Over the past few years, the world has witnessed an unprecedented digital shift. Schools, institutions, and businesses have all begun to transition into online spaces. While the adjustments may not have been easy, the digital shift has begun a new era of educational technology that is exciting, effective, and engaging. A study published in Elementary Education Online found that teachers generally have high opinions of educational technology. Additionally, the study highlighted that educators view technology as both a functional tool and an effective teaching strategy (Dinçer, et al, 2020).
One area that has been positively affected by the digital shift is assessment administration. Educators have found that swapping traditional pencil and paper exams for a dedicated digital assessment platform such as SwiftAssess can reap many benefits. SwiftAssess transforms traditional exams into high-tech, customizable, automated assessments that engage students while saving time! Modernizing pedagogy with digital assessments can reap many benefits; here are the top 5!
- Reduced Teacher Workload
Being an educator has never been an easy feat and modern teachers seem to have more on their plate than ever! Between planning, grading, attending meetings, preparing the classroom, and communicating with stakeholders, educators are always searching for tools to help them balance it all. A concept paper published in Societies in 2020 highlighted that two of the greatest advantages of effective online learning are saving time and increasing flexibility (Ferri et al, 2020). These two factors are essential components in reducing the teacher workload. Luckily, many educational technology tools offer these benefits.
Adopting a digital assessment solution such as SwiftAssess is an exceptional way for educators to increase productivity and automation while decreasing the time spent completing tasks. SwiftAssess offers features such as easy customization of assessments, immersive 3D lessons, alignment to multiple curriculums, and easily organized data! This truly provides a relief to educators as tasks that traditionally took hours such as planning, creating, administering, grading, and reviewing assessments now can be done in minutes. Implementing a digital assessment solution expands the possibilities for educators to make lessons engaging, effective, and exciting, all while drastically reducing their workload.
2. Measuring Student’s Cognitive Abilities and Higher Order Thinking Skills
Higher-order thinking skills are skills that require individuals to think critically and test their knowledge past simple recall and memorization. Integrating higher-order thinking skills into assessments is absolutely crucial as research shows that the more a task requires critical thinking, the more likely a student is to fully master and retain that skill. However, many traditional pencil and paper assessments tend to overlook critical thinking skills and lack questions that test students at high levels.
To remedy this issue, digital assessment platforms have been blazing a trail to new assessment methods that test students at the highest level. A 2021 article from the International Journal of Assessment Tools in Education found that the ability to measure higher-level skills is one of the greatest benefits of digital assessments (Şenel, 2021). This feat is made possible due to innovative and unique features that only a digital testing experience can provide. For example, SwiftAssess offers educators a plethora of custom question types and styles, various assessment modes, interactive and immersive experiences, and the ability to integrate media into an assessment. Utilizing the advantages of digital assessment software ensures that students will be learning at the highest level and yielding positive results.
3. Better Personalization and Inclusivity
A major setback to traditional testing methods is the lack of personalization, accommodations, and adaptive options available. Education is not one-size-fits-all and testing shouldn’t be either! A 2015 article published in the British Educational Research Journal investigated the opportunities, challenges, and risks of rethinking assessments in the digital age. The study highlighted increased flexibility as one of the strongest proponents of digital testing (Broadfoot et al, 2015).
Digital assessment solutions such as SwiftAssess offer features like adaptive testing, accessibility solutions, and the ability to take an assessment from many types of devices. Additionally, educators can customize features of their assessments to accommodate students with special needs. A few examples of accessibility features include adding extra time, enabling audio and video transcripts, adjusting color schemes, controlling question fonts, and magnifying images. This can make a world of difference for students with hearing impairments, dyslexia, color blindness, ADHD, and more. Accessibility features allow each and every student to thrive. You can learn more about SwiftAssess’ many accessibility features here.
4. Easily Interpret Data
Data is the backbone of quality instruction; it is the catalyst that launches teachers in the right direction and the basis of future lessons. Quality data tells educators what students are succeeding in and where students need the most help- both on an individual and class-wide level. The problem is that analyzing data in an effective way can often be a time-consuming task in an educator’s already overbooked schedule. This is where digital assessment platforms can save the day!
With a high-quality assessment solution software such as SwiftAssess, you have access to important, organized, useful data just seconds after students finish their exams! SwiftAssess offers reports on individual student and class-wide levels, offering great insight into students’ needs! Reports can be broken down by individual skills as well to reveal specific concepts where students are shining and where they are struggling. This easily accessible data is integral to planning future lessons and is a huge time-saver for teachers as well!
5. Ensuring Safety, Reliability, and Integrity
Whether online or on paper, academic integrity is a pillar of successful assessments. SwiftAssess is one of the most safe, secure, and reliable digital assessment platforms on the market. The platform is armed with offline capabilities, secure lockdown modes, and watermarking abilities that provide a uniquely secure testing environment for students. Additionally, SwiftAssess has built-in AI Proctoring which acts as a safeguard against cheating. With the implementation of these incredible features, your students are guaranteed a safe, reliable, and honest assessment.
As the world around us advances and modernizes, the classroom should reflect those changes as well. Switching to a dedicated digital assessment platform such as SwiftAssess is the future of education. SwiftAssess, a GamaLearn product, is a comprehensive assessment management platform. It is a one-stop-shop for assessment needs in K-12 education, higher education, vocational education, certification and professional programs, corporate learning, and content providers. SwiftAssess is an adaptable and flexible platform that will meet the needs of any client. With increased student achievement, safer testing environments, and a reduced workload for educators, the benefits offered by SwiftAssess can revolutionize any classroom.
To learn more about SwiftAssess’ products, plans, and pricing or to get in touch with a representative, please visit: https://swiftassess.com/.
References
Broadfoot, Patricia, et al. Rethinking Assessment in a Digital Age: Opportunities, Challenges, and Risks. British Educational Research Journal, Dec. 2015, https://bera-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/berj.3215.
Ferri, Fernando, et al. “Online Learning and Emergency Remote Teaching: Opportunities and Challenges in Emergency Situations.” MDPI, Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (Societies), 13 Nov. 2020, https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/10/4/86.
ŞENEL, Selma, and Hüseyin Can ŞENEL. “Remote Assessment in Higher Education during COVID-19 Pandemic.” International Journal of Assessment Tools in Education, 10 June 2021, https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/ijate/issue/60439/820140.
Temelli Dinçer, et al. “Teachers’ Opinions on the Effectiveness of Digital Technology in the Realization of Cognitive Objectives.” Elementary Education Online, 2020, https://www.ilkogretim-online.org/.
