Rachel Beard

EDU 225
December 5th, 2015
David Larson
http://rachelbeard.weebly.com/#/20151122/assessment-technology-5083755/

Part 1: Assessment Technology (150-250 words).

Thanksgiving Quiz
https://www.onlinequizcreator.com/thanksgiving/quiz-131489
This quiz maker is a fun and competitive way to formatively assess students. The teacher account
has access to each students score, including which questions they answered correctly or
incorrectly. Another fun feature is that each time the quiz is taken, the order of the questions
changes, so students can take the test several times and still learn effectively.
Part 2: Blog Post
Introduction:
Technology is a very useful tool in education, especially as it relates to formatively and
summatively assessing students. Using technology to assess students can open up a whole new
world of information because of how efficient and concise it can be. Using software for
assessment is important because it provides new exciting and engaging ways to go about it, and
provides unique opportunities for teachers to receive important information. The use of
assessment technologies such as Socrative, goFormative, and Plickers can be really effective in
promoting learning in the classroom.
Technology to Facilitate Ongoing Efforts to Assess Student Learning
Technology is a great tool for enhancing a teachers effectiveness in the classroom,
particularly as it relates to assessment. The many kinds of technology that can be used to make
assessments for students give teachers a wide variety of engaging and exciting ways to stay upto-date on their students progress, which in turn gives teachers the information they need to
provide better instruction for their students. Technology can make this process much faster

because the data collection is instant, and the grading is done automatically, and oftentimes the
tool will put the data in easy-to-read graphs and charts.
Plickers: Plickers is a great tool for teachers to use to formatively assess students. The
anonymous nature of the individualized QR code ensures that students will be reporting their
own information. Since this tools requires the assessment to be multiple choice, it is difficult for
teachers to assign more complex problems, but it is a great way to collect basic data on where the
students are at with their comprehension of the material. If I were to use this in my classroom, I
would probably attach some kind of small grade to the assessment, just to ensure that students
answered to the best of their ability. One thing a past teacher of mine did that I thought was
incredibly effective was to give us quizzes on material we had learned, but rather than give us an
actual grade for it though, he would make it so that every question we answered correctly was an
extra credit point he would attach to our test grades. This made us really eager to do the reading
and to our best on the quizzes, and it also gave our teacher information on what the students
understood and what needed to be taught better.
Socrative: This assessment tool has a couple features that make it a great asset to use for
formative assessment. Perhaps the most important feature is that students have the ability to enter
text answers, not just select multiple choice options. This combined with multiple platforms that
it can be used on (an app for a mobile device is also available) makes this an invaluable asset in
the classroom for formative assessment. The creators of Socrative also have apps that are
deigned to align with Common Core Standards, or even individual State Standards, which can
really help with the difficult transition to a new form of standards. The easy to understand data
collecting tools make assessing what the student have answered a lot easier, with graphs and
charts that can be used to organize the data.

Goformative.com: Formative is an online assessment tool that has many ways for
teachers to formatively assess their students. Teachers can create an assignment and have their
students log in to their class to complete it. There are options for students to select multiple
choice answers, to write a short answer, or even to draw basic shapes and lines. Teachers can
instantly view student responses, and also give feedback to the student, completely
confidentially. Student responses appear instantly in an easy-to-read graph for the teacher to
view, and the teacher can instantly rate and grade the responses. I would definitely use this in
my classroom for formative assessment, maybe even for smaller summative assessments. Its
easy and convenient, students can use it in the classroom (provided they have the appropriate
technology tools), and it eliminates lots of paper waste.
Formative and Summative Assessments
Formative and Summative Assessments are a key part in the educational process. Both
kinds of assessment have specific uses. Formative assessment is basically an informal quiz or
questionnaire that teachers can give to students in an effort to gauge their understanding of the
material so that they can tailor their instruction better. Summative assessment is any kind of
major exam or test that concludes a unit and after which generally the topic is closed. Formative
assessment is extremely important because without it the teacher has no real way of knowing
how much of the material their students are actually understanding, which can be really bad
because when it comes time for the students to summatively assessed on the material, they may
be completely unprepared for certain parts of the test, and then there is no time to go back and
review. These types of assessment work hand-in-hand to help students learn as effectively as
possible.
Pros and Cons of using Technology to Facilitate Assessment

Using technology in the classroom can be a blessing or a curse, depending on several

factors. Some of the negative sides to using technology in the classroom is that technology is
expensive and requires a lot of complicated setup. On top of that, technology can be hacked by
clever students and also can exponentially increase students access and exposure to
inappropriate material. However, there are a lot of benefit to using technology in the classrooms.
There are tons of assessment tools available through the use of technology that can open up
whole new worlds to your students. On top of that, technology can make connecting with parents
and students outside of the classroom a lot easier. The bottom line is that technology enhances
whatever is already there. If a teacher has great classroom management and gives important and
meaningful instruction, technology will enhance that. However, if a teacher is ineffective,
technology will only make that worse.
Should a teacher only use technology to assess student learning? Why or why not?
While technology is a wonderfully helpful tool for formatively assessing students, a
healthy balance between using technology and doing it the old-fashioned way is really
important for student learning. The simple act of doing things the long way is an important thing
for students to learn how to do because the world will not always offer them the instant
gratification that technology will, and teachers have a responsibility to fully prepare their
students for the real world.
What is the importance of assessment technology in connection with the ISTE standards?
As was mentioned before, technology enhances what is already present, and a good
teacher incorporates all of the ISTE standards into his/her instruction. The use of technology can
make this process easier, if the teacher is effective in his/her instruction.
Concluding Paragraph for Software to Support Assessment

Using assessment technologies such as Socrative, goFormative, and Plickers in the

classroom can really benefit student learning by providing new avenues for teachers to assess
with. There are definite pros and cons to using technology in the classroom, but as a general
rule, the effectiveness of technology in the classroom depends on the teachers own ability to
manage it. Technology enhances the skills and abilities that a teacher possesses, but it also
enhances a teachers lack of skills. All-in-all, technology in the classroom, especially technology
for assessing students, can be a great asset for enhancing student learning.

References
ISTE Standards (n.d.). Retrieved December 6, 2015, from http://www.iste.org/standards/istestandards/standards-for-students
Plickers. (n.d.). Retrieved December 6, 2015, from https://www.plickers.com/
Visualizing student understanding has never been clearer. (n.d.). Retrieved December 6, 2015,
from http://www.socrative.com/
Welcome! (n.d.). Retrieved December 6, 2015, from https://goformative.com