The centerpiece of EDTECH 505: Evaluation for Educational Technologists, was an evaluation report. Since my school is preparing to make the shift to bring your own device (BYOD), I've been considering options for graphing and data analysis, so this project provided an excellent opportunity to dig into Desmos, one of the tools I'm interested in.
As part of the evaluation, I asked my students to complete a survey on their experience with Desmos. When I reviewed the results, I was struck by the gaps between my perception and my students' reaction. When students were using Desmos, I was excited about how easy to use and flexible it is. I had informal conversations with students while they were using it, which left me thinking students were similarly positive about Desmos. When I read the student surveys, however, it became clear that my instruction on the use of Desmos was lacking and many students longed to return to the TI calculators they were more familiar with.
In a true evaluation, the evaluator has no investment in or connection to the project in question, and is therefore able to view the data with no bias. A truly objective evaluator may have had the same informal conversations with students that I did, but left with a more accurate impression. Since I can never eliminate my investment in my classroom, it is crucial that I find ways to ensure I can hear what my students and other stakeholders have to say. I need to make tools like the student survey I included in the evaluation a bigger part of my practice if I want to understand where my students are at.
