undertake techno-

logical processes and their learning in technology. One

strategy that teachers have used successfully is to keep the

key goals (learning intentions) upfront so that students

can identify and clarify their own problems within the

bounds of the learning goals. When students are engaged

with drawing, designing, and making activities, it isimportant for the teacher to work alongside them so that

they can interact with the students emerging ideas. Leav-

ing the students to work unassisted conveys the message

that design and technology is a self-help activity. Teachers

need to model techniques, processes, and procedures in

front of students.

The process of formative assessment includes students

finding out about their learning, recognizing, reacting, and

evaluating their learning from their own viewpoint or

others. When students monitor their own progress, evaluate

their strengths and weaknesses, and devise strategies for

improving their learning, their commitment to learning is

strengthened. Technological specifications, intended

learning, and success criteria align strongly with the tech-

nological process and self-assessment process. Key to the

success of both peer- and self-assessment in technology is

teachers and students discussing about technology together,

as this provides students with the language to discuss tech-

nological concepts and processes. When teachers target

conceptual and procedural aspects and talk about them

with their students, more opportunities are afforded for

students to learn about these technological aspects and

include them in their work. When teachers concentrate on

technological learning outcomes and make these clear to

the students as outcomes for them to achieve, students areable to review their work and undertake self-assessment

focused on these aspects. Technological concepts and pro-

cedures require embedding in learning activities through

constant articulation and exploration, so that students begin

to understand their strengths and weaknesses and how to

deal with them. Engaging students in conferring, consulta-

tive conversations related to technological aspects, along

with the provision of continual support, reinforcement,

and overt cueing by teachers, leads to effective student

understandings. In technology, teachers need to help

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students focus on the conceptual aspects inherent in the

processes and procedures involved in reaching solutions.

Often a practical focus can overshadow conceptual aspects.

When students are encouraged to review their accomplish-

ments in technology in an ongoing manner they are able to

do this throughout the technological process, rather than

undertaking self-review only as an endpoint summative

process. Discussion plays an important part in the classroom

assessment. Through discussion students are able to help

each other, clarify and develop ideas, communicate ideas

and solutions, critique, and seek help. Class and peer dis-

cussion provides the teacher with opportunities to notice,

recognize, and respond to students ideas as they are

brought to light. ICTs can allow for group collaboration

over time and space.

Classroom Summative Assessment

Teachers are responsible for summing up and reporting

on student learning. Teachers can summarize formativeassessment information during and at the end of a teach-

ing sequence. This information can be used to improve

teaching and inform students on where to go next. Accu-

mulated formative assessment information can assist in

developing a richer picture of the sum of student learning

and achievement, one that includes both the process and

product of their learning. Summative assessment as a

summing up of learning across time, across individuals,

and across classes can support a formative function. Effec-

tive formative assessment practices can also contribute to

summative assessment, and vice versa. This can be of

benefit to teacher, students, and their parents.

Student performance in technology is often assessed byan evaluation of the end product. When this is the case,

the product should first be assessed holistically against

criteria pertaining to its form, function, and quality. This

judgment needs to be followed by identifying strengths

and weaknesses. This way the whole can be evaluated and

also how the individual elements work together. Judg-

ments need to be a balanced reflection of the whole of

student learning, which are then backed with detail. Such

summative assessment includes information that can be

used to set the next direction for learning. At the same

time as looking back at what students have accomplished,

teachers also look forward to what they might accomplishnext. This fits with a sociocultural perspective that is

concerned with learning and achievement over time.

Assessment and ICT

There are three broad overlapping views of the role of

ICT in schools, namely, ICT as:

1. a set of skills or competencies to be mastered in an

information-rich society;

2. a vehicle for supporting and enhancing the teaching,

learning, and assessment of other curriculum subjects;

and

3. a subject in its own right as part of technology educa-

tion.

