More Assessment Tools (Formative)

20 Formative Assessment Tools for Your Classroom

OCTOBER 29, 2018 BY KASEY BELL

https://shakeuplearning.com/blog/20-formative-assessment-tools-for-your-classroom/

In this post, you will find 20 Formative Assessment Tools for Your Classroom!

Let’s make sure we are all on the same page when it comes to formative assessment, or what I like to refer to as, “Assessment FOR Learning”.

“Teachers who use, “Assessment FOR learning,” involve their students in ongoing self-assessment in ways that reveal to those learners:

(a) where they are headed in their learning,

(b) where they are now in relation to those expectations, and

(c) how each student can close the gap between the two.

Formative assessment is such an essential part of the learning process and student success, and many digital tools can help support this process.

This list has a wide variety of features and options to help you solidify your formative assessment strategies! Many of the tools below are great for both formative and summative assessments.

20 Formative Assessment Tools for Your Classroom

1. Edpuzzle

Edpuzzle allows you to turn videos into a quick assessment. Choose a video on YouTube, Khan Academy, Crash Course, or upload your own. Trim the video, insert a quiz anywhere and track your students progress. (Freemium, basic account is free, additional features available with paid accounts.)

2. Edulastic

Edulastic is a complete assessment dashboard. Teachers can create and track assessments, and even align with CCSS. They also offer a district wide-platform for sharing district-wide assessments. (Free for teachers, district-sharing requires a paid license.)

3. Flipgrid

Flipgrid is a video discussion platform, that allows students to respond to questions, topics, and reflect using video. Students can also respond to each other, leave comments, and more. (Free!)

4. Gimkit

Some have said that Gimkit is Kahoot on steroids. Gimkit is another fast-paced quiz game, but with an extra element. Student earn in-game cash to spend on game upgrades. Check out Leslie Fisher’s review and video to learn more.

5. Google Classroom Question Tool

Inside Google Classroom, you have the option to create a questions and share that with students. You can make this collaborative, or just have the answers viewable for you the teacher. This is not a robust threaded discussion tool like I wish it was, but it can be handy for formative assessments and to check for understanding.

6. Formative

Formative is a free online assessment tool that is very robust. Formative allows teachers to choose pre-made assessments and edit to fit your needs, create your own from scratch, or even upload a PDF or doc to create. They also offer some fantastic data that you can track and intervene when needed. (FREE and integrates with Google Classroom!)

7. Google Forms

Google forms is a survey and quiz tool that is very easy to use. You can feed your form or quiz data into a Google Sheet for analysis and evaluation. Both Google Forms and Sheets also have many “add-ons” that give users even more capabilities that can power your formative assessments. (FREE)

8. InsertLearning

InsertLearning is a Chrome extension that lets you turn any webpage into an interactive lesson. InsertLearning has this fantastic toolbar that will allow you to highlight text, add sticky notes, insert questions, videos, or even a discussion all inside the webpage! Learn more about InsertLearning here: 4 Ways to Blend Learning with InsertLearning. (InsertLearning is a freemium application, but you get your first five lessons for free.)

9. Kahoot!

Kahoot! is a game-based learning and trivia platform that allows you to create very engaging quizzes for your classroom. Kahoot! is super fun and addictive. You can create your own kahoots, or choose from their library of games. Play live kahoots, in groups, issue challenges, or assign as homework. (FREE)

10. Mentimeter

Mentimeter is an interactive presentation tool that allows you to poll your students, check for understanding, or ask students to vote. There are several different types of questions you can create, image-based, multiple choice, scales, open-ended, questions from the audience and more. You can even generate word clouds out of responses! (Freemium, some features are free.)

11. Nearpod

Nearpod is an interactive classroom tool for teachers to engage students with interactive lessons. Nearpod allows you to create and share lessons that sync across devices and encourage student participation, and evaluate student responses through comprehensive reporting. (Freemium, some features are free.)

