When assessment was done in high school, all exams were written. However in some high school classes and all university subjects, it is required to send assessment via a plagiarism checking software like Turnitin. This program would scan the document and pick up any information that may be copied from other sources. The use of Twitter and Facebook was not recommended in school. With university on the other hand, Twitter, YouTube and Facebook were encouraged as it meant that students could be more connected to current events and people. I find Facebook the most useful for asking other peers for help, as well as casual conversation. It keeps people in touch like no other program. Without it, no one would talk or share anything about themselves to anyone. I have also found myself using YouTube for research more, as well.
Twitter and YouTube are promoted at university because they provide evidence from any person, event or compant. On Twitter you can find information and current news from any person or company. YouTube has thousands of videos on any topic. It is practical for educational purposes as well. Documentaries, archival footage and even security footage can be found on YouTube, which could help with subjects like history or law. Facebook is very handy for sharing photos, videos, websites and especially talking with other people. "Tools are increasingly available to students to gather their work together in a kind of online portfolio; whenever they add a tweet, blog post, or photo to any online service, it will appear in their personal portfolio which can be both peer and teacher assessed." (Hawkins, 2010). Everyone is kept up to date with these programs and usually posts are uploaded daily, so information is always current.
Specifically with education and teaching, there are online portfolios of students where assessment is submitted to. They can also serve the purpose of holding a student's "...demographic information, attendance, behaviour, standardised testing results and so on." (Kent & Campbell, 2013, p. 43). Much similar to wikis, everything is in one place. It would also take the stress off students since everything they need for an assessment can be found together. These assessment platforms are also connected with the school's database. Programs like OneSchool entitle the teacher to link their work or assessment to students, then back to the teacher, finally to the principal for confirmation. It links the entire school community together and keeps assessment and personal student information in one place.
