UNIT III - PART [A] - Bullet 1 PDF

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ICT :Scope and Techniques for Evaluation:  It is well recognized now that the advancement in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has greatly changed the teaching-learning process both at school and higher education level.  ICT has not only changed the instructional system but the examination and evaluation system is also being influenced to a great extent.  In the recent years several innovative initiatives have taken place in the field of examination and evaluation.  Online assessment is now very common all over the world. Online examination make the assessments and evaluation system learner centric as it can be conducted when the candidate is ready, rather than at the convenience of the system.  In view of the fact that the learners learn at different paces, there is no reason, other than administrative convenience, to test them at a certain fixed interval in all courses simultaneously.  However, now the use of ICT in the field of education has reduced this barrier of administrative inconvenience in making the examination system more flexible and learner oriented.  In general, every student should be given a choice of taking exam as per their preparation. Moreover, at higher education level, particularly in open and distance learning system, a large number of learners are working or employed. This comprehensive ICT enabled system of examination has a number of benefits to the students:  It provides opportunity to the learners to appear in the examination whenever they feel prepared for examination after completing the minimum eligibility criteria.  It also helps in reducing the possibility of malpractices in the examinations as each student may get different set of question paper.  It helps in minimizing the fear of failure in the examination and thus saving the distance learner from frustration and depression.

 May help in improving the pass percentage of students in the university by giving chance to really motivated and prepared students to appear in the examination.  It can improve the reliability of examinations and make evaluation a continuous process,  It can also reduce the load on the term end examinations of the University. The ICT brings more rich material in the classrooms and libraries for the teachers and students. It has provided opportunity for the learner to use maximum senses to get the information. It has broken the monotony and provided variety in the teaching – learning situation. The ICT being latest, it can be used both at school and higher education levels in the following areas:  Teaching  Diagnostic Testing  Remedial Teaching  Evaluation  Psychological Testing  Development of Virtual Laboratory  Online Tutoring  Development of Reasoning & Thinking  Instructional Material Development

Following are the main advantages of Computer Based Diagnostic Test.  They do not require any special setting or arrangement. The only requirement is computer systems and software.  The student can use it even from home if made available on school website.  They do not need any special assistance from teacher. Unlike the paper-pencil test, it does not require paper setting and paper correction on the part of the teacher.  It saves time on the part of the teacher and students.  The feedback is given immediately after the test is over, which gives an intrinsic reinforcement to the student.

 The student finds it more interesting and motivating as compared to the paper-pencil diagnostic test.  It can be updated from time to time.  It is economical in terms of money as it requires only one time investment. There are some limitations of Computer Based Diagnostic Testing (CBDT). These are as follows:  The learner might find it uninteresting or monotonous as compared to paper pencil test.  The teacher might find CBDT difficult to administer if he / she is not a computer savvy.  It faces certain constraints, like, power cut, when it is being administered.  The learner might not take it seriously as he / she is used to the traditional paper and pencil tests.  The development of CBDT is costly and tedious as compared to paper and pencil test.  The use of CBDT requires many computers which may not be available in all the schools.  The learners who are not computer friendly might not feel at ease while giving the test on Computer.  Certain technical problems might crop up which can distract the learner while giving the test.  All teachers may not be competent to develop diagnostic test and especially CBDT.  Teacher may not know computer languages that may be used for developing CBDT.

USE OF ICT IN REMEDIAL TEACHING Once the ICT is used for diagnosis purpose, the next step is to organize Remedial Teaching Programme. The Remedial Teaching can be done by the teacher if some common mistakes are identified. It may not be feasible to organize Remedial programme for individual students. At this point, the ICT can be used for giving individual Remedial Programme. It may be Online or off line. The instructional material if designed specifically for meeting the individual needs of students and uploaded on the School website and then the ICT can be used for providing Remedial teaching Programme.

Assessment is the process of identifying, gathering and interpreting information about students' learning. Assessment involves using wide variety of methods and tools to evaluate, measure, and document the student learning. Assessment basically helps one to improve learning and also set direction for ongoing teaching and learning process. Activity: View the video on assessment from the following link.

Types of Assessment Assessment can be classified in to various types or approaches based on the purpose for which it is designed. It can be classified as follows: Formative Assessment: Formative assessment provides feedback and information during the instructional process, while learning is taking place, and while learning is occurring. Summative Assessment: Summative assessment takes place after the learning has been completed and provides information and feedback that sums up the teaching and learning process. Diagnostic Assessment: Diagnostic assessment can help you identify your students’ current knowledge of a subject, their skill sets and capabilities, and to clarify misconceptions before teaching takes place. Knowing students’ strengths and weaknesses can help you better plan what to teach and how to teach it. Authentic Assessment: The term authentic assessment describes the multiple forms of assessment that reflect student learning, achievement, motivation, and attitudes on instructionally relevant classroom activities. It Emphasizes what students know, rather than what they do not know or requires students to develop responses instead of selecting them from predetermined options. An authentic assessment usually includes a task for students to perform and a rubric by which their performance on the task will be evaluated. Performance Assessment: Performance assessment is one which requires students to demonstrate that they have mastered specific skills and competencies by performing or producing something.

