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Digital Formative Assessment

Author: Paula Dillon

Reflections on the Digital Formative Assessment Options

The research is definitive on the positive impact that thoughtful, formative assessment can have on improving student achievement.  Formative assessments can come in many forms from dip-sticking with thumbs up, to exit slips, brief quizzes, and collecting data on clipboards.  Although I frequently used formative assessments in all of my classes, I found it difficult to collect, sort, and save the data for instructional decisions.  I began experimenting with digital formative assessment.  In this workshop, I will review the options that I found most effective, demonstrate the tools, and review how to integrate them seamlessly into your classroom routines. 

This weekend, as I was compiling the materials for this workshop, I demonstrated my favorite tools to my daughter who is 8 and son who is 15.  Shamelessly, I use my children to test just about every tool I have ever used in my classes and workshops. According to my daughter, Socrative and Quizlet are her favorites.  In fact, I can't tell you how many quizzes she created about panda bears and the Titanic that I had to take today!  My son liked Socrative as well; however, he preferred Google Docs/Forms over Quizlet.  Both agreed that the quick checks were easy to take and they liked the immediate feedback.  My daughter thought that it was fun to make her own quizzes as well as take the ones that I created.  

I recommend that you try the different options and determine what works best for the structure of your class and the age of your students.  If you prefer the clipboard method, and have access to a mobile device in the classroom, I would encourage you to explore http://mymetryx.com/ (especially as it was developed by one of our own RI educators, Shawn Rubin!)

Paula Dillon 1.26.13

Source: Paula Dillon

Related Articles

Inside the Black Box: Raising Standards Through Assessment by Paul Black and Dylan William via SETDA.og

How to Create Self-Correcting Quizzes in Google Docs by Richard Byrne via Free Technology for Teachers

Why Formative Assessments Matter by Rebecca Alber via Edutopia

The Role of Formative Assessment in PreK-2 Classrooms by Margaret Honey via Wireless Generation

The Role of Formative Assessment in the Secondary Math Classroom by Jenny Nunn via Evergreen College

Connecting Formative Assessment Research to Practice by Learning Point Associates

Formative Assessment: Why, What and Whether chapter 1 excerpt by James Popham via ASCD

​Using Doctopus Script in Google Sheets to Provide Feedback by Richard Byrne via Free Tech for Teachers

Using Goobrics Extension in Chrome

Source: Sources Cited Above

Using Google Forms with Flubaroo to Create Self-Correcting Assessments

Video tutorial demonstrating how to use Google Forms with Flubaroo to create self-correcting assessments

Source: Paula Dillon using Google Forms and Flubaroo via Screencast-o-matic

Using QR Code on Formative Asssements Created in Google Forms

How to add a QR code to a Google Docs Formative Assessment:

Create the form
Place link in Google URL Shortener
This creates a QR code that you can post anywhere
Have students scan code
As an added bonus, if you want the formative assessment to be graded by Google, add the script flubaroo on the spreadsheet connected to the form!

Source: Paula Dillon 3.23.13

Doctopus Demonstration

Tutorial on using the Doctopus Script in Google Docs to provide Feedback

Source: Katie Grassel via Youtube

Using ChartDog in Intervention Central to Progress Monitor

Source: Paula Dillon via Chartdog, Intervention Central

Socrative Step by Step

Screen shots that will take you step by step setting up Socrative and building your first quiz and report.

Source: Paula Dillon via Socrative using Jing Screenshots

3 Minute Overview of Flubaroo

Flubaroo is a free tool that helps you quickly grade multiple-choice or fill-in-blank assignments. Designed by a teacher for their own classroom, and they share it with other teachers... for free!

* Flubaroo works with Google docs.

More than just a grading tool, Flubaroo also:
Computes average assignment score.
Computes average score per question, and flags low-scoring questions.
Shows you a grade distribution graph.
Gives you the option to email each student their grade, and an answer key.

Overview of Quizlet

Quizlet allows you to create study sets for students and track their progress. Students can also create their own study sets. In addition, there are thousands of study sets you can select that have already been created. "Quizlet was founded in 2005 by 15-year-old Andrew Sutherland for a high-school French class. He wanted an easy-to-use tool for learning vocabulary. He built Quizlet for himself, shared it with his friends, and it grew from there."

Source: Quizlet.com

ClassMark online Assessments

ClassMarker's secure, professional web-based testing service is an easy-to-use, customizable online test maker for business, training & educational assessment with tests and quizzes graded instantly - saving hours of paperwork!

Source: ClassMarker.Com

Using Data from TenMarks to Guide Math Instruction and Intervention

Source: Paula Dillon via TenMarks

Tracking Student Progress in Learnzillion

Source: Learnzillion via Youtube

QuizStar Online Assessment Creator

With QuizStar you can
- Manage classes and quizzes
- Attach multimedia files to questions
- Make quizzes in multiple languages
- Access from any Internet-connected computer
- Allow students to complete and review

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Metryx

"The concept for Metryx was born in a kindergarten classroom in Providence, RI when veteran, elementary educator Shawn Rubin and industrial designer Stephanie Castilla sat down to build a replacement for the time-honored teacher clipboard.

The idea was simple, build the ultimate mobile, formative assessment platform that would allow all teachers to work with data in real-time."