Assessing Teaching Skills with a Mobile Simulation

Source: Journal of Digital Learning in Teacher Education, Volume 30, Issue 1, 2013, p. 4-10

This article argues that because mobile technologies are overtaking personal computers as the primary tools of Internet access, new forms of teaching and assessment are required to foster 21st century literacies, including those needed by K–12 teachers.
Mobile technologies' unique affordances for teaching and assessment can create unique distributed task environments for learning and assessment.

The author illustrates SimSchool as an example of a computer simulation designed for teacher education that utilizes mobile computing affordances.
Mobile simulation-based measurement of teacher knowledge and skills implemented in simSchool contains lessons that may be broadly applicable to other interactive and adaptive educational applications.