Earlier this month, all of the second semester grades for students in Evansville, Indiana were lost through an unfortunate turn of events.  And while that was unfortunate, it raised some questions in the mind of Jeff Giddins, author of the Southeast Georgia Tech Integration Blog, on how assessment is documented. 

Even though a technology glitch can result in lost grades, other kinds of technology can act as a back-up. For example, if all the teachers in a school were able to make digital publishing tools available to students so that each pupil could maintain a digital portfolio of work in a variety of formats and a variety of locations (i.e., Moodles, blog posts, wikis, websites, podcasts, et cetera), the likelihood of losing everything would be minimized. There would always be artifacts of student learning handy if assessment and grading had to be revisited. In the event of a loss of grades, the availability of well-understood rubrics and examples of student work would mitigate a great deal of anxiety.

If you were looking for another reason to justify the use of blogs or other online means of assessment, here is another reason worth considering.

I subscribe to an electronic newsletter from MACUL called the “Big Deal Book of Technology” and in the April 1, 2008 edition I noticed that Atomic Learning has created free video training sessions for Google Docs.  It will only be free through May, so don’t hesitate to check it out.  This quote is taken directly from the newsletter:
 
“Atomic Learning recently announced a free tutorial series on Google Docs, the free Web-based word-processing program that allows users to keep documents up to date and allows selected individuals to update files from their personal computers. The Atomic Learning series, titled “Google Docs—A Focus on Docs,” includes more that 60 short, show-and-tell movies that guide users through the creation, implementation and use of Google Docs. Topics include working with documents, organizing files, document options, sharing and publishing, working with collaboration, and utilizing the edit, insert and revision tab options. The series is being offered, free of charge, through May 1, 2008.”

View the Videos Here!

You may be familiar with Web 2.0 or you may have never heard of it. There are teachers in both camps. Susan McLester, editor of Technology and Learning magazine, and educational technologist David Jakes compiled an “introduction” to Web 2.0 in this Web 2.0 For Educators article. McLester writes a brief overview about common elements with Web 2.0 and also presents a “pocket dictionary” of Web 2.0 terms. Jakes introduces how professional development and visual literacy are impacted by Web 2.0. This is a quick read article that will help you see the big picture.