How 21st Century Tools Can Improve Feedback and Evaluation

Authentic and timely feedback is often a hot topic in education. It is widely accepted that giving feedback quickly is the key to seeing improvement in student work. However, many educators will admit that they find this a challenge and that it is affecting the thoroughness of their assessment and evaluation practices. It is challenging for many teachers to keep on top of giving all of their many students feedback that is specific, detailed, and done quickly enough for them to make immediate improvements. The beauty of so many of the 21st Century tools that are now available is that they are providing us with more creative ways of giving feedback and assessing students. These tools are making it easier for teachers to give feedback quickly, to give more detail, and to follow up with more students. Thus in turn, allowing teachers to have more data to use in their assessment and evaluation practices. Below are ten technology tools that can help improve how teachers give feedback and evaluate students.



E-Portfolios: E-portfolios, like the one that can be created on D2L, allow students a space where they can archive their work, achievements, make reflections and leave notes. Students can use this space for their work and then reflect on their strengths and needs. The portfolio also allows the user to allow others to share comments. Using this feature a teacher could have students work on giving peer feedback. Finally, the student could set up the portfolio that would allow the teacher to give feedback that could only be viewed by the student. E-portfolios allow the student to collect work and see progression over the year by using and building upon the feedback and reflections of the students work.


Google Drive Forms: Google Drive Forms can be used in two ways to evaluate student work. The first way is to create a form that allows students to submit their work directly to the teacher. This makes it easy for teachers to access a particular assignment and prevents students and teachers from misplacing work. A second application for evaluation is to create a self-evaluation form. Once work has beens submitted the teacher could set up a questionnaire that has students reflect on the task they have submitted.


Voice Thread: Voice Thread can be used in many ways that allows students a way to show their work. Students can insert pictures of their work and add their own comments about it. By being able to record their thoughts, students can clearly express their knowledge verbally. A practical application is to use Voice Thread during DRA. Not only could the teacher record the student reading, the teacher could also have students give verbal responses to the comprehension questions.



Evernote: Is excellent for documenting anecdotal notes on students and can be used as a place to keep evidence of their learning. You could save photos of work samples, photograph and save any written feedback you have given. As well, you can later search for a note you made for a student easily because Evernote will search both text and images. This is useful when reflecting back with a student to previous feedback you had given.


Google Docs: Not only is Google Docs a great tool for student collaboration, but it’s also very handy for providing feedback as an assessment as learning tool. Students can submit work to you for commenting. The comment feature allows teachers to highlight specific sections of the document and comment on what they have done well or what needs improvement. In addition, if students share their work with their peers, peers can provide comments in a similar way; thus enhancing the use of peer feedback in the classroom.


Ipad: The iPad is another useful tool for assessment in so many ways. However apps aside, one of the simplest uses for evaluation is the camera tool to provide photo evidence. Rather than keeping endless samples of student work for reference when it comes time to write report cards or have handy for parent interviews; having photos of student work readily available on the iPad eliminates the clutter.



Document Camera: You can purchase dedicated document camera’s for your classroom. However, if limited the iPad can also double as a document camera if you have a stand for it to hold above the item you are viewing with your class. Using a document camera is very handy when providing whole class feedback for something most students need to improve on. Show them examples, write or highlight the text, place stickies near key ideas. All of this is projected to a larger screen when using a document camera, making it easier for students to see.


Lino: Lino can be used in many ways for assessment. Lino is an online tool that allows for collaboration, brainstorming, and sharing of information through sticky notes which can include text, hyperlinks, images and video. In our class, we used lino by having students post new learning on the board. Lino could also be used as exit cards or as a way to share level of understanding of concepts being taught in class.



OneNote: We have spoken of how OneNote can be used in a previous post. OneNote allows students to place all their work in one area and allows teacher access to the information anywhere. Teachers can monitor student progress and give instant feedback. OneNote could be used to take notes during guided reading. Pages could be set up for each student and using the audio/video tools, could capture student reading. A quick note could be added to the reading that might include observations about the reading including strengths, needs and next steps.

Video Feedback: There are several tools available that can be used to give video feedback to students. The value of recording the feedback you give students is that students who need additional support can view the feedback multiple times. As well, if you are giving whole class feedback, students who were away can view the feedback that was given and not be left behind as the rest of the class moves forward in improving their work. Video feedback also has the advantage of being easily viewable by parents so that they are more aware of what their child needs to work on. Here is a link with a sample of how video feedback was used to take an assessment of learning task and turn it into an assessment for learning: Why Feedback Needs To Be Integrated Into Flipped Classrooms
What other technology tools do you use to help you be more effective in giving feedback and evaluating students?

Reflection on Sal Khan's One World Schoolhouse

It seems only fitting that as I get ready to hand out progress reports to my students this week, I read through a chapter titled Tests and Testing in Sal Khan's book One World Schoolhouse.  In this chapter, Khan suggests that educators need to question what level of learning is demonstrated through tests and what do test marks truly indicate about a student.  These are interesting concepts considering my last post, Evaluation, Reporting and Technology I suggested that an assigned mark ends the learning process for a student.  Testing, according to Khan, is a snapshot of the student's learning and for a variety of reasons they do not truly represent the student's potential.

