Using E-Tools in Education

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Introduction

Background

The significance of IT tools as a means to enhance the learning process can hardly be underrated. Modern technologies should be viewed as a powerful tool for information acquisition and transfer; therefore, they can and should be used by teachers. Particularly, the usage of online software as a means of assessing students progress needs to be used by teachers more often.

Problem

Although the technological progress occurs at a rather fast pace in the UAE nowadays, it has been reported that a large number of the UAE teachers are still unaware of the options that these tools allow for assisting them in the teaching and learning process (Ceren, 2015). Thus, they miss out on a number of opportunities to improve the teaching process and especially to test the skills acquired by the students efficiently. Herein the need to introduce the corresponding training course lies.

Purpose

The purpose of this program is to train teachers to use the online assessment tool known as ClassMaker. Apart from the above-mentioned goal this session will also aim at sharing the knowledge concerning online assessment with teachers so as to develop flexibility in educators and helping them identify their weaknesses and strengths, thus, creating premises for the further progress.

Methods

The use of a survey is viewed as a primary tool for carrying out the assessment of the teachers abilities to assess, instruct, provide information and promote academic development among learners with the help of online tools (Sewell, Frith, & Colvin, 2010). The first survey contains general questions regarding the adoption of the corresponding elements in the teaching process, whereas the second one covers the change, which the teachers will be exposed to in the course of the project (McCracken, Cho, Sharif, Wilson, Miller, Scalzo, & Crowley, n. d.).

In addition, the tools provided at the ClassMaker site will be used as the basis for the assessment. To be more exact, the teachers ability to use the designated site and the tools provided by it to create an adequate assessment for the learners of Arabic language will be tested with the help of the site in question. Moreover, ClassMaker will create the environment, in which the instructors ability to use any online software, in general, as well as their overall grasp of the opportunities provided by the latest information technologies will be addressed with the help of the ClassMaker site.

Rationale

As it has been stressed above, the rates of IT related skills is desperately low among the UAE teachers (Fernandes, Ross, & Miraj, 2012). Because of the lack of training courses allowing the latter to explore numerous opportunities and acquire the corresponding skills, teachers in the UAE are incapable of using online methods of student assessment.

The latter, however, can make the process of evaluation much faster and point to the areas that learners need to develop in a more accurate manner. As a result, the incorporation of the corresponding devices into the teaching process may improve the acquisition of information by students and make the evaluation of their skills not only easier but also more accurate (Howard & Donaghue, 2014).

Resources

The above-mentioned site called the ClassMaker.com was used as the primary resource for developing the necessary methods of teacher training and assessment. In addition, the latest scholarly researches regarding the subject matter have been addressed.

Desired Outcomes

It is assumed that the project under analysis may help the UAE teachers develop a pattern of using online tools as supplementary aids in the teaching process. In other words, apart from teaching instructors to use the test maker, the project aims at prompting teachers to be more resourceful in their use of online tools in class.

Analysis: Defining the Current Skills of Using E-Tools

Prior to carrying out the project, the evaluation of the teachers abilities to use the Internet as a resource, in general, has to be assessed. Based on the results delivered by the instructors, the further course of the project was defined. After the project in question is steered the right direction and the instructors are provided with the necessary information and training, the evaluation of their ability to use the test maker along with their overall understanding of online testing as a concept needs to be conducted (Fayez, 2012).

Survey: Identifying the Teachers E-Assessment Skills

To assess the teachers ability to use online tools for testing students, one will have to consider the questions concerning the frequency of e-assessment tools application in the classroom. Afterward, the analysis of teachers resourcefulness and readiness to use the tools in question needs to be carried out. Herein the significance of the questions regarding their understanding of e-assessment, the layout of an online test, the choice of the test type, etc., lies. Finally, the survey will embrace the teachers ability to analyze the outcomes of the test.

It is essential that the survey should address the four areas of technology knowledge and application in the classroom setting outlined by Williams (2012): These are making without designing, designing without making, designing and making and exploring the technology and society relationship  (Williams, 2012, p. 202203). To be more exact, the teachers will have to demonstrate the understanding of how the assessment development works and display the skills of creating online tests.

Development: How It Will Be Done

Promoting the Significance of E-Testing

Because of the lack of understanding of the significance of e-testing and the benefits that it brings, the UAE teachers will need to realize that e-testing will help them identify the students strengths and weaknesses fast and efficiently with the help of online tools. Therefore, the promotion of e-learning as the means of improving the staffs competencies should be viewed as the next reasonable step to take.

Developing Teachers IT Skills

The teachers skills as far as the location of free tools and their proper use will be improved. The need to perform the given step is quite obvious; without having the required knowledge about the IT tools available and their proper use, the UAE teachers will not be able to create tests (Elleithy, Sobh, & Iskander, 2010).

ClassMaker as a Solution: Free and Easy

As it has been explained above, the ClassMaker online software will be used as the means of training teachers abilities to create online assessments and incorporate e-tools into the array of their teaching strategies. The reason for choosing the tool under analysis is rather basic; being comparatively easy and offering a variety of options, the specified tool is free and available to teachers and students alike.

The teachers will have to train the skills of designing the corresponding tests in the ClassMaker (ClassMaker, 2020). Particularly, the teachers will be suggested to create a mock test for the students aged 1012 to test their knowledge of the English grammar by suggesting them to complete sentences filling in the gaps with one of the options provided in the multiple-choice answers.

