After reading an article about utilizing data in our educational system I was left with a lot more questions than answers. First, let me say that I applaud the work that Code for America does for government entities. I want our educational system to come into the 21st century and have the tools they need to be more efficient and productive.
My concern is that there are limits to what data can be captured and quantified. Test-based accountability has driven our curriculum for way too long. How can we test to see if our students are asking good questions, and then using all the tools they can muster to investigate and answer those questions? Can they problem solve? Are they critical thinkers? Will that information be part of the data that is utilized by the school district? I doubt it.
As a recruiter I utilize many different tools in order to find, interview and hire the best people. When interviewing, the interview team looks for skills expertise, culture fit and problem solving ability. For the latter I've seen many different types of problem solving questions. Most of these are used as brain teasers or logic questions. The answer is not important. What is important is how to work through the problem. I also use behavioral interview questions. These are basically open ended questions which will give me an idea of problem solving in real life situations.
Hmmm, so if students were to get tested on these open ended problem solving questions, could we rank their answers? Could their problem solving ability be tracked? I'm not confident it could be. The answers to such problem solving questions would be in an essay format and scoring them would be a little subjective. NO you say? Well, yes it would be. Do you give the student who came up with 3 possibilities more credit than the student who only gave one? Or how about the student who gives 3 possibilities but 2 of them are fairly lame?
As any teacher knows, grading essays is much more difficult than counting the number of correct multiple choice answers. This would entail more work for the teacher but, oh, the insight that essays would give you!
Back in 1985 we had 2 Apple IIe computers for our school. Using computers in the classroom, that was not a computer lab, was relatively new. One other teacher and myself were the only two teachers who A) knew how to use a personal computer and B) had any interest in using it in our classroom. I used Bank Street Writer and had kids "type" in a journal. I thought I was so radical, using technology in the classroom. But basically I was swapping one tool for another. Instead of using a pencil and paper for writing their journals, I had my students use a computer. I look back on that now and think how far we have come in how we can use technology in education.
These wonderful new online tools that we have at our disposal have their place. But I worry that they will be seen as the ONLY answer to bridging the technology divide. They are just one of many tools that teachers and districts can utilize.
More to follow........
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