Digital Assessment Tools
Socrative is a site for creating quizzes and polls. The site is quick to learn and makes creating quizzes easy and they can be saved and used again. Gives a report at the end that can be emailed or downloaded that details how each student did and how they class performed overall. Students cannot see each others work but the teacher can see each students progress as they are answering each questions this allows the teacher to see if a student is stuck and offer assistance.
Uses: Some of the uses for this tool are pretty clear such as quizzes the students electronically instead of with a pencil and paper quiz. The fact that the teacher does not have to spend extra time grading the quiz is a bonus. Some of the more interesting uses of this tool would be to have students do the quiz at home. Having the students take the quiz at home allows the teacher to view it before class and use it like a pre-assessment to determine the days instruction. Having the quiz available online would also give students who are absent that day the chance to still participate although you would have ensure that all students have internet and a device on which to access the internet. Another use for this would could be to use it like an exit ticket before the students leave they have to answer a poll or quiz question. The questions could range from what the students learned to how they felt about an activity.
Reflection: There is a lot of reasons that I like this tool. I like that the students answer can either be known to all or hidden. I like that like the teacher can monitor each students progress in real time. The tool is easy to learn to use and has multiple functions. The tool can be used in many different ways and goes beyond just quizzes.
Uses: Some of the uses for this tool are pretty clear such as quizzes the students electronically instead of with a pencil and paper quiz. The fact that the teacher does not have to spend extra time grading the quiz is a bonus. Some of the more interesting uses of this tool would be to have students do the quiz at home. Having the students take the quiz at home allows the teacher to view it before class and use it like a pre-assessment to determine the days instruction. Having the quiz available online would also give students who are absent that day the chance to still participate although you would have ensure that all students have internet and a device on which to access the internet. Another use for this would could be to use it like an exit ticket before the students leave they have to answer a poll or quiz question. The questions could range from what the students learned to how they felt about an activity.
Reflection: There is a lot of reasons that I like this tool. I like that the students answer can either be known to all or hidden. I like that like the teacher can monitor each students progress in real time. The tool is easy to learn to use and has multiple functions. The tool can be used in many different ways and goes beyond just quizzes.
Kahoot is a tool that can can be used to create and administer quizzes, discussions, or surveys. The teacher can create quizzes or use already published quizzes. The teacher can also see the results and download them in a chart so that each students progress can be determined and monitored. The quizzes are timed, with the students getting a better score for answering faster and only having a set time to answer. There is a leader board that is shown during the quiz and after so all students know how they placed compared to the class. The competitive nature of this tool could create problems but if used well with the focus being on improving and just trying their best it is very successful.
Uses: This is a tool that I definitely plan on using. It is a fun way for the students to review material at the end of the day or as test prep.
Reflection: I have seen this tool used in the classroom with great success. The students were in third grade and Kahoot was how they reviewed a math lesson. The students were very excited to get to play and the focus was on the right or wrong answer and not who had the over all highest score from answering the fastest.
Uses: This is a tool that I definitely plan on using. It is a fun way for the students to review material at the end of the day or as test prep.
Reflection: I have seen this tool used in the classroom with great success. The students were in third grade and Kahoot was how they reviewed a math lesson. The students were very excited to get to play and the focus was on the right or wrong answer and not who had the over all highest score from answering the fastest.
AnswerGarden Can be used to create questions that students answer but their answers are a word cloud. The word could below is an example of students answering the question what words describe fall. The bigger the word the more times it was given as the answer. The students can answer as many times as they want and can see each others responses right away.
Uses: This could be a fun tool to use when brainstorming, going over vocabulary, or reviewing a text. Students could be asked to type in any vocabulary words they remember from a previous lesson or asked to state a theme or character from a text. The one problem with using the tool for something like vocabulary is that students can see each others responses and might just retype an already given response rather than thinking up their own answer.
Reflection: I think that this is a fun easy tool to use but it has few uses. It is not really any different from any word could generator and may not be the best tool to use. I would probably use other tools before this one such as padlet or linoit.
Uses: This could be a fun tool to use when brainstorming, going over vocabulary, or reviewing a text. Students could be asked to type in any vocabulary words they remember from a previous lesson or asked to state a theme or character from a text. The one problem with using the tool for something like vocabulary is that students can see each others responses and might just retype an already given response rather than thinking up their own answer.
Reflection: I think that this is a fun easy tool to use but it has few uses. It is not really any different from any word could generator and may not be the best tool to use. I would probably use other tools before this one such as padlet or linoit.
Classroom response system Comes with software to create quizzes, tests, or single questions that can inserted into a PowerPoint or presented as an assessment. Students respond with hand held devices called clickers. The systems light up when time to answer and the number of buttons that light up are the same as the possible answers. The teacher can see how many students have answered and how many seconds the question has been open. The program can be stopped at anytime allowing the teacher to control how long each question is open for the students to answer. A graph of who answered and how many correct answers is available at the end. The wrong answers are also displayed so common misconceptions can be determined. The graph can be projected for the whole class to see or viewed only by the teacher. Can also do student paced assessment by creating the assessment and then printing it out and giving it to the students. Then the students can answer at their own pace and use their devices to navigate from question to question even skipping questions and coming back to them later.
Uses: If the school is willing to buy this tool it can be useful but would not be something that an individual teacher would probably buy for a class. The tool can be used to give quizzes or to check for understanding during instruction. If the teacher is lecturing and using PowerPoint then the questions can just be spaced throughout the lecture. If the teacher is lecturing but without Power
Reflection: I have used this tool as a student and I both enjoyed using it and learned. I was in college when I used this tool and do not know if it would be as effective in an elementary classroom. I do think that this tool is easier to use in some subjects than others and that it might be better for older students. Younger students may be more likely to damage or lose the hand held devices. I also think that younger students would be more engaged using other tools such as Kahoots.
Uses: If the school is willing to buy this tool it can be useful but would not be something that an individual teacher would probably buy for a class. The tool can be used to give quizzes or to check for understanding during instruction. If the teacher is lecturing and using PowerPoint then the questions can just be spaced throughout the lecture. If the teacher is lecturing but without Power
Reflection: I have used this tool as a student and I both enjoyed using it and learned. I was in college when I used this tool and do not know if it would be as effective in an elementary classroom. I do think that this tool is easier to use in some subjects than others and that it might be better for older students. Younger students may be more likely to damage or lose the hand held devices. I also think that younger students would be more engaged using other tools such as Kahoots.