ICT current trends

The article I read was written in 2006, and predicted changes in e-assessment and use of ICT from 2006-2016

The four changing faces of e-assessment 2006 – 2016, Martin Ripley, 2006

http://www.xplora.org/ww/en/pub/insight/thematic_dossiers/articles/e_assessment/eassessment2.htm

Ripley predicts a much stronger role for e-portfolios in the near future, for tertiary but also for secondary students. He predicts that e-portfolios may be used by secondary pupils as the basis of their university application. Even more remarkably he predicts that earning from outside school will be allowed to be included in the e-portfolios, this allowing much more scope for self-directed learning! This gem of information prompted me to reflect.

There is something about new ICT technologies which allows less formal interactions to be recognised as containing valid, weighty content. I’m not sure if this is a result of, or simply parallel to, similar changes in attitude in the social sciences.
With technologies, it is as though the speed of our communication technologies is catching up with the quicksilver, subtle, intuitive way in which we communicate in real life. Older technologies (eg. letter, telegraph) forced us to slow ourselves and conform our communication style to what suited the technology. Ordinary expression and technology use were separate. Now they are merging. The effect of this runs deeply.

It is as though there has long been an assumption that our ordinary, real life experiences and understandings are informally significant, but must be translated into something more formal (eg. essay, exam result, degree) before they can be recognised (and made truly formally valid).
This assumption that formality equals validity seems to be changing.

An example of this change is in the new emphasis on group collaboration skills. In this unit we focused on the use of e-learning tools to enable collaboration between group members. Ripley predicts that skills in online communication and group collaboration will soon actually be assessed at Baccalaureate level.

Ripley also predicts that simulations will be in wider use in e-assessment by 2016. Simulations have a much greater emphasis on authentic tasks, and I see in this a further blending of real life with learning.

Other predictions by Ripley include a) changes to formal exams, and also b) the use of handheld devices. Handheld devices which allow instant feedback are already changing teaching styles. The use of instant formative feedback can allow teaching to be much more responsive to student learning needs. Ripley predicts such devices will continue to change pedagogy. I see this as another example of technology ‘catching up’ with the way humans actually communicate.

The somewhat artificial weight of formal exams will be lifted to some extent, predicts Ripley, as institutions will subscribe to e-assessment providers, who will provide practice tests (on demand) to students, who will then sit their ‘formal’ test when they feel ready. This is active learning and would allow student sot really learn from their mistakes.