The Use of Personal Data Assistants in Early Childhood Assessment

Abstract

Four early childhood education teachers, two veteran and two newer teachers, were asked to pilot the use of handheld Personal Data Assistants loaded with Childchart assessment software. The participants were observed in their use of the electronic devices for monitoring student performance and interviewed regarding the use of the devices and their implications for assessment of early childhood learners. Veteran teachers indicated differences in both the use of the software programs and the style in which assessment activities were completed compared to newer teachers. The results indicate the need for professional development of new technologies to focus beyond the utilization of software and hardware and that new technologies implementation may be the catalyst for improvements in assessment strategies. KEYWORDS assessment, electronic assessment, early childhood education, veteran and new practitionersThe use of Personal Data Assistants (PDAs) in formative assessments of early childhood education has been introduced in early childhood settings. These PDAs allow teachers to assess student learning in authentic environments in an ongoing and dynamic manner. Designed to be more flexible and portable, this assessment management system differs from earlier assessment methodologies, where individual students were pulled from classroom settings to perform distant tasks for assessment of skill development (Currie, 2000;Linn & Gronlund, 1995). The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceived differences in assessment strategies employed by veteran and neophyte teachers when using PDAs.

What do early Childhood Teacher Graduands say about working with infants and Toddlers?: An Exploratory Investigation of Perceptions

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Okul Öncesi Öğretmenlerinin Nitelikli Bir Okul Öncesi Eğitim Programında Bulunması Gereken Özelliklere İlişkin Görüşlerinin İncelenmesi

“…Değerlendirme uygulamalarının çok yönlü olması, doğru bir değerlendirme için önemli kabul edilmektedir. Böyle bir durum, "herkese uyan" bir yaklaşımdan ziyade farklı araçlara ve tekniklere başvurmanın gerekli olduğu okul öncesi eğitim değerlendirmeleri kapsamında geçerli olmaktadır (Ledoux, Yoder & Hanes, 2010).…”

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