Standard II - Assessing/Evaluating

Artifact Description:

In Spring 2020, I reviewed and evaluated several web-based resources and tablet-based applications for the GDIT713 Computational Thinking (CT) class by Dr. Joseph Kush. The scope of the course focused on how to integrate computational thinking into the academic curriculum including STEM and other areas.  Computational thinking involves problem-solving skills that can be used across multiple content areas. The educational resources involved in the reviews were Scratch, Alice, code.org, Hopscotch, Kodable, and Daisy the Dino, etc. The assessment of each application was mainly based on my personal experience, information from the developer’s website, independent reviews from other users, and the educational app evaluation rubric. I merged all of the reviews on the applications into one document for you to view.

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Reflection and Rationale:

This artifact demonstrates the inquiry process in accessing and evaluating the instruction and implementation of educational technologies and processes grounded in reflective practice. Since many of the instructional technologies related to CT were emerging technologies, I was able to inquire into these resources through downloading and trying out the applications by myself. During the process of evaluating the educational technologies, I reflected on my previous experience in teaching the Chinese language and explored the possibility of applying the new technologies into Chinese instruction. For example, I asked students to create comic stories on paper in my previous High School Chinese class. However, some students did not display interest in the activity and only spent the least effort on it. After reviewing the applications, I found that Scratch Jr and Alice were great block-based programming tools for students who are Chinese language learners to create digital stories and practice language skills. In addition, although these web-based resources and coding applications such as code.org were originally designed for learning Computer Science, they could be used for project-based learning. For instance, students could design an app for a Chinese restaurant which is a common topic in the Chinese language course.

 

In summary, technology has become an integral part of our life. A plethora of new educational technologies is emerging as researchers and enterprises keep developing technologies to improve learning performances in education. Therefore, assessing learning and evaluating the educational technologies will be a continuous practice for me as an educator and researcher in the field.

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Reference: 

Kafai, Y.B., Burke, Q., & Resnick, M. (2014). Connected Code: Why Children Need to Learn Programming.  ISBN: 0262027755.  MIT Press. Cambridge.

Wing, J. M. (2006). Computational Thinking. Communications of the ACM, 49, 33–35. https://doi-org.authenticate.library.duq.edu/10.1145/1118178.1118215