12. Padlet

Padlet is a super easy to way to create an online bulletin board that allows teachers and students to share and collaborate. What’s great about Padlet is that it offers so much flexibility! It works on any device, and you can share just about any type of information–text, links, upload files, photos, videos, just about any kind of response. There are also many different ways you can design your pages. Customize the background, organize information in new ways. (Free trial available)

13. Pear Deck

Pear Deck is a web-based formative assessment tool that allows you to create interactive lessons using G Suite tools. The Google Slides add-on has quickly become a favorite of mine. (I even teach it in my Google Slides Master Class!) Pear Deck offers a library of free templates that you can use to created interactive assessments in your slides. Pear Deck is also a freemium tool, some features are free, but you can get a 3-month Premium Membership with this special link for Shake Up Learning readers!

14. Plickers

This assessment tool allows teachers to collect on-the-spot formative assessment data without the need to have students use devices or paper and pencil. Teachers create and print specially coded cards that students hold up in class as their response. The teacher uses the Plickers app to scan the cards and collect the data. (Free)

15. Poll Everywhere

Poll Everywhere is a live audience polling tool that integrates into your presentation. You can ask questions during your lessons, see live data, and reports. (Freemium, free accounts are limited to 25 responses per poll.)

16. Quizizz

Quizizz allows you to conduct student-paced formative assessments in a fun and engaging way for students of all ages. Quizizz works on just about any device and offers a library of public quizzes that teachers can use in their classrooms. They also provide detailed class and student reports. (FREE)

17. Quizlet

Quizlet is a study tool that uses flashcards, games, and other “study sets.” to help students. Quizlet Live is a collaborative quiz game where students are placed into teams to work together to answer the questions and learn together. (FREE)

18. Seesaw

Seesaw is a digital portfolio and communication tool that many teachers love! Seesaw works on any device shared or 1:1. Free for teachers. Teachers create activities for students. Students draw, take pictures and video, and capture their learning in their portfolio. Parents can view their students work and leave comments. (Freemium, some features are free.)

19. Socrative

Socrative is a web-based formative assessment tool that allows teachers to create quizzes, ask questions, collect exit tickets and feedback. You can also create a competitive quiz bowl game, called, “Space Race,” where students compete to get the most answers correct. (Freemium with up to 50 students per session.)

20. Spiral.ac

Spiral.ac is an interactive learning platform with a suite of collaborative applications. Deliver quickfire formative assessments, discussion, teams of students can work together to create presentations, and turn any public video into a live chat with questions and quizzes. (Freemium, some features are free.)

SchoolTube was founded to provide a safe platform for K12 video sharing.

SchoolTube was launched in 2007 about 2 years after the launch of YouTube©. Our co-founders, Carl and Andrew Arizpe, quickly realized that YouTube's lack of content controls and focus created an opportunity for a video management solution 100% dedicated to K12 learning.

SchoolTube quickly gained in popularity and was endorsed by many of the national K12 school and technical associations – support that we continue to enjoy today.

Today SchoolTube has active users in over 70,000 schools and because of our content controls, SchoolTube is viewable in over 90% of schools, unlike YouTube which is tightly controlled and restricted.

SchoolTube can be implemented under our free, ad-supported plan, or Ad-Free under one of our subscription based-plans.

Why Should You Choose SchoolTube?

Educators, Schools, and Districts are choosing SchoolTube because it is the best COPPA/ADA compliant Video Hosting, Creation and Sharing Platform for K12 Classrooms and Distance Learning environments.

Schools that are members of the SchoolTube community have access to:

• Unlimited User Accounts
• Unlimited Uploads & Viewing
• Unlimited Personalized Channels
• Video Creation and Editing Tools … and Much More!

Support Students in Physical and Digital Learning Environments using the SchoolTube Virtual Classroom

A feature-rich distance learning app fully integrated into each SchoolTube channel.

• Host remote classes
• Record & share sessions
• High-quality video & audio delivery
• Whiteboard & annotation tools
• Participant management
• Breakout rooms
• Integrated quizzes

The Foundation of Distance Learning

The Tipping Point. The impact of Covid-19 served as a tipping point in K12 education, forcing nearly every K12 school into remote learning mode.

School leaders and teachers quickly realized that lessons needed to be digitized – even gym teachers saw and responded to the need.

