Technology-enhanced items bring additional options

This post continues my discussion of technology-enhanced (TE) items. Click over to my previous post for a definition of a TE item.

Technology-enhanced (TE) items increase the number of options available to test developers. When using a paper test to assess students, generally there are only two item types available; constructed-response (CR) and multiple-choice (MC). A CR item allows test developers to ask students to produce a response. A MC item allows test developers to ask students to select an answer from the available responses. Technology-enhanced items are, in essence, a collection of student response interactions that allow students to either select or produce a response. The Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium has created a list approximately 25 of these interactions. Some of these interactions are given in the list below.

  • Select and Order

  • Classification

  • Tiling (Drag and Drop)

  • Select Defined Partitions

  • Draw a Polygon

  • Place Points (on number line or coordinate plane)

  • Partition Line Then Place Points

  • Draw a Line (on coordinate plane)

TE items provide test developers with at least one more option when determining the most effective method to assess a construct. As an example, provided below are three different ways to assess a student's understanding of equivalent fractions. Which item would you choose? Why? Leave a comment with your recommendation.

Figure 1: Multiple-choice item

Figure 2: Constructed-Response Item

Figure 3: Technology-Enhanced Item (Tiling)

Reference

Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, (2012). Technology-enhanced item guidelines. Retrieved from website: http://www.smarterbalanced.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/TaskItemSpecifications/TechnologyEnhancedItems/TechnologyEnhancedItemGuidelines.pdf

Previous
Previous

Writing test items to a single Common Core Math Standard

Next
Next

Recommended reading for creatives