Reflections on Week Four (W/E 6/12/08)

I thought the two most useful things in this week's readings were the "Authentic Assessment Toolbox" and the "Five Criteria for Evaluating Web Pages."
Links are http://jonathan.mueller.faculty.noctrl.edu/toolbox/whatisit.htm & http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/webcrit.html respectively.

I really liked the format of the Toolbox. It was straightforward and crystal clear, starting with definitions, concrete examples of authentic assessment from teachers in the author's course, and then a nice compare and contrast section outlining the differences between traditional assessment and authentic assessment. I thought his point about a teacher not really having to choose between the two was insightful, likening the process to preferring a chauffeur who could both pass the written driver's test and also perform well on the road to one or the other alone.

I also liked the side-by-side chart of defining attributes of each type of assessment, followed by his "fleshing out" the chart and describing the benefits of constructivist, performance learning as opposed to the narrower confines of recall and contrived responses in traditional assessments which do not accurately reflect true learning.

With the data smog and profusion of websites out there, I think teaching information literacy is extremely important for our students. They must be able to make reasoned, balanced appraisals of the trustworthiness of internet sites, as not every one is worthy of reference status by any means. The five criteria are short, pointed questions which virtually every student can use to assess a site to evaluate its merit, integrity, and authority. If a web site display any weaknesses or deficiencies, a student quickly knows to enlarge the search or look elsewhere. With the sheer abundance of materials out there, all claiming to be authoritative, this skill is critical for the net generation learners. Kind of like separating the wheat from the chaff.