It also became clear that students and parents wanted to see their teachers and maintain the student-teacher relationship.

The combination of digital lessons and visual relationships demands a video-based solution.

Remote classes are only part of the solution.  In practice, schools found it difficult to host virtual classes with 100% attendance due to scheduling and in-home technology limitations. Offering both live and recorded classes and lessons is the solution

SchoolTube is the foundation of a strong distance learning solution offering an integrated virtual class system, video creation tools and safe, COPPA/ADA compliant video hosting and sharing.

https://schooltube.org

AlysiaU@NU

Fantastic, Fast Formative Assessment Tools

FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT

Checking for understanding is good for both students and teachers. We’ve rounded up a variety of digital tools to help you do it.

By Vicki Davis

https://www.edutopia.org/blog/5-fast-formative-assessment-tools-vicki-davis

January 15, 2015 Updated May 8, 2017

I thought I could read my students’ body language. I was wrong. As an experiment, I used Socrative when I taught binary numbers. What I learned forever changed my views on being a better teacher.

WHY FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT MAKES BETTER TEACHERS

Formative assessment is done as students are learning. 

Summative assessment is at the end (like a test).

Here’s what happened in my classroom. I was teaching my hardest topic of the year—binary numbers, where students learn to add ones and zeros like a computer. It looks harder than it is, and many of my students will shut down and not even want to try. So I taught how to count in binary numbers, and we worked some examples together. After a few minutes, two students piped up.

“We’ve got this, it’s easy,” they said. “Can we move on?”

I looked at the other students and asked, “Do you have this?”

They nodded their heads furiously up and down in a yes.

My teacher instincts said that everyone knew it, but I decided to experiment, so I wrote a problem on the board. Students were already logged in to Socrative, and a box opened up on their screens. Each student typed in his or her answer to the problem. They clicked Enter, and their answers appeared on my screen beside their names.

I was floored. Guess how many knew the right answer? Two! Just the two students who had spoken up, and no one else.

I taught for another few minutes and gave them another problem. A few more solved it, but not everyone. We took the problem another way, and then another few thought it was easy. Finally, after about 10 more minutes of teaching, everyone was mastering the problems. Their test scores proved it.

But the end result was not what you think. It didn’t take me longer to teach binary numbers. You see, I don’t move past this lesson until all of my students are scoring 90 percent or higher. And as a result of this experience, I taught binary numbers and all of the accompanying standards in three days instead of my usual five, and no one had to come for after-school tutoring.

I was sold on formative assessment.

Good teachers in every subject will adjust their teaching based on what students know at each point. Good formative assessment removes the embarrassment of public hand raising and gives teachers feedback that impacts how they’re teaching at that moment. Instant feedback. We can do this now. Here’s how.

FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT TOOLKIT

Learn the strengths and weaknesses of each tool. You’ll need several to meet every classroom situation. These are my favorite tools for formative assessment.

1. Quick Feedback: Socrative can be used for quick quizzes and also on the fly, as I’ve already shared. Here’s another feature: Before class, I create quizzes that we can play as a game called Space Race. The website automatically divides the class into teams. Kids know what color team they’re on and can look at the rockets racing one another on the board. I don’t always record the grade, particularly when I know I have more teaching to do.

The advantage of Socrative is that it gives me percentages that I can use as a grade if we’re ready for that. You can even use it for traditional quizzes if desired.

Formative is another tool in this category, with some different advantages. Whereas in Socrative you see the answers and what students are doing, Formative can have students draw on their device, type answers, or use a variety of methods all updated live on your screen as students enter their answer. Math teachers with 1:1 devices will likely prefer this one.

2. Live Quiz Games: Kahoot, Quizziz, and Quizlet Live let us build fun quizzes. Students use computers, cell phones, or other devices to join the game. In some platforms, you can embed videos and make the game part of the teaching process, or students can create review games to share. One disadvantage is that students can use aliases. I like these tools, but do prefer the accountability and data I get out of Socrative and SMART Lab (see below) over Kahoot and the live quiz games.

I knew Kahoot was a winner when I finished 10 minutes early on the last day of school and my class asked to play SAT vocab review with it.

