Competency-based learning refers to activities that allow
students to demonstrate their knowledge and skills outside of the typical
multiple choice standardized assessments and the instruction that goes along
with them. Technology is a great way to formatively assess students. One technology-based
activity that could be used to show competency is a collaborative or individual
graphic organizer that students can build using websites such as Canva, Mindomo,
or graphicorganizer.net. Another activity that allows students to show
competency is an educational audio or video submission to be used to teach
others about the content using Flipgrid, VoiceThread, or the camera on their
smartphone or tablet. Group discussions can happen over Zoom, Google Meet, or
another video conferencing app. For a Google-based classroom, the Google
Workspace applications are great tools for long-term projects. Sheets can be
used to gather data during scientific studies. Docs can be used to submit
reports and critique other students’ work using the “suggest” feature. Drawings
can be used to make infographics and diagrams. Slides can be used for
presentation purposes by the students and teacher. Summative assessments using technology are a little more
difficult; however, utilizing a thoughtfully developed rubric can make scoring
competency-based activities easier.