CURRENT TRENDS IN ASSESSMENT Traditional multiple-choice tests have come under a great deal of criticism in recent years, but whatever their flaws, they are a mature technology that offers some distinct advantages. They

tend to be reliable, as noted. Also, in comparison to some other forms of assessments, they do not require a lot of time or cost a lot of money to administer, and they generate scores that are familiar to educators. It is likely that multiple-choice tests will continue to be widely used for some time to come, as evidenced by the fact that the most of the entrance examinations and board examinations continue to include items of this type in addition to some new item types. However the recent trend in assessment initiatives by NCERT and CBSE the reach of assessment is more expansive and complex, designed to produce a well-educated, well-rounded student, not just one who could demonstrate discrete literacy and numeracy skills. Thus, for example, they included not just academic content knowledge, but also outcomes that related to thinking, creativity, problem solving, and the interpretation of information. Some of the major features of assessment are: • Integral to classroom culture • Oriented toward clear learning goals • Incremental and interactive • Providing feedback that is timely and specific • Focused on the process of learning as much as the outcome • Using varied methods to deepen learning and meet diverse student needs ROLE OF ICT IN ASSESSMENT  Technology has a vital role to play in effective and efficient assessment of learning.  Modern technology offers educators a variety of new tools that can be used in the classroom.  Technology can help teachers assess their students’ learning as well as their performance in the classroom.  Use of ICT in assessment involves the use of digital devices to assist in the construction, delivery, storage or reporting of student assessment tasks, responses, grades or feedback.  ICT based assessment can use a multitude of formats, including text documents or portable document formats, multimedia formats such as sound, video or images; it can involve complex simulations or games; it can also be undertaken by students in groups or individually and it can occur with large numbers of students in a synchronous or asynchronous manner.

 Teachers can use computers to construct their assessment tasks, to deliver these tasks to relevant students and to record and provide feedback and grades to these students.  Computers can also be used to analyze students’ responses, both to provide feedback to the student on the quality and relevance of their response, as well as to provide feedback to the teacher on whether the task can differentiate between students with different abilities.  ICT based assessment can be used to test many different capabilities and skills that are developed by students.  There are only a few tasks that might not be suitable for completing and recording electronically, but the number of such tasks is rapidly diminishing as technology becomes more sophisticated and widespread.  In many disciplines laboratory equipment can be manipulated remotely and students can undertake real time physical performances that are able to be recorded and used for assessment purposes.  We are quickly approaching the stage where our imaginations will be the limiting factor in designing eassessment tasks. Computer Assisted Assessment (CAA): Computer-assisted assessment refers to the use of computers to assess students learning and performance. Computer-assisted assessment is a term that covers all forms of assessments, whether summative or formative, delivered with the help of computers. This covers both assessments delivered on computer, either online or offline, and those that are marked with the aid of computers, such as those using Optical Mark Reading (OMR). Computer Assisted Assessment is typically formative, in that it helps students to discover whether they have learned what the educator intended and provide timely feedback on how best to teach a subject. Increasingly, it can be summative, with limited feedback typically being given at the end of a course and serving to grade and categorize the student’s work. It can also be diagnostic, e.g. by testing for pre-knowledge. Advantages  Computer assisted testing is more likely to be objective testing; testing that can be marked objectively and thus offer high reliability. • The benefit is that the tests can be marked quickly and

easily, and adapted to meet a wide range of learning outcomes. Disadvantages • It is usually associated with testing knowledge and skills rather than conceptual understanding, because of the frequent use of multiple choice questions (MCQ) formatting, which is believed to test at a lower level of understanding when related to Bloom’s Taxonomy; • Construction of good objective tests requires skill and practice and so is initially time consuming; • Hardware and software must be carefully monitored to avoid failure during examinations; • Security issues can be a problem in Web based CAA; • Students require adequate IT skills and experience of the assessment type. Computer Adaptive Testing (CAT) One of the recent advancements in assessment is the design and use of computer-adaptive tests, which add a great deal of efficiency to the testing process. Depending on the student’s responses, the software will automatically adjust the level of difficulty of the questions it poses (after a number of correct answers, it will move on to harder items; too many incorrect responses, and it will move back to easier ones), quickly zeroing in on student’s level of mastery of the given material. Further, the technology makes it a simple matter to include items that test content from previous and subsequent grades, which allows measurement of a very wide distribution of knowledge and skills (from below grade level to far above it) that might exist in any given class or testing group. CAT components: There are five technical components in building a CAT. 1.

Calibrated item pool

2.

Starting point or entry level

3.

Item selection algorithm

4.

Scoring procedure

5.