3. Integrated Presentation and Quiz Tools: I use SMART Notebook, which has an add-on called SMART Lab. It lets me make Kahoot-like games but gathers results like Socrative. SMART Lab is a free add-on for those who have purchased the SMART Notebook software, and you don’t need a SMART board.

Nearpod is another fantastic tool along these lines. You can create presentations that include quizzes, assessments, drawing boards, and more.

I appreciate the integrated nature of Nearpod and SMART Lab because I don’t really like having to present material, then switch over to a formative assessment tool, and then go back to the presentation tool. Everything is in one place.

4. Formative Assessment With Videos: There are two uses of formative assessment with videos. First, when students watch videos, as they do in flipped classrooms, you want to know that students know what they’re doing.

I used to recommend Zaption, but that tool shut down. And while Vizia claimed to be a replacement, I recommend Edpuzzle instead. Edpuzzle lets you embed questions in the video, interact with your students, and know how your students are engaging with digital content.

The second and perhaps most exciting formative assessment method is to have students create videos to demonstrate learning. For example, students can use Let’s Recap or Explain Everything to create videos documenting their learning. (If you want students to read to you or use audio, Fluency Tutor is a good alternative.)

I find this second method so exciting because it is a huge time-saver. For example, students who are learning to count can do so on video or audio. Then, using the same app or a tool like Seesaw, a teacher can listen to and give feedback on their work after class or at another time. The long line at the teacher desk is just no longer necessary.

5. No Devices? But what if your students have no computers, no cell phones, no nothing? Do you have a smartphone or tablet? If so, you’ve got two simple answers.

For verbal questions: Log in to Plickers and create a card for each student. The cards look a bit like QR codes, and students can use them to answer multiple-choice questions by rotating them (one side represents A, another B, and so on). When you ask a question, students hold up their cards with their answer at the top side. Looking at the class through the Plicker app on your smartphone, you’ll see the name of each student and his or her answer—instant feedback!

For quick quizzes: QuickKey is a mobile scanning app for the iPhone. There are several others, such as ZipGrade and GradeCam. Your questions must be multiple choice. Print out the short form and have students fill in the bubbles. Use your smartphone to scan the quizzes and immediately know what your students know.

 Courtesy of JM@NU

Barriers in Education & Technology Use

As our world is in its pivotal time of growth, technology has proven to take over. How we work, learn, communicate, entertain, and essentially live our lives is heavily influenced by social media platforms. Specifically focusing on education, technology is slowly (if not already) eliminating the typical tools in teaching such as chalkboards, white boards, and pencil/paper. This new digital drive is very resourceful for all students as they are able to stay more engaged in learning, communicate better with their peers and teachers, and helps them master a difficult topic/ problem.

At this point, you might be asking yourself, well then what wrong can technology do?

Although technology can be great in every way, I think as future teachers we need to acknowledge the many barriers we may face when trying to incorporate technology into our classrooms. For example, there are still schools who do not have enough technology or poor use of technology like bad wireless connection. Or some teachers have not yet formed a positive attitude towards technology use. This is because of the lack of skills which is related to poor schoolwide emphasis on technology use by principals.

But one of our biggest and most relevant barriers for this time that we live in is the COVID 19 Pandemic. One billion school children around the world continue their education from home, yet many do not have the technology necessary for remote learning. This creates an exposing divide between the students with computers and internet access — and those who don't. The imbalance is preventing families and their children from enjoying the same type of education in comparison to average and high-income homes.

So how can we prevent any of these barriers if we were to bump into them in our teaching journey? For example, if there are limited computers in a classroom or in schools, teachers can use it as an opportunity to teach "prioritizing your time properly and sharing" by having groups of students take turns using the computer. 

What else can be done? This is something we should definitely consider and think about as future teachers! 

 

Linda @NU

eSchool News: Virtual Field Trips

 8 virtual field trips for STEM engagement

In-person field trips aren't possible during the pandemic, but virtual field trips offer fun learning experiences for students.

