How important is the use of technology in the assessment of students learning

In the current world, it is not a race to see how fast a student can grasp and climb up the ladder. It is about how we can enrich them with tools and knowledge for them to navigate through the ladder and get on the top by themselves. 

In a  fast-paced world, educators are under pressure to bring out the outcomes in their students to meet the world’s demands. The efficient way to bring out the desired outcomes in a student is by delivering content as per their learning profile, readiness and interests. And for this, the teachers have to be well-informed and understand students better and at the same time, must possess ways and means to track their progress. 

This brings us to Student Assessment. Over the years, rote learning has dominated the learning scene and has failed miserably. Today’s paradigm has shifted from traditional methods to tech-enabled, participatory processes and this is where technology plays a key role. Using advanced technological tools for assessing students’ interests, weaknesses and their readiness will help educators refine their teaching tactics and make  that giant leap in making their students excel. 

Enhancing Personalised Performance

Data capturing was not possible in the conventional offline mode of learning and practice whereas now one can track student’s attempts, accuracy, conceptual gaps, and much more, all thanks to the technology in education. Traditionally, teachers have only been able to provide generic, one-size-fits-all advice to the majority of their students. 

Without using technology, it is difficult, if not impossible, for teachers to keep track of individual students’ past performance and knowledge gaps. Hence, they have no option but to give generic advice to most of them.

This is where personalised performance assessments play a pivotal role. Using technology, we can generate detailed, deep and insightful analytics for any student. By collecting data on their learning, practice and test histories, we can pinpoint their exact strengths and weaknesses on a wide range of metrics – ranging from conceptual clarity to speed of attempt. Tech-enabled systems focusing on personalised practice can provide better study recommendations and unique practice paths that are custom-made for every learner. The data-driven algorithms compare each learner’s performance history to provide targeted recommendations, which have a direct impact on their academic score and understanding.

Generating reports that give a peek into detailed actionable insights of learners’ progress will also guide educators to come up with necessary conceptual clarity plans for retaining students’ interest and attention. Moreover, with a platform as robust as this, parents too can help understand their own child’s academic journey, effort and assist them with supplementary teaching or coaching if required. 

Tests made easier and targeted

Tech has provided access for concept clarity in topics that are crucial for an individual learner. Parents are happy with an uptick in do-it-at-your-own-pace kind of learning, and teachers find it feasible to offer one-on-one feedback. Tech offers the power of more engaging and interactive lessons and tailored instruction to all students’ learning needs.

Giving educators detailed insights on every student’s learning journey as well as the overall performance of their batch will help them focus their time and energy on the knowledge gaps their students are facing and help them build on strengths and even prepare for competitions.

With the use of deep analytics provided, educators can provide the right set of tools and actionable feedback to students based on concrete data points.This will enable teachers and students to co-create customised tests and revision papers, at the click of a few buttons. Tests can be customised for practice in weaker areas and with this, students get instant reports which was not possible in the offline mode before.

Additionally, peer group benchmarking of every batch will also help drive healthy competition and self-learning. Technology enables us to build predictive models that can help students in benchmarking themselves against their peers and calibrate their goals on a real-time basis.

Continuously and regularly benchmarking the performance of students against regional or national standards can also give educators a deeper understanding of their students’ strengths and weaknesses. 

The future of education is certainly personalised, focused and targeted on self-learning driven by tech-enabled assessments. Is your institute equipped to empower both teachers and students for the new future?

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