Formative Assessment Tools and Free Student Response Systems

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Jun 112019
 
Permalink: http://goo.gl/zQO6IC – Updated 5/11/19

Slide Deck:

Instead of purchasing expensive and dedicated student response systems from SMART or Promethean, here are some alternatives around for formative assessment in the area of web-based classroom ‘clickers.’ If you have access to iPads, Chromebooks, or even student cell phones, you can utilize some great (and FREE) web based student response and feedback systems – without the need to purchase additional single-purpose devices.

Here’s a rundown of some great options out there, and what it’s  “Killer Feature” is:

Platform: Killer Feature:
Socrative Great overall features, has Teacher and Student apps, but not required
Mentimeter Unlimited responses – great for school wide surveys
Poll Everywhere SMS/Text voting from student cell phones, free teacher accounts
Nearpod Presentation and assessment in one tool, app or web based presentations, same app for teachers and students
Pear Deck Similar to Nearpod in functionality, it’s a free add-on that allows you to add assessment and interactivity to ANY existing presentation you have, as long as it’s in Google Slides.
Kahoot “Gamified” assessment, great for review, colorful and fun
Quizizz Gamified review, without the time pressure of Kahoot
Plickers No student device needed – uses paper cards and a teacher cell phone or iPad camera
Google Forms Quizzes Easy to build, no additional logins for teachers or students needed

Here’s a few more new tools to investigate. More details to come!

Mentimeter | Interact with your audience

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Nov 132013
 
Media_httpmentimeterc_dqhah
via mentimeter.com, originally published May 12, 2012 – Update!

 

Mentimeter is another option for educators as an alternative to purchasing expensive student response systems or ‘clicker’ sets for their classrooms.

Mentimeter is much more simple than Poll Everywhere or Socrative, but I don’t see where you can do anything else with your results beyond displaying them as voting is happening. It remembers your questions, but you can’t export the data to a spreadsheet for later analysis.

It’s attractive, simple to set up and simple for your audience to vote (which can be tough with the other options out there), and you don’t even need to set up an account before you use it. With simplicity comes a cost. There is no option for text-message voting – you can only vote via a web page. So, the simple feature phones that many of your students probably have will not work.

With that in mind, I like it a lot. Give it a try!

Update on November 13, 2013

Mentimeter has been hard at work making their polling platform better and easier to use. I’m very impressed with the work they have done. I think that it’s a perfect tool for teachers and schools, in some circumstances. Its easy to start polling quickly, minimal set up is required, and they have a great new pop-up QR Code feature for each question. If you need to poll a large audience on a school budget (read FREE), there is no better option. Mentimeter allows for an unlimited number of questions and an unlimited number of responses per question with their free account.

They have added the ability to download your poll results, but it’s only available with a paid account. Also, I can’t tell if text/SMS voting is a feature. If it is, it’s only a paid account option. All voting must be done on a web-enabled device. If you need text/SMS voting, Poll Everywhere is still your best bet.

Thanks Mentimeter for providing a great tool for teachers and schools!

Clickers for iPod Touch

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Feb 252011
 

Hi Clint,  I was wondering if you could give me the name of some iPod apps that you can use as a clicker or keyboard.  I found quite a few, but was wondering if some were better than others before I splurge and buy them.  Thanks!!

There’s a couple of things that you could look at…

Today I’ve tried eClicker, and liked it once I got the hang of it. It’s had some unfavorable reviews, but it seems to be pretty solid for me. You need to have at least 1 iOS device (iPod Touch, iPad, iPhone) with the eClicker Host app, which is $9.99 from the App store. Then on all of your other iPods, you can download the free eClicker app that can access the questions hosted on the main device. The host app will allow you to create questions that will be pushed out to the students for voting, and then once the poll question is closed, a chart of responses is automatically sent out to all of the devices answering the question. 

The good news is that you don’t NEED to have an iPod for each student – each device can be shared with up to 5 students that will record their names, but they all have to agree on their choice. Also, ANY Internet enabled device can access the poll questions – I was answering questions from my laptop and my Android phone along with two iPads that I had on hand. The results are archived so that you can go back and look at past results, plus there are many other features – you can even quickly edit questions in a web browser online if you create a free account. It works over your local wireless network, or with your Mac you can even set up a personal network to use in your classroom for the polls. Overall, it’s a pretty good deal for $10. 

Another option is Poll Everywhere. This is a web-based option that needs no apps to use. You can create a free Educational account, and create as many poll questions as you’d like, with up to 32 responses per question. You display the poll questions in a web browser or PowerPoint presentation on your projector, and then students can vote either through a web page (http://poll4.com), a text message, or email and the website instantly compiles the results. It’s not quite as fast as eClicker, but each vote takes maybe 4 seconds to post, and the charts update dynamically. It’s amazing to see in action.

If you are looking for a ‘keyboard’ or a way to control your computer with the iPad, Air Display is the best thing I’ve seen. There are other apps that will turn your iPod Touch or iPad into a mouse to control your computer (Mobile Mouse is a good one), but Air Display turns your device into either a 2nd monitor for your computer, or as a mirrored version of your display/projector for your computer. This means that (with a drawing or presentation app), I can draw or write on the iOS device and actually see what I’m doing on the device or projector screen. You have complete touch control over your computer for browsing or navigating web pages, or controlling a presentation. 

I’ve only been using it for a few hours, but I can see the potential there since you are basically projecting your iPad wirelessly to your computer and projector. It’s also $9.99, but worth the cost of admission.

Thanks for the question!

Clint

SMS Voting alternatives

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Nov 162010
 
From: Jeff <jeff@polleverywhere.com>

HI Clint – thought you would enjoy this:

SMS Voting as main purpose

http://www.livevote.ca/ - dead http://www.enteryourvote.com - dead http://www.itextvote.com/ - dead http://pushonevote.com/ http://www.jarbyco.com http://www.votapedia.com/ - AKA urvoting.com http://www.letsgovote.com/ http://textthemob.com/ http://www.plugandpoll.com/ - by http://www.log-on.nl/ http://ezuku.com http://v5v5.org http://www.mclkonline.com/ http://pushonevote.com/ http://www.sendsteps.com/products - nice logo (!) http://www.smspoll.net (direct ripoff) http://iVoted.com (direct ripoff)
Other good Web2.0/Mobile classroom response system:
http://quickieq.com
Twitter voting:
Strawpoll.com (dead) PollDaddy.com TwtPoll.com
SMS Voting as a feature in a broader suite (usually for corporate/marketing)
http://www.quickmobile.com/ http://www.wirelesscorp.com/ - Acq. by singlepoint http://trumpia.com/main/mobile_marketing_text_to_vote.php http://www.zoomerang.com/mobile-surveys/sms-surveys.htm http://www.xlearn.co.uk/sms.htm http://www.ravewireless.com/ - Discontinued the poll part http://www.micropoll.com/ - AKA QuestionPro. Dropped SMS product http://www.eztexting.com http://daap.uc.edu/mobilap/ http://www.textcastlive.com/ http://www.txtimpact.com/Voting.asp http://www.mozes.com/ http://www.telescope.tv/

More Colleges Are Using Hand-Held Devices as Classroom Aids

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Nov 162010
 
Media_httpgraphics8ny_ojlff
via nytimes.com

Classroom response systems are becoming more and more prevalent. If only the clickers didn’t cost $70 a piece on top of the interactive white board setup.

Even with the limitations and potential issues of time, speed, and availability of student cell phones, I still like the idea of Poll Everywhere for introducing teachers to this sort of on-the-fly formative evaluation of student learning.