Evaluation: Measuring the Outcomes and Locating the Problem

General Evaluation of E-Testing Skills

The outcomes of the test will be measured based on the scale developed for the assessment. Particularly, the teachers will be evaluated based on the qualities such as their command of using the Internet for the purposes of e-assessment (e.g., the identification of online assessment tools). Next, their understanding of how these assessments work and how they can be developed to meet the needs of learners will have to be tested. Finally, their ability to create a clear, concise and cohesive e-test to identify the learners command of English must be tested.

Therefore, the problems, which the UAE female teachers may be having in the process of developing the corresponding tests for measuring the students English language skills, will be split into several key categories. These include the ability to conduct a basic online search and locate the necessary tools, the overall understanding of how these tools work and the creativity required to design a proper test.

Progress Measurement: A Scale

To assess the progress that the teachers will have made by this point, one will have to consider the characteristics such as flexibility, ability to locate the required resources fast, the skill of using the tools available to create an assessment, the arrangement of questions, the use of the class material, and the assessment strategy. The specified abilities will be evaluated on a five-grade scale.

Seeing that the program in question is aimed at not only training the UAE teachers to use the ClassMaker software to develop online tests but also to provide the target audience with instructions on how to incorporate IT tools into their teaching strategies, in general, it will be reasonable to split the objectives of the program in two key groups.

First and most obvious, the concept of IT tools as an essential part of students progress evaluation has to be promoted to the teachers. It should be borne in mind that the current model for e-tests development is likely to change as online software develops. Thus, general guidelines regarding the adoption of IT tools need to be provided.

Implementation

A ClassMaker Test: Creating a Mock Assessment

To locate the changes, which the UAE female teachers will have experienced after taking the course, one will have to test their newly acquired skills by suggesting them to create a test for their students with the help of the resource discussed during the program, i.e., the ClassMaker. The teachers will be provided with an assignment implying that they should design a test to check whether their learners have acquired the necessary skills and improved their command of the English language.

Particularly, the teachers will be suggested to come up with ten questions and four choices for an answer to each. Moreover, the teachers will be asked to create the grading rubrics, according to which the students results will be assessed. Though the latter element is going to be open to interpretations, it will be recommended that at least three different outcomes to the test should be designed.

Progress Measurement: A Scale

The teachers progress will be measured with the help of a scale, on which their professional growth will be marked. Particularly, the development in the designated areas, such as the ability to search online for the appropriate tools, the skill of creating a cohesive assessment too, the ability to structure it in an adequate manner, the incorporation of the topics covered in the course of the lessons into the test and the adequacy of the grading scale will be evaluated. At the end of the assessment, each of the participants will receive a combined score and the separate ones for each of the areas in question (Shariff, Hossan, & McMinn, 2014).

Particularly, five possible outcomes will be identified. The teachers will have an opportunity to display their proficiency in creating online tests by displaying the numerous skills related to the subject matter. Thus, even when failing at some of the aspects of the assessment, the teachers will be able to display their ability to excel in others. As a result, a more adequate evaluation of the instructors skills and retrieving instructions on the further course of actions becomes possible (McCracken et al., n. d.).

Conclusion: Winding up the Project

Summary

There is no need to stress that the incorporation of e-assessment techniques into the UAE schools curriculum is an essential step towards improving the overall quality of education in the designated setting. However, because of the lack of experience in the design of the corresponding tests and the further analysis of their outcomes, the UAE teachers will need detailed instructions on how to carry out the process under analysis. The project discussed above is aimed at creating the foundation that can later on be used by the UAE teachers to identify the progress of their students and receive instructions on what further improvements may be made (Shariff et al., 2014).

Expected Outcomes

It is expected that the teachers will be able to locate free assessment tools online and come up with unique tools for the evaluation of their students academic progress by the end of the program. Moreover, it is assumed that the project will guide the teachers towards a more creative way to approach the e-assessment process.

Further Steps

It should be noted that the project in question is merely one of the steps on the way to incorporating IT tools into the UAE schools curriculum. In other words, the training, which will be provided to the target audience, should also be viewed as an opportunity to receive instructions for the further development of the UAE teachers as educators.

Reference List

Ceren, N. C. (2015). Assessing ELT Pre-Service Teachers via Web 2.0 Tools: Perceptions toward Traditional, Online and Alternative Assessment. TOJET: The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology, 14(3), 919.

ClassMaker. (2020). Web.

Elleithy, K., Sobh, T., & Iskander, M. (2010). Technological developments in networking, education and automation. New York City, New York: Springer Science & Business Media.

Fayez, A. (2012). Information systems applications in the Arab education sector. New York City, New York: IGI Global.

Fernandes, C., Ross, K., & Miraj, M. (2012). Understanding student satisfaction and loyalty in the UAE HE sector. International Journal of Educational Management, 27(6), 613630.

Howard, A., & Donaghue, H. (2014). Teacher evaluation in second language education. New York City, New York: Bloomsbury Publishing.

McCracken, J., Cho, S., Sharif, A., Wilson, B., Miller, J., Scalzo, D., & Crowley, C. (n. d.). Articulating assessment design practice for online courses and programs; cases in assessment strategy design and development. Web.

Sewell, J. P., Frith, K. H., & Colvin, M. M. (2010). Online assessment strategies: A primer. MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 6(1), 297305.

Williams, J. (2012). Technology education for teachers. Berlin: Springer Science & Business Media.

Shariff, T., Hossan, C. C., & McMinn, M. (2014). Motivation and determination of intention to become teacher: A case of B.Ed. students in UAE. International Journal of Business and Management, 9(5): 6073.

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