It’s January. Winter break is over, and the rest of the school year–whether in person, hybrid, or virtual–seems never-ending. And while traditional field trips are on pause while COVID still spreads, virtual field trips are still very much possible.

Hands-on STEM subjects are challenging to teach when students aren’t in the classroom all the time, and student engagement is also a challenge during COVID. Virtual field trips address both of these persistent roadblocks.

Virtual field trips can help students get a front-row look at STEM outside of the classroom. Where can those engineering concepts you learn during school take you in adulthood? Is it possible to be creative in a STEM career?

Here are one virtual field trip for you to explore:

1. Slime in Space: What happens when you send Nickelodeon slime to the International Space Station? That’s exactly what a group of NASA astronauts set out to answer, and we want you and your kids to come along for the ride! This free 15-minute virtual field trip will take kids 250 miles above earth to see how slime, and water, react in a microgravity environment. It’s truly out of this world!

For more, click this link to visit eSchool News: More Virtual Field Trips

Brought to you by AM@NU

Seesaw App

SEESAW App

Seesaw is a free app and can used to communicate with parents and guardians. This is like a new digital agenda. I have used Seesaw as a Designated Early childhood Educator to communicate with families, send reminders, post students work. The teacher could create the seesaw account and add as many teachers and families as they want. The teacher is able to send an invite through email or QR code. The families could use the QR to scan in their phone and to create the account. 

When creating the account, the app asks if it is a student or teacher. For privacy reasons the teacher could write students initial than writing students full name in the students' account. This is also a great tool for the teachers to document students learning and development through the school year. The teacher could take a picture of the students work, write a description at the bottom, and post it on the website by tagging the student. The families have the option to like and comment the post. There is also an option in the app to send reminders or private message to the families. 

This app can be used on any device and available for apple or android devices.

By Vee @ NU-OTECC

Video Games in Education

We usually see video games as an entertainment for people of all ages to engage in. However, what if I were to tell you that video games can be used in educational settings as well? Video games enable learners to use strategies and role-playing to solve puzzles and explore the digital world.

There are specific video games that allow users to simulate their minds. Kurt Squire's article "Video Games in Education" mentions many video games that are powerful tools for educational purposes. One video game this article mentions is Hidden Agenda and I have played this video game many times myself. This game asks users to solve a crime through clues, puzzles and strategic thinking. Players can learn about economics, history, politics, sociology, and culture throughout the game (p. 6).

Although there may be educational benefits, this still raises some concerns about violence and aggression that can occur when children play video games. Squire mentions in his article that research shows there is no connection between video game violence and children's social behaviour being influenced. 

Video game designers are beginning to change their games by incorporating stories and character development in a way this won't result in children's behaviour being aggressive or violent. As educators, we should keep ourselves updated to upcoming video games that may influence our students' behaviour or attitude. We should educate ourselves on possible influences video games may have on our students.

AmritaB@NU

Get the Facts on The Truth

With technology drastically changing and evolving as quickly as it does, the way we as educators think about and utilize technology needs to be adapted as well. With the evolution of Web 2.0, the internet has become a source of multimedia, multimodal communication with unlimited resources and more information than any one person can fathom. In this digital age, finding factual, relevant information can be difficult to do when sifting through fake news and spam posts. While it is our job to teach these critical thinking and investigative skills, I wondered if there are websites or apps that easily allow you to fact-check or confirm viable information. Here are some sites that I found...

 

AllSlides.

While not a fact-checking site, AllSides curates stories from right, center and left-leaning media so that readers can easily compare how bias influences reporting on each topic. 

 

Fact Check.

This nonpartisan, nonprofit project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania monitors the factual accuracy of what is said by U.S. political players, including politicians, TV ads, debates, interviews and news releases

 

Media Matters.

This nonprofit and self-described liberal-leaning research center monitors and corrects conservative misinformation in the media.

 

Truth or Fiction.

This nonpartisan website where Internet users can quickly and easily get information about eRumors, fake news, disinformation, warnings, offers, requests for help, myths, hoaxes, virus warnings, and humorous or inspirational stories that are circulated by email.

 

Open Secrets.