Termination criterion

Advantages  Adaptive tests can provide uniformly precise scores for most test-takers. • An adaptive test can typically be shortened by 50% and

still maintain a higher level of precision than a fixed version. • This translates into a time savings for the test-taker. • Test-takers do not waste their time attempting items that are too hard or trivially easy. • Like any computer-based test, adaptive tests may show results immediately after testing. Disadvantages • the first issue encountered in CAT is the calibration of the item pool. • Although adaptive tests have exposure control algorithms to prevent overuse of a few items, the exposure conditioned upon ability is often not controlled. • In a CAT with a time limit it is impossible for the examinee to accurately budget the time one can spend on each test item and to determine if he/she is on pace to complete a timed test section. ASSESSMENT: DIGITAL TOOLS AND OPTIONS LMS based assessment option: There are a large number of ICT tools and services supporting various kinds of assessment activities. Some of these are offered as specific modules of learning management systems (LMS) like Moodle that enable the management of question banks and items together with the administration and internet-based delivery of tests. The various assessment question types which are available in LMS like moodle are calculated, description, essay, matching, embedded answers (cloze test / gap fill), multiple choice, short answer, numerical, true/false, drag and drop, jigsaw, ordering, multi select, short answer etc. 1) Standalone assessment systems: There are comprehensive assessment management systems with specific focus on summative and formative assessment, like Rogō. It is the University of Nottingham e-Assessment management system used to create and deliver online assessments. This online system supports the full process from question and paper creation (including peer and external examiner reviews) to the analysis of exam results and creation of reports. It has support for formative quizzes, summative exams, surveys and several other paper types. Authentic assessments can be created using any combination of 15 question types together with graphics, audio files and video. The question types are area, dichotomous, multiple choice questions (MCQ), multiple response, extended matching, flash interface, fill-in-the-blank, image hotspots, labelling, likert

scales, ranking, script concordance test (SCT), text boxes, true/false 2)E-Box E-Box is a Technology Enabled Active Learning and Assessment platform. Apart from the basic LMS components like quizzes, assignments, lesson components, resource components etc, it has numerous activity components pertaining to technology and engineering concepts that could be used for design and analysis oriented learning. These components are also used for assessing the design and analysis skills of candidates, apart from the regular knowledge level testing. 3) HOT POTATOES HOT POTATOES is a set of programs that allows the production of interactive web-based teaching exercises which can be delivered to any computer. The suite consists of six individual programs: JCloze, JQuiz, JCross, JMatch, JMix, and the The Mashe. The Hot Potatoes suite includes six applications, enabling you to create interactive multiple-choice, shortanswer, jumbled-sentence, crossword, matching/ordering and gap-fill exercises for the World Wide Web. Hot Potatoes is freeware, and you may use it for any purpose or project you like. Since a quiz is a game or competition in which you answer questions, accordingly, in JQUIZ the learner must create, in an interactive way, the correct answer. This may happen in four different forms: multiple-choice, short answers, a combination of the two just mentioned called Hybrid questions, and multiselect questions (where the student needs to choose several correct answers, among all the options provided). Feedback can be provided for right and wrong answers, as well as a hint in the form of single letters, which appear one at the time, according to student´s request. The JQuiz also gives a score which is lowered if several hints letters were requested. A cloze test is a test in which words have been removed from a short piece of writing, and students have to write what they think are the correct words in the empty spaces; in JCLOZE students must do the same thing but the program provides clues, and encouragement by automatic scoring. Hints in the form of single letters are provided in case the student needs an extra help. A crossword puzzle is a game in which you write the answers to questions in a pattern of numbered boxes. In JCROSS the

learners write up the words, by answering written questions or by looking at pictures and guessing the correct word. If necessary they can ask for hints, in the form of free letters. A mix is a combination of different items so that the result cannot be easily separated into its parts, and JMIX produces jumbled-sentences, where the student can choose among several answers. In this case the hint bottom provides whole words or even segments of the right sentence, if requested. Two things match when they look the same because they are pairs, so in JMTCH there are two lists made up of words, or sentences, or pictures, which the student has to match. Also in this program scoring is available. THE MASHER is a program that compiles batches of hot potatoes exercises into a whole unit, in a sequential order, with the same colour and appearance setting; it also helps to set certain convenient links using the navigation bottons to create an index file for the unit. This is the tool that allows you to upload the files to hotpotatoes.net, in case of having an account, or if you have registered earlier. At the Hot Potatoes home page, there is free software available that has limited entries, still it gives a clear idea of the wide range of possibilities this tool has for ELT. The set with a wider range of entries is not freeware, but can be used without conditions by members of public or non-profit educational institutions. The production can be uploaded into a web page which itself can be uploaded to hotpotatoes.net (handled by Half Baked Potatoes) from within the hot potatoes program. In this site there are plenty of examples. OSCATS: Open Source Computer Adaptive Testing System: The OSCATS library implements Item Response Theory (IRT) and cognitively diagnostic (latent classification) models and item selection algorithms used in Computerized Adaptive Testing (CAT). OSCATS facilitates the development of CATs and simulations of CATs by providing ready-to-use code for running the CAT item selection and ability/classification estimation in an extensible, modular framework. Concerto-platf...