From Now On
The Educational Technology Journal
  Vol 7|No 5|February|1998


Emerging from the Smog:
Making Technology Assessment Work for Schools
by Jamie McKenzie
About the Author

 Introduction
 Why Assess?
 Why Not?
 How
  Resources

Robust, ongoing authentic assessment of your technology initiative is critically important.
 
  Without a solid commitment to measuring how things are going, the program may wander off course, drift about like a sailboat becalmed, wash up on shoals or simply waste tons of time and money.

Sadly, assessment has been horribly neglected in most places as schools have installed billions of dollars of computers and other technologies during the past two decades.

Genuine assessment is more than a rudder to steer or a ruler to measure. Skillfully applied, assessment spurs growth, adaptation and enhancement. It is a basic element of the invention process.

Without assessment, the program is installed "willy-nilly" in virtual blindness and with "blind faith." Students and teachers are robbed of systematic customization of the effort to derive value from the investment.

 Why Assess?
 Why Not?
 How
  Resources


Credits: The icons are from Jay Boersma, except for
the computer which is public domain from Microsoft.
Other drawings, photographs and graphics are by Jamie McKenzie.

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