The classic image of a teacher is one were she is surrounded by stacks of paper to be graded, painstakingly marked for spelling, grammar, the use of statistics, a null hypothesis (those last two are for the science teachers out there). That image does not have to be the case any more. There are many different types of assessment Web 2.0 tools out there, but I find myself partial to Socrative. This is a free, web based service that has functionality in both tablet and phone with free student and teacher apps as well as browser functionality for laptops and desktops. Teachers make quizzes and tests that are presented in the Socrative window. One really nice feature is students do not have to remember a login for themselves. They can type in the name of the teacher’s “room” something that the teacher can post on the board or name simply. Once students are in the room the teacher can start the assessment. Teachers can randomize the questions and the answer choices, which as a high school teacher I appreciated. Once the test is started you can see the students responses in real time. Correct answers are green and wrong answers are red. Even if you have enabled the randomization options, teachers can see the questions in the same order for all students without any difficulties. Another advantage of Socrative is the ability to easily add test images and links to other passages. With constructed responses becoming more and more important in assessment being able to attach images is a critical factor in reducing the amount of paper that teachers have to use, as well as relieving them from the burden of grading each quiz. Teachers can also create short answer and even essay questions to go along with their multiple-choice questions. These will have to be read and graded by the teacher, but they do not have to be printed. Since the answers are typed, unclear handwriting will also not be a problem. Teachers can grade these anywhere they have access to the Internet or their tablets allowing teachers to use waiting time wisely. In order to use this teachers would need to be in a situation with BYOD policies in place or computers and tablets available and functional on test day. If a teacher is working in a 1:1 school there are some other functionalities like exit slips and quick questions that could allow the app to work more like a classic student response system. There are some issues with Socrative of course. One of the problems is that there is no test security in the software, so students can change the window or app and goggle answers. In order to combat the temptation to cheat I have put a policy in place that if students are caught during a test looking at a non-Socrative page and have not finished their test students will receive a zero and a referral for cheating. In order to make this work the teacher needs to be moving through the room watching student’s screens. One benefit to this is that if you have a teacher tablet you can see if students have skipped questions or help them solve testing issues without leaving their side. If students close out the app or it crashes teachers can see the problem and correct it before the student can experience any anxiety. Another issue is that occasionally the software does not remember your changes from edit to edit, especially if you are on heavily filtered Internet. Working on the tests only on one computer can solve this problem, but that was never an option for me. I did start typing the questions into a document first and then copying and pasting them back into the app so that I didn’t lose the questions completely. I usually had a back up, and any time you are dependent on the Internet for a lesson you should plan on at least one problem coming up. At the end of the day if you have to rely on paper and pencil tests it’s not the end of the world, you can print tests from the site and you can grade them like any other test. I’ve been using this platform for tests and analysis for several years, it can be difficult to use if the resources are not available, but as more schools are coming to the conclusion that students need access to personal technology in the classroom.
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