The first focus is associated with current concerns that

students leave school with the knowledge and skills totake an active part in society, that is, with a focus on

information and ICT literacy. The second focus is asso-

ciated with research and development that seeks to utilize

the affordances of ICT to enhance student motivation,

make teaching more relevant, incorporate multimodal

items in lesson materials, represent and communicate

ideas, and to generate, store, and analyze student assess-

ment data for formative and summative purposes. The

latter role is currently related to ICT as an area of study

computing, software design, gaming, and development of

ICT-based systems. ICT now lies at the heart of most

activities that constitute social inclusion. ICT use is ubiq-

uitous in what it means to be socially, economically,

culturally, and politically involved in current society.

In this section, we elaborate on the second view of ICT

as the first is beyond the scope of this article and the third

has been covered in the previous section on technology

and technology education generally.

ICTs can enhance teaching and learning through a con-

tribution to formative and summative assessment. They can

be used for assessment purposes at the national, school, class,

and individual level. National electronic (e)-assessment

banks provide access to well-designed assessment items

that allow teachers to make comparative judgments in real

time to provide evidence of learning which can be used bothformatively and summatively. Not only are assessment

banks online but ICTs also are useful for developing elec-

tronic (e)-portfolios to document learning and achievement

in a multimodal way. E-portfolios can contain written work,

photographs, video, audio, and other digital media. These

allow both teachers and students to document the process

and products of learning as well as the teacher feedback and

the student response to this. This type of e-portfolio can be

used in national assessment and moderation processes.

Digital evidence is easy to share, easy to search, and

easy to ask analytical questions of. This means that tea-

chers and schools are able to ask probing questions aboutthe nature of the learning of their students and to think

about the implications of this for their teaching and

learning programs. School and class e-portfolios allow

for ease of sharing between teachers and provide a pro-

ductive forum for discussion between teachers to compare

and contrast student work to explore possibilities and

potential for learning through questioning each other on

how students have been supported to achieve to a high

standard. Teachers are able to expand their teaching

repertoire to enhance student learning. Students are also

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able to see the potential in the learning tasks and what

might be possible for them. For example, the use of

photographs as a story line of images adds to student

confidence and the sense that they are making progress.

Social technologies are on the rise for classroom use.

Students can immerse themselves in contexts that chal-

lenge and extend their understanding and use these social

networkings as part of peer-assessment processes. These

social networking ICT environments allow for multiple

perspectives in assessment for learning and assessment of

learning, including peers, teachers, students, and their

families. As ICTs become more integrated into classrooms

the process of assessment has the potential to become

more dynamic, multimodal, and interactive.

Conclusion

Technology encompasses a very broad range of activities,

including the transformation of energy, materials, andinformation. It encompasses products, systems, and envir-

onments. Technology is a multifaceted discipline with a

strong multimodal aspect. Technology education requires

students to develop and use knowledge, procedures, skills,

and ethical/value/societal sensibilities to create techno-

logical solutions. A sociocultural view of learning accom-

modates the social, cultural, and historical dimensions of

technology. Assessment models need to reflect this com-

plexity. Too often assessment models do not reflect the

characteristics of the subject under consideration. Class-

room assessment for technology can have two main pur-

poses: formative and summative. For teachers to assess in

both a valid and reliable way, they need to have an under-

standing of the nature of technology as well as insights into

its knowledge and practice. Technology is often taught and

learned in long-term tasks requiring that teaching and

assessment establish a sense of continuity and coherence.

Effective planning not only addresses the multifaceted

long-term nature of technology tasks but also accounts

for how students and teachers might be actively involved

in the assessment process. Clear learning goals and a shared

understanding of the specifications of the technology solu-

tion enable teacher, student, and peer formative assessment.

When teachers systematically collect formative evidence,

this can serve a summative function and valid summative

assessment can be used formatively. ICTs have the poten-

tial to enhance classroom assessment practices through the

provision of additional modes of representing, recording,

and reviewing information on student learning process and

products.

Assessment is often constructed as an external evalua-

tion of learning. However, school-based classroom assess-

ment has a greater influence on student learning and

perceptions of a subject. Valid and reliable classroom

assessments in technology need to represent and reflect

the multidimensional and multimodal nature of technol-

ogy. When this occurs the students experience of teach-

ing, learning, and assessment is enriched.

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