Measuring progress is something educators
and clinicians have always done. The challenge in 2015 is no different to what
its been in the past – how do we measure progress for kids who learn in
different ways?
Back in 1995 Lam explained that assessment
is unfair if students are not provided an opportunity to demonstrate what they
know. Therefore, students who could not demonstrate what they knew were limited
in their education opportunities because of the information derived from biased
assessments. So, while some may argue
that equality means all students are tested in the same way – the results will
be influenced by characteristics such as gender, race, ethnicity, linguistic
background, socio-economic status and disability.
When assessment or evaluation is seen as
part of the teaching process, we can more easily adjust the assessment to suit
the individual. A portfolio style approach of gathering evidence for skills,
progression and for setting goals is often a viable process for students who
learn in different ways. This is why, in working in special education, this
approach is often popular.
The rise in the use of apps in the special
needs classroom is indeed no different than the use of apps in mainstream
classrooms. In the Colorcards app range, the designers have drawn on the
feedback and expertise of teachers and speech pathologists on how best to track
and share progress for students using the apps.
Each of the 5 Colorcards apps (https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/colorcards/id927367010)
has a consistent reporting feature running through. The apps collect data on
the student’s accuracy; time spent on tasks and also reports on the difficulty
levels and shows the activity stimulus.
In addition, the apps allow the review and
storage or sharing of the associated spoken comments recorded of the student
during the tasks. This really allows for more qualitative evaluation and,
indeed, for self-evaluation.
The apps allow the teacher, clinician or
parent to customize the content. It is this feature, which in my mind, really
opens the apps up to being truly a tool for fairly measuring progress. Being
able to customize the images to suit the child means that the level playing
field enables a clearer picture of that child’s skills and abilities. By uploading or taking photos to use in the
app of culturally, linguistically and contextual images – the child has a
fairer way of being able to demonstrate their own abilities. Imagine having to name objects in “Everyday
Objects” (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/everyday-objects/id927879754?mt=8),
which were culturally unfamiliar. Just thinking about the concept of “lunch”
and the numerous ways this would be presented in different cultures, is a good
example. For me, lunch, may be represented by a ham and cheese sandwich, but
for others from different backgrounds, it may be a Japanese style bento box, or
an Indian tiffin box. Being able to
adjust the content in the app allows for teachers and therapists to more
flexibly create assessment and therapy activities.
The apps cleverly allow teachers or
therapists to also track progress for numerous students on his/her caseload or
classroom list. This means that quickly and easily content can be created for a
student; personalized and used; but that also the teacher or therapist can
review progress for individual students, groups or an entire
classroom/caseload.
Because the reports can be exported, they
can also be shared. This is great for including in learning portfolios or
evidencing in progress reports.
