Example Technology Performance Assessment Task

Task #6	A Poster: Consequences of Inappropriate Uses of Technology
Grade	5
Content Area(s)	Language Arts
Unit Title/Theme	“In a CyberWorld”
Task Developer/Author	Kay Marcelle

1. Setting the Context

Cyber-crime, cyber-ethics, computer hacking, plagiarism, identity theft, file sharing, etc. are 21^st century realities that students encounter on a daily basis. The emphasis of this task is on appropriate/inappropriate uses of technology and their consequences.

2. Grade Expectations/Standards

Technology

IT1 - Basic Operations & Concepts

· Right clicking [Windows] or clicking, holding, and dragging [Mac/Windows] presents a contextual menu.(e.g., right clicking on an image offers a menu of choices about what you want to do with the image), control/command, escape keys

· Launching a program by locating it on the internal, external, or network drive.

· Navigating between open windows and applications.

· Opening documents from and saving documents to nested folders

· Creating, naming, and renaming folders.

· Creating folders within folders (nested folders).

· Copying and moving files and folders.

· Cutting, copying, and pasting within a document, across documents, and across applications.

IT2 - Social, Ethical & Human Issues

· Describing personal and interpersonal consequences of inappropriate use.

IT3 - Productivity Tools

· Adding non-textual elements (e.g., arrows, lines, shapes, etc.).

· Using spell check, and thesaurus.

Content

5:2 – Writing Conventions

In independent writing, students demonstrate the command of appropriate English conventions by:

· identifying or correcting grammatical errors

· applying basic capitalization rules

· using punctuation to clarify meaning

5:3 – Writing Conventions

In independent writing, students demonstrate the command of conventional English spelling by:

• applying spelling knowledge in proofreading and editing of writing

• correctly spelling grade-appropriate, high-frequency words, including homonyms and homophones and applying syllable division, morpheme, and affix spelling patterns/rules to new situations

5:5 – Writing in Response to Literary or Informational Text

In response to literary or informational text, students show understanding of plot/ideas/concepts by...

• selecting appropriate information to set context/background

• summarizing key ideas

• connecting what has been read (plot/ideas/concepts) to prior knowledge or other texts

3. The Performance Task

Students will create a poster that describes/displays the personal and interpersonal consequences of the inappropriate use of technology, demonstrating their knowledge of appropriate uses of technology and of basic technology operations.

Goal: To have students reinforce for each other an understanding of appropriate and inappropriate technology use and its consequences.

Role: Researcher, Presenter

Audience: School Community

Product/Performance: Students will create a poster that illustrates the personal and interpersonal consequences of inappropriate use of technology.

4. Activities

Activity #1: Responses to Ethical/Unethical Situations

Students will need to open the file “ CyberEthics” located in the teachers’ folder and select four of the situations to respond to. They will rename the file and save it to a new folder called “CyberWorld” inside their network folder.

Activity #2: Researching Information on In/appropriate Uses of Technology

Students could choose their own topic to research or select from a list of topics provided by the teacher. After finding information on the Internet regarding an in/appropriate use of technology, they will select that information, and using a contextual menu, move the text between their browser and a word processor. In other words, they will copy and paste in order to create the notes they will need to create the poster. Be sure they appropriately cite their sources. Then they will save their notes to a nested folder they have previously created and named. They will then copy that folder into the teacher’s folder.

Activity #3: Creating A Poster

Once they have completed notetaking, students will use the information they learned to create a poster that delivers a powerful message about the consequences of an in/appropriate uses of technology. Depending upon the level of access to technology in the classroom, teachers may want to require the poster to be completed using only a computer or teachers may elect to have students integrate computer and non-computer generated components of the poster.

5. Materials and Resources

• computer(s) with internet access, a word processing application with spell check and thesaurus, • printer

• a printer

• poster board (optional, if you want posters to be larger than letter size or legal size)

Activity #1: CyberEthics

Type in your response to these situations:

1. Jason lives in Burlington, the home of the University of Vermont Catamounts. Everybody knows he’s a big fan of the UVM basketball team. He uses “catamounts” as his password for everything that requires a password. Is this a good choice?

2. Heather is a cheerleader and her sister’s birthday is August 14. She uses “cheer814” as her password. Did she make a good choice?

3. Samantha wants to have her girlfriends spend the night but her mom told her she could only invite four girls. Two of the girls she didn’t invite are really hurt and angry so they make a web site with jokes, lies, and rumors about Samantha on it. When Samantha gets to school, she finds out about the web site and comes to you for advice. What do you tell her?

4. Tanya watches you sign on to an instant messenger and remembers your password. Later, Tanya signs on using your password and chats with your buddies pretending to be you. What will you say to her the next time you see her?

5. Yikes! That five-page report on Civil War battles is due tomorrow and you just remembered it. Lucky for you that there’s access to the internet at home. You do a search and find several sites that have information you can use, copy and paste it into a document, make a few word changes here and there, and write an introduction. Done! What happens when your teacher reads your report?

6. A friend of yours downloads music all the time. This is great for you because he burns music to CD’s and gives them to his friends for free. How could some people think that getting all the best music for free is a bad thing?

7. Sam’s little brother wrote a report on great white sharks and asked Sam to proofread it. Sam does, but he also decides to improve the report by adding pictures of sharks he took off web sites. Isn’t this OK?

8. “Cookies” are tiny computer files that are placed into your computer by sites you visit. Cookies are able to identify your computer, your browser, and can actually identify you by personal information (name, address, phone) you entered at the site. A cookie also knows when you visited a site, how much time you spent there, and which pages you looked at. The next time you go to that site, the cookies will recognize you and know which ads or content to give you. Tell why you think this is legal or illegal.

9. A web site Adrian, an avid skateboarder, visited offered him a free issue of SkateBoard magazine and discounts on equipment from some of his favorite companies. All he needs to do is enter his name, address, phone and email address. Why would this be a good idea? Why would it be a bad idea?

Resource: www.cybersmartcurriculum.org

6. Criteria/Rubric

CATEGORY	Exceeds Expectations	Meets Expectations	Approaches Expectations	Expectation Not Met
Content - Accuracy	Many facts, with interesting detail, are displayed and the poster illustrates in/appropriate use of technology and the consequence.	Many facts are displayed and the poster illustrates in/appropriate use of technology and the consequence.	Several facts are displayed and the poster illustrates in/appropriate use of technology. The consequence is weak or missing.	Few or inaccurate facts are presented OR the consequence is weak or missing.
Graphics - Relevance	All graphics are related to the topic and make it easier to understand. All borrowed graphics have a source citation.	All graphics are related to the topic and most make it easier to understand. All borrowed graphics have a source citation.	All graphics relate to the topic. Most borrowed graphics have a source citation.	Graphics do not relate to the topic OR several borrowed graphics do not have a source citation.
5:2 Writing Conventions	Capitalization and punctuation are correct throughout the poster.	There are minimal errors in capitalization or punctuation.	There are several errors in capitalization or punctuation.	There are numerous errors in capitalization or punctuation.
5:3 Writing Convention	Appropriate information was selected, ideas are summarized, there are connections between research and prior knowledge or other texts.	Appropriate information was selected, ideas are summarized, there are connections between research and prior knowledge.	Appropriate information was selected and ideas are summarized.	There are problems with selection of information OR summarization of ideas OR a lack of connections.
Proof Reading/Spelling	Writing was well edited and proofread. There are no spelling mistakes on the poster.	Writing was edited and proofread. There is only one spelling error.	Editing and proofreading missed errors. There are several spelling mistakes.	Writing was not edited or proofread.