April 2004 — Industry Perspective

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The Coming of the Intelligence Age: Enhancing Education Through Assessment

I chuckle inside when I hear discussions about what the next 'age' in history will be. I'll admit, my ideas on what this means for education may be perceived as fanciful as well. But, after nearly three decades of technology experience and research work in artificial intelligence and cognitive science, I hope I've learned enough to render a reasonable opinion.

Thus far, we've seen the Industrial Age and the Information Age; now, I believe that we are heading toward the Intelligence Age. I'm not talking about robots running our schools; rather, systems that can intelligently gather and analyze data. In education, there is an interesting convergence developing between assessing and evaluating student capabilities and progress, legislation, technology, and communications. This convergence will naturally lead to an increased use of intelligence systems to collect, manage and report data.

There is no question that to succeed, K-12 education must remain hands-on with live classroom interaction between teacher and student, students and their peers, as well as parents and the community. I also know that intelligence systems can enhance education tremendously, and I believe assessment is the vehicle for achieving this.

Embracing Technology

I've marveled at the fact that education does not appear to have embraced technology to the same degree that other industries have. In banking, for instance, complicated models determine whether or not a loan applicant should receive funds based on historical and personal characteristics. Also, in an effort to prevent fraud and abuse, credit card companies now alert you when your purchasing patterns have fallen out of the norm. In addition, where 20 years ago computer-related jobs were a small minority, now studies report that somewhere between 60% and 80% of those actively employed use technology in the workplace (Borghans 2001; Handel 2003).

Yes, there are student information systems, library systems, the Internet, skills-based software, online classrooms and e-mail; however, these systems are designed to operate on the periphery of the education process, behind the scenes, or to serve isolated duty. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to collect test results, cognitive traits, comprehension and rich skill analysis data so that teachers, and even parents, could understand the strengths and weaknesses of students on an individual basis. This concept would be unthinkable without technology.

The good news is that there are interesting assessment technologies — either just around the corner or available right now — to detect students' abilities, gather and analyze the data, and communicate the results effectively to both teachers and parents. Assessment systems, whether online, local network or PC-based, can yield real benefits beyond 'training for the test.' One would certainly expect these systems to determine whether students can demonstrate proficiency in the specific skills tested, but the data from periodic testing can also be used to adjust curriculum in real time.

For instance, using an assessment software system, students are given a short unit quiz that tests a few skills. If the class as a whole has difficulty with one of the skills, then the assessment results will inform teachers and administrators about areas that deserve more attention. The curriculum is then adjusted, more time is spent on an important skill, and instruction g'es on.