This nonpartisan, independent and nonprofit website run by the Center for Responsive Politics tracks how much and where candidates get their money.

 Politifact.

This Pulitzer Prize winning website rates the accuracy of claims by elected officials. Run by editors and reporters from the independent newspaper Tampa Bay Times, Politifact features the Truth-O-Meter that rates statements as "True," "Mostly True," "Half True," "False," and "Pants on Fire."

 

ProPublica.

This independent, nonprofit newsroom has won several Pulitzer Prizes, including the 2016 Prize for Explanatory Reporting. ProPublica produces investigative journalism in the public interest.

 

Snopes.

This independent, nonpartisan website run by professional researcher and writer David Mikkelson researches urban legends and other rumours. It is often the first to set the facts straight on wild fake news claims.

Courtesy of Keegan M @ NU-OTECC

Series: Formative Assessment Tools for Teachers 6

There is no shortage of strategies, techniques, and tools available to teachers who use formative instructional practice in their classrooms. Here is a list of a few more digital tools, apps, and platforms that can help you and your students use formative assessment to elicit evidence of learning. 

The tools

iBrainstorm This app allows students to collaborate on projects using a stylus or their finger on screen.

IXL Personalize learning and get real-time diagnostic information on what students understand and where they could use more help.

Kahoot! A game-based classroom response system, where teachers can create quizzes using internet content.

Kaizena An online tool for providing students with real-time feedback on their digitally uploaded work. Teachers can highlight or speak to give verbal feedback and attach teacher-created, reusable resources.

Lino A virtual cork board of sticky notes so students can provide questions or comments on their learning. These can be used like exit tickets or during the course of a lesson.

Courtesy of AM@OISE

The House of #EdTech

I am highlighting the podcast, The House of #EdTech: Episode 167, "How to be a Digital Citizen". The podcast is about how to use educational technology in your classroom. You can sign up for the podcast to be sent right to your email. 

https://houseofedtech.libsyn.com/website

https://houseofedtech.libsyn.com/website/why-is-digital-citizenship-important-hoet167

 

It is a part of the Education Podcast Network where each podcast is individually owned and operated. http://www.edupodcastnetwork.com/ 

 

The House of #EdTech shares stories from teachers and creators about education technology, recommends the valuable tools, tips, and resources to integrate technology into your classroom and instruction, and explores how technology is changing the way teachers teach along with the impact technology is having in education. Guest hosted by Derek Larson, he explains and discusses the value of digital citizenship. He shares different ideas regarding its meaning from a variety of teachers. The program even talked about things I didn't think of, such as push back from parents who do not want their kids online at all and it gave some suggestions on how to handle that. 

 Digital Citizenship is…helping students learn how to use it productively, constructively, and that who you are online should match who you are offline. We need to guide students on ways to be safe online regarding themselves and their personal information. Just as kids learn how to be safe in the real world, they need to understand how to use technology safely. What they do online could have real-world implications in their lives. We need to teach students to think critically about what they are reading and understand when information might not be accurate. Many of these tools and skills we teach offline also apply online. This podcast is a tech tool that teachers can use in guiding their students by using the different programs, social media sites, and activities online in positive ways to better prepare them as (digital) citizens. 

 

Nicole R@NU OTECA

Series: Formative Assessment Tools for Teachers 5

There is no shortage of strategies, techniques, and tools available to teachers who use formative instructional practice in their classrooms. Here is another list of digital tools, apps, and platforms that can help you and your students use formative assessment to elicit evidence of learning. 

The tools

Formative This online, all-student response system provides teachers the opportunity to assign activities to students, receive the results in real time, and then provide immediate feedback to students.

FreeOnlineSurveys Allows teachers to create surveys, quizzes, forms, and polls quickly and easily.

Gimkit A handy resource for creating real-time quizzes. It was created by a high school student!

Google Forms A Google Drive app that allows you to create documents that students can collaborate on in real time using smartphones, tablets, and laptops.

GoSoapBox Free for less than 30 students, this all-student response system works with the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) model, so no charge for a clicker. One of the most intriguing features for me is the Confusion Meter.

Brought to you by: AM@OISE