Here are a variety of tools submitted by Spartanburg 2 teachers to help you with assessment. Many of these tools function as both websites and iPad apps.
Digital Bubble Sheets
These tools take traditional bubble quiz and tests and make them more efficient.
BubbleSheet
BubbleSheet is part of a larger assessment system called Mastery Connect. Though the paid service comes with a versatile set of assessment tools, the free account allows you to create quizzes up to 10 questions long that provide automatic scoring. You can set scoring tiers of Mastery, Near Mastery, and Remediation, with the scoring tier and the standard reported to the student at the end of the quiz. An app allows students to take the quiz online; however, score sheets can be printed and bubbled in traditionally and then scored by the MasteryScan app. You can even print and laminate bubble sheets to reuse with dry erase markers.
ZipGrade
ZipGrade is a bubble sheet scanning app that allows you to quickly assess quizzes and tests up to 50 questions long. ($6.99 per year use.) You can import or create classes, grade assignments, and then import grades into PowerTeacher.
Student Response Tools
These tools allow teachers to provide assessment in a variety of ways during mini-lessons or group instruction. Many of these tools would function well to take polls for classroom discussion.
Nearpod
Nearpod is unique in how it allows teachers to create presentations with embedded student response tools inside the presentation. The teacher/presenter has a great deal of flexibility in delivering information and involving students in the process, including open ended and drawing responses.(Free accounts allow up to 20 MB presentations and 30 students per live session.)
Socrative
Socrative, also owned by Mastery Connect, is a very versatile and popular student response tool. It functions both in the browser and as an app and can function on just about any device. Socrative allows you to create quizzes ahead of time and then deliver them when needed. The teacher can deliver the questions item by item as a whole group or as a student-paced quiz. The teacher creates a room and then may use pre-created quizzes or assign a quick question on the fly. The teacher can show graphs of the class responses to address understandings. Throw in the ability to add pictures and open ended response questions, and you have a very powerful formative assessment tool.
Kahoot!
Kahoot makes quizzing a game by rewarding points to users based on correct answers and speed! Quizzes can be set up ahead of time very quickly. When ready, the teacher launches Kahoot in the browser, and students join a lobby. The teacher then takes the students through the questions, with scoring updates given after each question. Kahoot has very simple setup and lends itself well to quick, fun formative assessments. (Note that you'll want to go to getkahoot.com to create quizzes and to kahoot.it to take quizzes.)
Other suggested student response tools:
Poll Everywhere: quick questioning, with up to 40 responses per poll with a free account.
Poll Daddy: quick basis polls and surveys for free.
Assessment Tools Inside Other Tools
Google Forms with Flubaroo
Google Forms is a user-friendly spreadsheet tool inside of Google Drive, the centerpiece of Google Apps for Education accounts. Google Forms itself provides a very dynamic question generation tool, including the ability to create multiple pages and send students to different pages depending on their responses. (To create a Google Form, go to your Drive, click the red button, and choose Google Forms.)
Flubaroo is an Add-On that can be installed on the Google Form spreadsheet. It allows automatic grading and emailing to participants. Flubaroo creates a summary page of student answers in points and percent and class averages. The teacher can then automatically create graphic reports of the students work.
Edmodo
Edmodo is a light student management system designed primarily to organize classrooms and bridge communication. In addition to updating students and providing resources and assignments, teachers can create and deliver quizzes directly through Edmodo. The teacher can release the quiz results back to students once the quiz has been graded. If you already have an Edmodo account (free!), you can follow these instructions created by Frederick County Public Schools.
Blendspace
Many teachers enjoy Blendspace (formally, EdCanvas) for its ability to blend a variety of resources into one page that can be used for differentiation. Blendspace also allows teachers to create quizzes within the context of a learning path, allowing for students to work at their own pace and complete a formative assessment when they are ready.
Other Formative Assessment Tools
White Board Apps: ShowMe, Educreations, and Explain Everything
These three white board apps all allow students to record their work on the screen with voice, allowing teachers to hear the students thought process as they complete assignments. These recordings can be shared individually or published to the web. In addition to use for formative assessment, the teacher might use some of the student videos as resources for other students.ShowMe is probably the easiest to use of the three (and free!), while Explain Everything probably has the most features ($2.99), including direct export to YouTube, Drive and other services.
Padlet
Padlet (formally WallWisher) is like a wall of sticky notes where students can post ideas. Padlet walls are great for formative assessment of the class a whole to see what understandings they have. The notes are then viewable by the rest of the group and can be used for review.Today's Meet and Google Moderator
Today's Meet is a backchannel discussion tool where anyone can post ideas or questions. With the right expectations and classroom management in place, Today's Meet could be used as open channel throughout the class period for students to ask questions or demonstrate understanding. The discussions can be exported and used later for teacher reference or posting to a class website for notes.Google Moderator, though not as user friendly as Today's Meet, can also offer this type of backchannel discussion with the added ability to approve questions before the rest of the group sees them.
Many thanks to the Spartanburg 2 Pilot and Tech Lead Teachers for suggestions and information!
