Quellmalz, E. S., & Zalles, D. (2002). Integrative performance assessments in technology. Menlo Park, CA: SRI International.
Introduction
Innovative technologies are transforming schools and classrooms by supporting the conditions that research indicates are conducive for meaningful learning. Technology-supported interventions are fostering new curricula based on real-world problems, providing scaffolds and tools to enhance learning, giving students and teachers more opportunities for feedback and reflection, and building local and global communities. Information and communication technologies (ICT) are being increasingly employed in schools to provide rich sources of information and extensions of human capabilities (Anderson, 2001; Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 1999, p. 230). In a national survey of teachers conducted by the Center for Research on Information Technology and Organizations, teachers reported widespread use of technologies in U.S. classrooms (Becker & Anderson, 1999). This increase in the educational use of ICT is driven and supported by evidence that new technologies can change schools and improve education (Bracewell, Breuleux, Laferriere, Benoit, & Abdous, 1998; Coley, Cradler, & Engle, 1999; Means & Olson, 1995; Wenglinski, 1998) and by major shifts in policy at both national and multinational levels. Countries such as the United States (U.S. Department of Education, 1996), Chile (Ministerio de Educación, Republica de Chile, 1998), Norway (Ministry of Education, Research, and Church Affairs, Norway, 2000), and Singapore (Ministry of Education, Singapore, 2000) have taken the position that the integration of ICT into classrooms and curricula can improve educational systems and prepare students for the twenty-first Century learning society.
