Technology to Demonstrate Competencies

The assessment tool I shared is a platform designed to give students a quiz and answer them. While using it, I feel limited because I can only check for fragmentary knowledge. I also thought that it would be nice to confirm that the students are learning from a wide perspective. Among the five software that we investigated today and analyzed while watching videos, one can overcome its limitations. I believe Filpgrid is the best option to demonstrate students' technical and academic competence in multiple ways. With Flipgrid, students can share their learning status and their thoughts via video. A way to ensure that students fully understand what they are learning is by making sure they can explain to others while they speak. And even the time they have to prepare to explain in video and words is thought to be self-study. All five software that can be seen in the video are good software for evaluating students' knowledge, but I think Flipgrid is the best for evaluating from multiple angles.

Competency based learning emphasizes students demonstrating their understanding of what they have learned, and what they are expected to learn as they progress through their education. Students can demonstrate their competencies in a variety of way using technology. Similarly to what we have used in class, flipgrid is a great way that allows students to illustrate their competencies in a way outside of just regular tests or projects. Another way students can use technology to do so is to make a blog. This would allow students to be creative and enjoy showing what they’ve learned. Having a graded online class discussion, whether over an LMS or zoom call, or an external site, can be another great way for student to demonstrate their competencies in a conversational way. This would allow for students to interact with others and lessen the pressure that may come with a test. Creating a podcast is another way for students to illustrate their competencies. This causes students to be able to discuss their ideas and showcase them in ways that may not be available to them in a written or test format. Overall, providing different technology-based options to students will allow them to be able to demonstrate their competencies in creative and engaging ways.  

Competency-Based Learning seeks to understand new and existing ways that students can demonstrate their understanding of different content areas in meaningful ways. Through different means of demonstrating their learning, students are strengthening life-long skills that can be useful beyond classroom walls. I believe that technology has opened up different avenues for students to demonstrate their competencies. The article titled “100 Things Students Can Create To Demonstrate What They Know” proves this! There are so many technological tools and outlets that cater to students' individual strengths and weaknesses. For example, students that are more well-spoken and feel comfortable giving oral presentations can create a YouTube channel, demonstration, or commercial to show what they know. Students who are more shy, but enjoy curating visuals might choose to create a brochure, digital scrapbook, or model demonstrating their understanding of something. The opportunities for students to demonstrate their competencies in all content areas are truly endless with technology. Instead of drilling students over material using tests and quizzes that don’t take into account student interests, we need to bring in different/more meaningful ways for students to demonstrate their learning.

     Competency-based learning is nothing new to education today. Students have been required to demonstrate what they’ve learned in a myriad of ways since the beginning of formal education. Now, in the age of technology, students have even more ways to demonstrate what they’ve learned. And, as stated in Ryan Schaff’s article, students “want their academic work to be relevant, engaging, and fun”.
     There are so many ways for students to present proof of their new knowledge. They can use several media formats that meet their interests and personalities. For example, more theatrical students can create a video or webcast, acting out what they have learned. Students with artistic abilities can submit digital graphics are artwork. Others, who may wish to be funny, can produce a comedy skit. The options made by technology are endless. It’s important for us as educators to seize this opportunity and allow students to demonstrate competency in their own creative way. This will make learning fun, engaging, and relevant to them.

Technology is an integral part of a student's lives. As each year passes, it becomes more ingrained as students continue to move through their education. Like all things, some students may be more comfortable with technology than others. In general, most educators can acknowledge and support the idea that all students are not the same: in interests, learning styles, hobbies, or talents. However, children should be given the opportunity to present competencies in a modality that is most comfortable for them. For many years, the general frame of mind for learning was using the lecture plus assessment equals competency formula; nevertheless that doesn’t work for many students! There are so many different ways students can demonstrate competency in learning. Students deserve the opportunity to be creative and technology is an excellent support for this. Students can use technology to create videos or podcasts about themselves discussing a topic and answering questions about it, which demonstrates a level of understanding. Students can draw pictures or diagrams using apps and share them via online platforms. A specific idea that I have seen used in upper grades is to allow the student to take on the instructor role and create their own quiz, using websites like Kahoot. Students enjoy the role reversal and demonstrate competency by writing questions and giving correct answers as well as differentiating between correct and incorrect ones. Competency-based learning is prevalent in most educational settings, but the method of demonstrating competency varies. If students are given freedom to be creative in the method that they demonstrate their understanding, more of them are likely to be successful.

