As a music teacher working in a mixed ability environment, I have always felt assessment was my strength. As mentioned in other posts, I enrolled in this class with the idea to expand my knowledge and use of digital portfolios, and to identify the ways in which they could be used most effectively in a classroom setting. In addition to this, I often feel that music is a subject often forgotten in education settings, especially with regards to online tools – more often than not, these tools are embedded in a surface manner purely for the aim of meeting the criteria of having used technology. I wish to go further than this in my own practice and find ways to use technology in order to enhance learning experiences. However, with the reality of a full time job it is often difficult to have the time to find, trial and explore the tools available.
Through this class I have realised that I have often overlooked key areas when designing assessments and have certainly lacked thought with the feedback that students are given. The first module of 813 opened my eyes to the assumptions I make as an educator when setting an assessment. Through my teacher training and subsequent leadership of teacher training, I am used to checking for things like reading ages and the level of literacy required to access material; however, this was the first time I had looked into other assumptions that I make when designing testing material. I find that I am often driven by the final product. Students are generally working on the completion of a performance or composition and, while formative verbal assessment by both peers and myself is an integrated part of my lessons, I have become stuck in a rut with regards to how feedback is given. I am often found giving verbal quick feedback when listening to student work, and demonstrating ways in which ideas can be musically developed or improved and give formal written feedback via FAweb for summative assessments. We often also use peer feedback through via coloured post-it notes and my students are used to discussing each others work which happen regularly in every lesson. This particular experience has led me to look at my own practice with renewed enthusiasm and fully evaluate assessment and feedback processes throughout all year groups. I am looking forward to exploring the new tools available within Frog to assist with feedback and would definitely like to utilise more digital tools such as Google Classroom and the afore mentioned development into the world of digital portfolios.
One significant change in my own practice is one that I would not have expected. Through designing my own formative assessment I realized that I had fallen into my own trap of integrating technology for technology’s sake. This particular experience has shown me the extent to which my thinking has changed and also the extent of my exploration within this sphere of thinking. I realized that throughout the addition of embedded technology, I had begun to take away the personal interaction that is so important between teacher and student, especially at the initial stages. I have also come to realize that I had not been writing about this project in sufficient detail – an oversight that would not have come to my attention were it not for my work on the design plan of the digital portfolio. This has especially highlighted for me the necessity to reflect fully on my decisions as an educator, and allowed me to place more value on self-refection and assessment though portfolios.
Personally, at times, I still become stuck between exploring fantastic ideas for education (Minecraft, for example) and making them work for music education. Parts of me want to be able to develop tools for myself and other arts colleagues. Although my coding and understanding of html and JavaScript have come a long way in the last few years, I still wonder if this is an area I should pursue next. Who knows, perhaps software development should be next on my list for a second Masters’ degree!
B Jones 