1. Technology Enhanced Assessments – A Case for India CBSE – CAER Conference 2014 Akanksha Bapna, Ph.D. Evaldesign

2. OUTLINE Assessments in India The scope of technology Solutions Challenges Open Questions www.evaldesign.com 1

3. “Education is concerned with preparing citizens for a meaningful and productive life and Evaluation should be a way of providing credible feedback on the extent to which we have been successful in imparting such an education. Seen from this perspective, current processes of evaluation, which measure and assess a very limited range of faculties, are highly inadequate and do not provide a complete picture of an individual’s abilities or progress towards fulfilling the aims of education” NCF 2005, P 71-72 www.evaldesign.com 2

4. Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE)  Impacts 190 Million children in elementary education institutions alone  Combines scholastic and co-scholastic achievements  Collects detailed school-based assessments at regular intervals and records students’ formative and summative progress www.evaldesign.com 3

5. Aim of CCE “CCE helps in improving student’s performance by identifying his/her learning difficulties at regular time intervals right from the beginning of the academic session and employing suitable remedial measures for enhancing their learning performance.” – CBSE What do we mean by learning performance? How can we achieve this goal?  www.evaldesign.com 4

6. Learning Performance  Life Skills  Content knowledge  Critical thinking and problem solving www.evaldesign.com 5

7. How can we achieve this Goal? 1.The right teaching practice 2.The right assessment 3.Timely feedback/reporting 4.Opportunity to bridge knowledge gap www.evaldesign.com 6

8. 1. The right teaching practice “….places a lot of demand on teachers’ time and ability…” NCF 2005  India lacks 1.2 million qualified teachers www.evaldesign.com 7

9. 2. The right assessment What is measured?  Content and comprehension  Co-scholastic achievement How is it measured?  Non standardized summative items  Teacher’s observations, project work How often is it measured?  3-4 times as formative assessment, twice as summative assessments www.evaldesign.com 8

10. 3. Timely feedback and reporting www.evaldesign.com 9 Sample CCE Report Card

11. 4. Opportunity to bridge the knowledge gap  Minimum PTR 30:1 (reported average 43:1, ASER 2013)  Students mostly move along a topic together www.evaldesign.com 10

12. THE SCOPE AND PROMISE OF TECHNOLOGY IN INDIA www.evaldesign.com 11

13. What can technology do? 1.Support teaching practice 2.Provide access to standardized assessments, and frequent, inbuilt assessment 3.Support quick feedback/reporting 4.Provide content to bridge learning gap, self- paced learning www.evaldesign.com 12

14. Tablets in Schools  RCT – 10 schools, 600 students, 100 tablets  Classes 3 & 5  Content on YouTube, internet access  Baseline, endline assessments (Math and English)  Classroom observations www.evaldesign.com 13

15. www.evaldesign.com 14 Technology in Schools

16. Preliminary Observations  Students are VERY quick to adapt to technology  Increases curiosity (measurement challenge)  Parents are willing to pay slightly more (94% said Yes (n=156))  Need right incentives to maximize utility www.evaldesign.com 15

17. What does research say?  Method of implementation is critical  Moderate average gains, but significant gains for weaker or older students  Needs to be a supplement and not substitute  Gains continue over moderate period (Banerjee et al., 2007, Linden 2008) www.evaldesign.com 16

18. Current Initiatives – Indian Entrepreneurial www.evaldesign.com 17 Assessment and Reporting Classalyze Edulabs Platform Harness Touch Xplore Olive Board Content Mango Reader Examify Avanti Test Prep Brain Nook TaoEd Ecosystem Federa

19. Current Initiatives - Government www.evaldesign.com 18 MHRD NMEICT NPTEL Content eBooks, eJournals Videos Question Banks Communication Platforms Capacity Teacher content development tools

20. Challenges Equipment Cost Theft and breakage Electricity Connectivity Capacity Teacher training Incentives Teachers Schools Students Proof that it works www.evaldesign.com 19

21. Questions for Research 1.What platforms/technology combinations maximize learning? 2.What kind of question banks and adaptive algorithms will be needed? 3.What are the incentives needed to move towards technology for each stakeholder? 4.How do we disaggregate technological ability from knowledge and comprehension? 5.Does technology increase learning at all? If so of what kind and at what rate? What do we need to measure? How do we measure it? www.evaldesign.com 20

22. Summary and way forward 1.India has seen a paradigm shift in assessments 2.CCE goals of improving learning performance are unmet 3.Technology can bridge the gap between idea and implementation 4.The evolving ecosystem of research and innovation needs to be nurtured to promote development in the field of technology for education www.evaldesign.com 21

23. Thank you! www.evaldesign.com 22