November 2009
Assessing ICT4E Evaluations
Do We Really Need to Assess ICT4E Initiatives? And If So, How?
Back when One Laptop Per Child started, they made an interesting point around evaluations of computer usage in schools. Their core belief was that all evaluations were flawed because we don’t have the right tools to assess the impact of ICT in education, and therefore talking about testing the efficacy of 1:1 computing was wasted effort.
Now, Nicholas Negroponte is putting forth the idea that one computer per child is like electricity – such an accepted benefit for society that we’ve moved on from discussing its impact to just looking for the right models to fund it.
While we may have differencing opinions on OLPC or its benefits, the basic questioning of ICT4E evaluations is compelling. Starting with the simple question of “Do we need assessments?” we can branch into related questions that examine the basic assumptions we hold dear.
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ICT in Education Assessments are Biased and Inaccurate
Would accurate ICT4E assessment be great? Definitely. The more we know about education and teaching, the better we can educate.
However, the most remarkable thing about any ICT4E assessments to decide on the introduction of ICT in education would be their uniqueness in history. One reason such assessments are so scarce is that there are few (if any) historical examples of assessments of any kind done before the introduction of an educational reform. Even less examples where the outcomes of the assessments really mattered in decision making.
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ICT4E Assessments Help Avoid Wasteful Tragedy
ICTs can be powerful, essential tools for learning: understanding, interpreting and communicating about the real world OR they can be black holes into which we pour our money, intelligence and time, getting very little in return.
Still, yes we do need to assess ICT4E initiatives more particularly when we are working in environments with scarce resources as in the developing world where investment in ICT can constitute what Unwin (2004) describes as a ‘wasteful tragedy’ if it is not managed and utilized properly.
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Stop Wasting Children with ICT4E Assessments
A large problem with educational evaluations of any kind is that the “public” (aka, the media) are only interested in national and international competition scores, like the PISA scores. Any reflection on the value of these competitive tests for the children is lost in the media noise. It seems that it does not matter so […]
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Improving ICT Assessment in Education
In this debate there appears to be a lot of consensus on both sides of the motion and even a spill-over in commentary from one side to the other. Perhaps this is because the motion was more of a question than a statement. We have ended up not quite arguing for and against but rather questioning the status of assessment in education in general and its impact (or lack of) in ICT policy and practice in particular. Therein lies most of our consensus.
We recognize the inadequacies of evaluating the use of a tool and its potential for transformational innovation in education systems that are intent on simply harnessing it for maintaining the status quo. As Rob (on the other side) observed ‘any real assessment of educational reform requires a new reflection on what skills and knowledge the children are supposed to acquire at school’.
And so in my response I would like to revisit the question presented by Wayan and reflect a little more on its parameters. I would also like to draw on commentary from both sides of the discussion (quite a lot of comments on your side Rob) to tease out some of the issues.
Should We Shift ICT4E Assessments From Technology to Adoption?
At the start of this debate, I proposed what I thought was a radical idea – “Do we need ICT4D assessments?” I was under the impression that we’d hear a few calls for dismissing them, but there would be an overwhelming validation that evaluations were not only necessary but instructive for decision makers and the educational stakeholders faced with pressure to accept technology in the classroom as inevitable.
From the onset, my assumptions were proven wrong. As Rob van Son stated in his opening post:
However, the most remarkable thing about any ICT4E assessments to decide on the introduction of ICT in education would be their uniqueness in history. One reason such assessments are so scarce is that there are few (if any) historical examples of assessments of any kind done before the introduction of an educational reform. Even less examples where the outcomes of the assessments really mattered in decision making.
How can we assure them that technology should be on an equal footing with other educational investments then? In that context, should ICT4E assessments ignore the technology – it changes to fast and is too hard measure its impact – and focus on assessing the ability of educational systems to best adopt ICT usage to their goals?
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