When teaching the basic technology skills and the application of them, I must first assess my students prior knowledge.  I need to know if they are ready --"Do the students possess the abilities and skills needed to proceed witht he instruction?" states Linn and Gronlund.  Often I find that a few need some background information before proceeding.  I am very fortunate to have an assistant, who can assist me with this instruction.  With many different ability levels in one class individualized instruction is used, but technology is very accomodating for this.
In place of the pretest, I have had my students create a KWL, which is a table that tells me what they Know, What they Want to Know, and then at the completion of the instruction they tell me what they Learned.  Another important way to assess is to have students keep a journal.  The journal entry prior to instruction is about their prior experience and then after we are finished with the lesson they write about their accomplishments and new knowledge that they have gained.

During instruction I continually use nonmeasurement procedures such as informal observation. This allows me to make value judgements about the learning that is taking place.  If I feel that some are having difficulty, I stop and give a quick quiz to check for understanding, which is a measurement procedure as defined by Linn and Gronlund. 

A team from our district, of which I was a member, created a diagnostic test of the technology goals that we wanted students to master at each grade level.  This is administered at the end of the lessons, which is the summative assessment.  We have revised these tests three different summers so they will best suit our needs. 

Assessment and measurement are extremely important not only to the teacher but also for students and parents. They inform them of what they have accomplished and what they still need to learn.  The more informed we all can be the more valuable the learning experience.  "Properly used assessment procedures can contribute directly to improved student learning by (1) clarifying the nature of the intended learning outcomes, (2) providing short-term goals to work toward, (3)providing feedback concerning learning progress, and (4) providing information for overcoming learning difficulties and for selecting future learning experiences," states Linn and Gronlund. To accomplish assessment procedures in my Learning Center, I must use a variety of assessment and measurement tools.  Informally and formally, I assess my students and my teaching of the lesson.  The variety of tools give me feedback on how I am achieving my goals in instruction.  Data collected from measurement and assessment can guide where I proceed next with my instruction.