Technology Pre-Assessments: Are They A Good Idea?

When writing a technology plan, assessing the prior knowledge of an educator and their students could be a help or a hindrance.  There are advantages and disadvantages to this idea.

I feel that it is important in any technology plan to first and foremost assess the knowledge and skills of the learners involved, whether it is an educator or a student in a classroom.  Once an instructor can gauge how much his/her pupils know, then they can identify where to begin their lessons.  If students don’t know how to turn on a computer, then the instructor must start with the basics.  If the learners are already using the technology on a daily basis and know a good deal about what they are doing, then this will save valuable time for the instructor and the students.  Another advantage of pre-assessing technology prior knowledge is that it shows strengths and weaknesses.  A learner may be highly skilled at searching the internet for information and creating digital reports and projects, but lack the skills to  locate and organize their work on the computer.  This student would need different training than a student who shows proficiency in utilizing their computer to create and organize, but has no experience navigating the internet.  A pre-assessment of technology skills would show where instruction would begin for each of these students.  It would also show that these pupils could benefit from working together, since one thrives where the other is weak.

Valuing technology knowledge and skills is not without its drawbacks.  Pre-assessment may be overwhelming or discouraging to some technology learners.  With so many elements within technology, beginners may become overwhelmed by all that there is to learn about it.  And because technology is growing and changing everyday, new concepts and components are always appearing.  Even experienced tech users may come across components that they are not familiar with and may become discouraged.  I was disappointed in myself when I was not familiar with all of the concepts in the self-assessments of week one.     

Overall, I feel that valuing knowledge of technology leaders and students is an asset to any technology plan.