Assessing Student Writing on Tablets |
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| Authors: | Laurie Laughlin Davis Aline Orr Xiaojing Kong Chow-Hong Lin |
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| Institution: | 1. Pearson, Austin, TXlaurie.davis@pearson.com;3. Austin Independent School District;4. Pearson, Austin, TX |
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| Abstract: | There is increasing expectation that schools should be able to use tablets for a range of instructional and assessment purposes. This article considers the comparability of student writing on tablets and laptops to ensure that writing assessment is conducted in a way that is fair to all students. Data were collected from a sample of 826 students from Virginia and South Dakota at 2 grade levels. Each student was provided with a laptop, a tablet, or a tablet with an external keyboard and asked to respond to a grade-level-appropriate essay prompt. Results indicated no difference in the essay score or surface-level essay features across study conditions. However, the relatively short length of essays written, the fact that reference materials were not required to respond to the essay prompts, and the general motivational level of student participants were likely contributing factors to the observed outcomes. |
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