Aug 26 2010
Create a test on the fly: Full marks for this tool!!!
When I look at what teachers get up to in our online Maths Literacy community of practice (www.mathsliteracy.co.za), I find that they mostly download tests and exams. This is quite understandable as we as educators are pushed for time and are always stressed and forced to assess our learners’ progress. In the old days we used to “cut and paste” from old exam papers, study guides and exam booklets by photo copying and typing in the missing bits (if we had access to a computer)and physically gluing diagrammes or questions to pages . When we painstakingly re-typed test questions, there were always the few rogue gremlins that sneaked in and if we were lucky we could exterminate them before the learners actually wrote the test. But, sadly, sometimes we only picked up the mistakes when we did the memorandums after the fact. I know (I know) we should have done it before they wrote, but, alas time, time, time and dreadful deadlines on top of extra help sessions and extra murals in the afternoons and over weekends, did not allow us with must time to spare.
We shared tests and resources at district meetings and other subject functions and if we were sociable we made the effort to get to know the “sharer bees” and regularly visit them with spare stiffy disks (remember those and no, floppies were before my time) to capture some of their hard work to use with our learners. Mostly, however, we worked in isolation, tirelessly creating our own material which we kept in endless files for which we did not have space in our classrooms. Our learners could, if they had any brains at all, collect the tests and exams from previous years, work through the various study guides and question booklets and pretty much predict what to expect while collecting their A’s as they passed Go.
Then the internet kicked in with all the amazing promises of easy sharing and collaboration. Even though e-mail meant that we could actually send resources around far more effortlessly, it still did not happen. We still did not have time to remember to actually send that e-mail with our latest test, and even if we remembered, to keep track of who we have to send it to, were also a hassle. There was also the problem of connectivity. The privileged few had it. The rest ran around with their flash drives (no more stiffy’s to be seen, thankfully) spreading viruses and all kinds of other hazards along with the sharing of tests and exams.
Then social media came along as well as a more constant stream of connectivity (still for the privileged few but getting better) and provided a means to quickly share and download material with the click of a button. Within our Maths literacy community we have managed to collect quite a substantial amount of resources. More and more teachers are starting to share their work in a format that can be edited without the need to re-type and re-invent the wheel. A big hurray to those sharer bees that valiantly put their work out to scrutiny without getting much in return!!!
One of the biggest requests and point of discussion in our teacher community is the issue of thinking levels. How do we know if our questions are pitched at the right level? Especially in mathematical literacy, which is a relatively new subject, this comes up time and again. What we dreamed for was an assessment tool where we can submit individual assessment questions, of high quality, according to learning outcomes and assessment standards as well as an indication of thinking levels with suitable contexts in place. And it would be extra nice if we could pick and choose questions and it could automatically generate the test for us. Sounds like just a dream? Not anymore.
When I related this dream to Mark Horner of the Shuttleworth Foundation, he listened, smiled, told me he could not promise me anything, and went off and created the tool. Tomorrow morning we will launch the Fullmarks (www.fullmarks.org.za) assessment tool which will endeavour to go a long way to making this dream a reality. Mark mobilised great teachers to submit their questions across the whole curriculum and all the phases and even if it still in fledgling mode, it will grow up to be a swan yet.
If we want this Assessment bank tool to become something that we all can be proud of and use, we need to get stuck in, not only in using the tool, but also in submitting good quality assessment items that can be modified and expanded on. I for one will try to galvanise the teachers in our maths literacy community to take some of the great resources from our database and feed it into the Full marks system. Mark and his team at the Shuttleworth Foundation have created a great vehicle for us, and now we need to make it fly!!
Here is a quick overview of how the Fullmarks system work. Please give them some feedback (you can leave comments below. Most of all- the proof is in the pudding- use it, share it and modify it- it was created for you!!! You can now FINALLY throw away your glue…..
Now I just want a tool to automatically, at a click of a button, will make our learners think beyond assessment…..Any ideas Mark and Neels???????
, so I will, like you, fit this in between having no time and having no time….So no excuses…..
