I would have to say that this week's assigned readings and videos were most enjoyable for me According to Solomon and Schrum (2007), "All schools are driven by requirements to maintain and improve standardized test scores and yet these efforts create a rather interesting conundrum, because frequently the "new school' model and high-stakes testing seem in conflict with each other." Although this quote highlights a recurring challenge in 21st century education, this reading actually provides solutions to this problem with authentic technological assessments.
For example, English students can listen to a podcast as they would on a state exam. Students can peer-edit different students' works in a shared online space. Teachers can assess using the state writing rubric. What I most took from the reading is that educators need to focus just as much on state assessment standards of instructional objectives. Once we understand how the state appraises students' learning, we can adapt those rubrics to lessons integrated with technology to clear the quagmire Solomon and Schrum mentioned. What I most took from a video clip by Sasha Barab from Edutopia.org is that teachers need to advocate for themselves and their students the importance of media literacy in shaping the future for our children. Teachers must advocate to parents and administrators the reality of how we impart knowledge. We don't use the historical facts that we memorized from high school in verbal discourse. We go to our smartphones to get our facts. So we should integrate media literacy in a manner where we assess our students comprehension based on how they solve meaningful problems instead of how the recite facts and definitions.
Edutopia.org. (nd). Big Thinkers: Sasha Barab on New-Media Engagement. Retrieved on March 28, 2012 from http://www.edutopia.org/digital-generation-sasha-barab-video
Solomon, G., & Schrum, L. (2007). Web 2.0: New tools, New schools. Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education, 168-176
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