Page 164 - Composition in Convergence The Impact of the New Media on Writing Assessment

HOT AMD COOL TECHNOLOGIES 131

stand-alone method for measuring student achievement. Some test
and measurement proponents, suggested Norman Gronlund (1998),
view performance assessment as being too relative, too easily given
without clear criteria to be of use in either evaluation or grading set-
tings. According to test-and-measurement traditionalists, the re-
sults of performance assessments for evaluation or grading tend to
distort student achievement or effort (Gronlund, 1998). This posi-
tion needs to be weighed against offering an assessment plan that
speaks to a wide range of integrated online writing activities.
A second challenge regarding the use of performance assessment
as it is generally conducted is that all too often the evaluation still
centers on the product even though the measurement addresses stu-
dents' process. In my own classes I have found that by only focusing
assessment on the students' products and not on their processes,
four situations repeatedly arise.

The Finished Product Does Not Function
in the Ways a Student Expects

This scenario happens when students do not understand the proce-
dures needed to upload graphics, establish links, or send posts to lists.
Frequently the disconnect between function and expectation occurs
because students are aiming for the grade outcome and not the experi-
ence of learning how to create and writing in electronic space. These
individuals will jump ahead in the work, skip important early steps,
or want to compare a new program with something they have at
home or in the dorm. In this situation, early assessment that centers
on the processes involved with setting up various e-texts intervenes
with students' developing "bad habits" that affect their later success in
creating those electronic texts on their own. Performance assessment
can range from F2F discussions with students as they sit at a terminal
to periodic e-mail reviews of student sites during the brainstorming
or writing process. Students can also be encouraged to post questions
and problems about their work to a class discussion list to have their
peers offer suggestions for improvement.

Students Have No Clear Idea Why Their Electronic Text Fails
To Communicate Effectively

With a performance model that focuses on the various stages of pro-
duction and includes student reflection at each step, students con-