Evaluating Educational Technology
I believe that we are all constantly evaluating technology, day by day and minute to minute, while we are using it. You are constantly summarizing the pros and cons of various software and technologies and deciding the reasons it works for you or doesn’t. As a teacher we have even more of a responsibility to evaluate technology while we, and especially our students, are using it. As educators we must be purposeful and intentional in this evaluation process. Shelly et al. says that evaluating educational technology “involves determining if the technology is appropriate and enhances the teaching and learning process” (p.392). To me that means, you can ask yourself these questions when evaluating technology; Does it make my teaching more effective? Easier? Does it help the students learn more? Learn better? Retain the information longer? Does the technology motivate students? Does it get them excited about learning? Does it address the state standards? If one or more of these questions can be answered with a yes then the technology may be appropriate. You as the teacher must make that overall judgement.
As a media specialist one of (if not the) largest technologies that I must evaluate and deem appropriate or not, is that of websites. There are millions of websites out there in cyberspace, but not all of them are appropriate for the students at my elementary school. I must preview and evaluate websites before allowing students to access them. When doing so a rubric is often helpful and should consider the following categories; authority (the reliability of the author), affiliation (organization or group to which the website is connected), purpose (reason the website was created), content (the information the website gives), audience (who is the website designed to be viewed by), currency (when was the page last updated), and design (the set up or look of the site) (Shelly et al. 2008, p.400-401).
Software must also be evaluated by those of us in the education field. It’s content (Does it teach what it’s supposed to? Does it teach the concepts well?), technical support options (What sort of support is offered from the company is problems arise or training is needed?), academic level (Is the material on a level that matches that of your students?), technical quality (Does the software look good and run well?) and ease of use (Is the product user-friendly?) should all be considered before purchasing software (Shelly et al. 2008, p.399).
After technology is evaluated and then purchased, we must continue to evaluate it’s effectiveness when integrated into our classrooms, lessons, and activities. We can evaluate technology through test scores, in class activities, projects, portfolios, checklists and rubrics, as well as teacher observation (Shelly et al. 2008, p.404-406).
Shelly, G. B.& Thomas, C. J. & Randolph, G. E. & Gunter, G. A. (2008). “Integrating Technology and Digital Media in the Classroom” Course Technology: Boston Massachusetts