Technology brings new opportunities into the classroom, with new resources and the ability to create new products.  Students can demonstrate competencies in more ways than ever.  Students can easily create videos, infographics, or even websites as long as they have instruction in using these platforms.  This allows for differentiation of products, and students to create concrete examples of learning.  The internet allows for students to encounter more real-world knowledge, examples, and problems when they are learning, which increases engagement and extends competency to outside the classroom.  This can also be applied to products, where students create something that has an effect outside the classroom.  It is important when giving assessments online, that the focus remains on the learning goals.  It is easy to get side tracked in the wonders of technology, so the teacher and students must keep the learning goals as the main focus.  

With regards to competencies using technology I believe student mastery of visual and digital literacy is very helpful. Armed with this knowledge students can be encouraged to produce projects that make use of collages, videos and virtual games that improve critical thinking. With so many apps available students can be encouraged to produce assignments using media platforms to generate digitized comic art and stories, data visualization using infographics and Prezi as suggested by teachthought.com.
Competency based assessment usually works well when professionals from different fields are enlisted to support teachers in the classroom. While some schools do this informally, it is best when formally the Education ministry formally enlists the help of these professionals to help both to mentor and build the skills of students. I see this working best in  technical and vocational education as well.
Credit

https://www.cbenetwork.org/competency-based-education/
https://www.teachthought.com/learning/60-things-students-can-create-to-demonstrate-what-they-know/

Throughout these articles and videos, there is a similar theme of calling students to create. Both "What do the learning theories say about how we learn?" and "Rethinking Learning: The 21st Century Learner" (Learning Theories) advocated for formal learning (the learning of facts) and informal (the process of creating and producing) to be used cohesively instead of separately. With the Internet, knowledge is just a quick search away. The idea of the 21st learner is to use the variety of information and present it in a new and creative way. Technology helps students to show both their formal and informal learning by creating things like websites, video games, audio clips, videos, and so much more. Just as the Triple E framework suggests, technology can be a pivotal piece in enhancing learning to apply to everyday life. These authentic learning experiences allow for a lot of choice which can feel challenging to a teacher on how best to measure learning. Therefore, to help make these skills measurable, the teacher must have a working knowledge of how to create a clear and concise rubric. Rubrics are an importance piece in using technology to show competency. 

Many of the assessment tools I shared are digital platforms that give teachers options for assigning polls and quizzes to students. However, we know that project-based learning is some of the best way to accurately assess what students know and have learned. Of all five softwares that I researched today, I believe Flipgrid and Kahoot are the best options for how students could demonstrate competencies using technology. With Flipgrid, students can create a video or drawing and share what they know. This is a conversational way to have them discuss what they learned and share their opinion on it. With Kahoot, students can create quizzes themselves. With the quizzes they create teachers can see that students have an understanding of the material because the quizzes will include the correct answer and cover a range of topics in their questions. Any type of technology that allows for creation rather than answering is going to be beneficial in the classroom. While Google forms, Socrative, and ClassKick could all be great platforms for assessment, they do not give students the opportunity to create like FlipGrid and Kahoot do.

Competency Based Learning is the system of instruction, assessment, grading, and academic reporting that demonstrates a students understanding. The goal is to ensure students have gained skills that are essential to life. If students fail to meet these skills, then they will receive academic support. Mostly used a the elementary level, competency based learning can be used in many forms. Not only is the strategy great for students, it can also help teachers understand their students better. Competency based learning can lead to smaller learning gaps, as it is an equitable form of learning. A critique to this method is the transition can be over burden to the teachers and staff.

After reviewing the resources I see that my school districts is really having students demonstrate their competencies by the things we are expected to do. Due to COVID my district is hitting hard this year to find ways to get students working on Chromebooks or Ipads to complete assignments. The result of this goal is that as a teacher I am finding ways that students learn even best, for example when students are given the choice of how to turn in a project I get many different things ranging from a paper, to a video, to a presentation. I have done significantly less tests this year and have done more choice or even just changed up how I assess student learning. Like one of the articles mentioned when allowing different ways to assess I'm getting to see more details of what they know and where they are still struggling whereas a test I only see if they know something or don't, I don't get to see where they are in the learning process and how close they are to understanding the material. Focusing on competency-based learning really has allowed for me to see my students as wholes and individuals rather than another score in the gradebook.