#70 Days Thinking Through Technology 2: Assessment Tools

Goal 1: Where possible modify and redefine our work using technology. 

I'm looking at three or four tools for assessments:

My number one go-to is Google Forms. There are a couple of things about forms I like.  One is that you can use them as generic forms.  I can still create the paper copy quizzes - project them, or put a class set of quizzes in sleeves.  Students can work out the problems on paper, and enter their answers in the forms.  I can get a quick grade using Flubaroo, sort the papers - reviewing the ones that scored poorly, spending a bit more time on those.

I created several Socrative quizzes last year so I have those handy for use this year.  It will be easy to tweak them, make them fit this year's  classes.  I used Socrative for short learning checks.  You can leave the "classroom" open over night as well - or open it for students who need to work on a quiz from home.  I know there are integrity issues that way, but I ask students to turn in work to support their answers on Socrative.

Kahoot and KnowledgeHook are great for informal assessments that don't affect grades.  I can quickly tell what questions are giving students difficulty, where we need some additional practice.  And they add a definite element of fun to the room!  I rarely create a Kahoot game from scratch.  Most often I search for one already made and make any adjustments needed.  One thing I'd like to do this year is to get students to create Kahoot games for personal review.  

I didn't use Edmodo last year, but I want to revisit again this year.  The "snapshot" feature intrigues me.  They've added the Texas TEKS for both Algebra 1 and 2.  I can see assigning the Algebra 1 snapshot questions to preview a unit, to determine what students retained from previous courses, to get a read on what they know.  Until I get the hang of them, I don't envision assigning a grade to the snapshots.  I'm curious about the questions and if they are worthwhile.  Has anyone used the Edmodo Snapshot feature??

Other informal assessment tools that I have used briefly are IXL and MangaHigh - both without subscriptions - no money for those.  I keep wanting to use Quia because I hear so many teachers suggesting it but writing the math in laTeX is challenging for me.  Does anyone else use Quia ... and if so, what's the key?

Are there other online quiz programs that are suitable for math?  Share in the comments!

Addendum ... just read an article on 10 formative assessment tools for 2015.  I need to check out Go Formative.

Electrifying and Intriguing!

Yesterday was one of those rare days in our classroom ... an odd day out ... a day where I could choose to explore topics outside of our typical planned curriculum.

First up, I wanted to learn about Kahoot.  So I found a public game that had questions suitable for review for our upcoming benchmark test.  I told the students I wanted them to teach me how to play.  And teach me they did!

1. As soon as I said we were going to play Kahoot, the atmosphere was electrified!  Students were beyond eager to get started!
2. I set up teams of 4 but after a few questions, students began suggesting that it would be more fun to play in pairs ... more students engaged in the problem solving!
3. The game we used was created by a generous teacher unknown to us who made his or her work public.  For that we are thankful.  But we learned 30 questions is a bit long!
4. Students pointed out that some questions had too long of a time limit ... 120 seconds were just too many.  They suggested keeping most questions at 30 seconds.
5. I learned that we will need an answer document to hold all students accountable. 
6. Kahoot definitely will be a game of choice for future formative assessment and review sessions!  I can envision starting class with a 10 question Kahoot reviewing the previous day's work.

In the second half of class I wanted to explore one of the new Desmos class activities ... PolyGraph.  Kahoot was such a big hit that I thought maybe Polygraph would be a let down ... but it was NOT!  Students said, "This is too much fun!"  They were not eager to quit and in fact, kept playing even when I offered other choices.  We played the parabola version of PolyGraph this time.  But very soon we will be working with Rational Functions ... and I envision PolyGraph as a great classroom activity for reinforcing vocabulary and attributes of the functions.

Our curriculum is mapped out fairly tightly, so a "free" day doesn't happen very often.  The day provided the perfect opportunity to test new technologies to determine how best to use them!