Khan questions the validity of tests as they do not give the full picture of the student's learning.  For example, he wonders howl long the learning is retained after a test.  While reading this, I reflected on how often I remind students that they need to carry skills learned earlier in the year forward and apply them to current work.  The students seem to miss the idea of connecting what they have learned to real life applications.  Khan also wonders if the tests actually show what is important.  Tests created by teachers differ and as a result what each finds to be an important concept may differ so student knowledge may differ.  A final thought is that tests isolate subjects and that learning is not connected to larger concepts.  As a result, Khan feels that testing filters out the creative thinkers who must focus on answer questions a certain way in order to meet the teacher's requirements.  If they student does not meet the teacher's expectations then the student will receive a poor mark.

This leads to Khan's to further questions about tests, how valid are marks and what is an acceptable grade? First off, Khan questions what correct and incorrect answers tell the teacher.  A correct answer may be a result of deep understanding, a result of rote memorization or a lucky guess.  An incorrect answer may be a result of lack of understanding, missed lessons or careless mistakes.  The teacher must assume that when a correct answer is given in shows an understanding of content while errors means a lack of understanding.  What we need to remember as educators is that students are being given greater opportunity to show their learning in a number of ways.  Students can display knowledge through displays, pictures, models, use of technology. As educators we need to give students choice on how to express their learning and knowledge.

A final  interesting concept presented by Khan is what is an acceptable mark.  I know that when I was going to school I would be happy with 75% mark.  Khan flips this acceptable mark by stating that the mark indicates that the student is missing 25% of knowledge needed to be successful in this area.  How can a student possible move forward in their learn when they are missing a quarter of some concept that they will need to build upon in the future?  Khan feels that students should go back to review and then be retested until they gain all the knowledge that is needed to move forward.  Khan even questions a student who receives 95%; this means that the student has missed 5% of some key learning.  Again the foundation for future learning is not fully there.  Is it realistic to expect that every student reaches the mark of 100% on each test before they can move on?   At what point does a self paced classroom not meet the needs of the student?

A final thought, grades often define a student or it gives the student a label.  With labels, expectations and limitations are often attached.  How do we assess and evaluate students without giving grades?  Does the mark of an A truly mean that the student has a deep understanding of the subject or have they just mastered test writing?

21st Tools: Making it easier to fulfill the fundamental principles of Growing Success

Here are some great thoughts from my teaching partner Chantelle Davies, Some interesting thoughts as we continue to move forward with technology in our classrooms.


Ontario’s Growing Success document outlines assessment, evaluation, and reporting policy for the Ontario Curriculum. It is based on seven fundamental principles which provide the foundation for the policy that is outlined in the document. Each of the policies outlined in the Growing Success document build upon these principles. These seven fundamental principles are as follows and suggest that “teachers use practices and procedures that:

• are fair, transparent, and equitable for all students;
• support all students, including those with special education needs, those who are learning the language of instruction (English or French), and those who are First Nation, Métis, or Inuit;
• are carefully planned to relate to the curriculum expectations and learning goals and, as much as possible, to the interests, learning styles and preferences, needs, and experiences of all students;
• are communicated clearly to students and parents at the beginning of the school year or course and at other appropriate points throughout the school year or course; 
• are ongoing, varied in nature, and administered over a period of time to provide multiple opportunities for students to demonstrate the full range of their learning;
• provide ongoing descriptive feedback that is clear, specific, meaningful, and timely to support improved learning and achievement;
• develop students’ self-assessment skills to enable them to assess their own learning, set specific goals, and plan next steps for their learning.

As I reflect on different aspects of the document I think about how the 21st Century tools we use in the classroom today impact our assessment and evaluation. In light of having recently completed progress reports, I consider how important students mastery of the learning skills are to a successful school year. Early in the year, we often focus on the learning skills of responsibility and organization. We work hard with students in September and October to ensure they are completing their work in a timely manner; and that they can create and follow plans to complete this work to the best of their abilities.

While we all hope that these skills come naturally to our students; in many cases these skills need to be taught. In light of the fundamental principles that ask us to be transparent and to communicate clearly with students and parents, technology makes it easier for us to do so and thus in turn also helps us to provide our students with further support in staying organized. For example, as I make greater use of my classroom blog I am also using it as a space to share what our class learnings have been, provide copies of handouts/homework that have been assigned, and share when deadlines are coming up. Having this additional tool not only helps to make students more accountable (because they can’t say they didn’t know when a test was), but it also teaches them how to use other tools to remain responsible and organized. My students know that if they forget to take their reading logs home on the weekend that they don’t have to come to school with their work incomplete on Monday. They can look on the class blog for a copy of the task choices they have to choose from and still ensure they have been responsible; completing their homework.

In addition to learning skills, using 21st Century tools allows us to be more effective in meeting several of the fundamental principles outlined in the document. For example, the use of some technologies allows us to ensure that feedback is clear and timely. This can be seen when students are using tools such as google documents or google slides to complete their work. The ability to highlight and comment right on specific section of their work ensures that students are clear on which aspect of their assignment you are speaking of. As well, tools that all us to give audio feedback allow teachers to give feedback faster and to ensure that the feedback is clear for all students, without the limitation of being able to read the teachers written word.

It is still possible to meet the seven fundamental principles from the document without incorporating technology into your practice. However, not only does technology allow us to better engage and support all students; it makes us more efficient at meeting these important guidelines around assessment and evaluation.