Dancing with the Data
Updated: April 7, 2004
With technology as my partner, I can handle classroom stats with grace and flair!
By Brenda A. Dyck
"Ambivalence is a wonderful tune to dance to. It has a rhythm all its own."
-Erica Jong
Throughout my life I have had a love/hate relationship with numbers. Some of my most frustrating, insecure memories are attached to numbers - algebra classes, student ranking, piano exam marks and balancing my budget. All numbers seem to do is point out my limitations and the even greater challenges I will face.
I chose an occupation - teaching! - that I had hoped would keep me out of the numbers game, only to discover over the past several years that the global emphasis on raising standards and test scores has brought me face to face with my old foe. Not only are parents and administrators keeping a watchful eye on my classroom numbers, but I am encouraged to track student learning via data collection. This data is supposed to equip me with the evidence that I need to make decisions regarding what to teach and how to do it.
Becoming computer literate couldn't have happened at a better time in my career as an educator. Not only does the computer allow me to confront my old insecurities about using numbers, but also provides me with the tools to "dance with the data"!
My Electronic Gradebook
I discovered that by using Microsoft® Excel to list the countless numbers in my gradebook, not only could I find averages effortlessly, I could take that information and turn it into a graph. There is something very powerful about seeing numbers in a visual representation - it takes those impersonal digits from the abstract right into the concrete. Graphing everything from homework completion to success rates on unit exams to the number of students who came for extra help at noon gave me understanding of the realities that existed in my classroom and a body of evidence to confront learning issues with students and parents. No longer did I have to rely on "a feeling," I had hard data to support my statements.
Assessing on the Fly
Taking real-time data from student work and analyzing it into meaningful bits of information is a slow, tedious task, particularly if it is done manually. Once again, technology comes to my rescue.
Quia.com is an online quiz site that lets you create lots of different quizzes and learning games. The "session" component of the site helps me track student understanding in real time. I set up a number of Quia quizzes focusing on key concepts I've been teaching. Once all my students complete and submit each Quia session quiz, their marks are scored, ranked, analyzed question by question, student by student, with lowest, highest, mean and median scores - all in less time than it took for me to log on!
The Quia session information shows me which questions students did well on and which posed an overall problem. I can see which topics need further classroom review or clarification. It also helps me identify questions that are confusing or poorly worded.
Furthermore, the Quia session component profiles how each student did on each question. Now I can see what types of questions individual students struggled with (fact based vs. application). This is powerful information!
Although I will probably always feel a certain amount of nervousness around numbers, I am now familiar with two tools that not only make me feel quite proficient, but sometimes even allow me to dance with the data!
