The Horizon Report – 2013 examines emerging technologies for their potential impact on and use in teaching, learning, and creative inquiry within the environment of pre-college education. Six emerging technologies are identified across three adoption horizons over the next one to five years, as well as key trends and challenges expected to continue over the same period, giving educators, school administrators, and practitioners a valuable guide for strategic technology planning.
Here is a summary of what it said about formative assessment.
We are not using digital media for formative assessment the way we could and should.
Assessment is an important driver for educational practice and change, and over the last years we
have seen a welcome rise in the use of formative assessment in educational practice. However, there is still an assessment gap in how changes in curricula and new skill demands are implemented in education; schools do not always make necessary adjustments in assessment practices as a consequence of these changes. Another assessment gap is related to the lack of innovative uses of digital media in formative assessment. Many tools are still tied to outdated LMS and do not have the ability to assess critical data sets, such as 21st Century Skills acquisition.
If you have 15 mins have a look at this TED Talk by Heidi Hayes Jacobs. She presents challenges to us all – Asks us what we are preparing our students for (spoiler alert 1991) and goes to suggest some creative open ended but very practical assessment ideas .