Web 2.0 Tools

Welcome to our collaborative online toolbox developed as part of Assessment in E-Learning course, offered through the University of Wisconsin – Stout. Here you will find an analysis of three tools which can be utilized for assessment of learning: Edomodo, a social-educational networking tool; Elluminate, a web conferencing utility, and Museum Box. The purpose of this toolbox is not to create a comprehensive list of useful tools, but to provide examples of how an educator can evaluate their usefulness for providing assessment data. As pointed out by William M. Ferriter in “Good Teaching Trumps Good Tools”, the trick is “choosing tools that neatly align with the skills you’re trying to teach”. In the context of assessment, the underlying philosophy changes very little: the learning objective comes first, and the tool that we can best use to assess student learning of that objective follows. For each tool, you will find the following:

• a brief description of its uses and benefits,
• weaknesses and challenges of the assessment tool,
• an example of application of the tool in an online classroom, and
• sample learning objectives connected to the use of the tool.

Through this project, our goal is to demonstrate our capacity for analyzing and selecting best personal assessment tools. Online tools, the companies that develop and host them, the funding that allows us to access them, and the current interests of our learners come and go. Our capacity to approach new online tools and evaluate their usefulness in teaching and assessment endures.

References:

Ferriter, W. M. (2011). Good teaching trumps good tools . Educational Leadership, 68(5), Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/feb11/vol68/num05/Good-Teaching-Trumps-Good-Tools.aspx