Digital Assessments: More than an online quiz

There is a sea of assessment tools out there in the EdTech world: Kahoot, Google Forms, GoFormative, Nearpod, Socrative... the list goes on and on. All of these types of tools are good. They can give students instantaneous feedback, and can become more engaging. The but the question is, how are these tools more than just a digital worksheet?

There are many reasons that districts jump on the 1:1 digital bandwagon. The biggest arguably being that technology allows for great support of Personalized Learning. So is taking a quiz and putting it in Google Forms personalized learning?

EdTech gives us the opportunity to add Voice & Choice to how the students want to be assessed. We now have audio, video, graphic design, and many other tools at our students fingertips!

Thinking "Outside the box" on Assessments

1. Graphic Design Displays - Designing posters and infographics no longer takes hours of time with scissors, construction paper, and poster board. Students can use tools like Canva, Adobe Spark, & Piktochart to easily create graphics to display and/or explain their learning. Wouldn't your students take more ownership in their learning if they were developing a social media graphic about the causes of the Civil War as opposed to filling out a google form?

2. Video & Multimedia - There are so many video and media tools available these days. Screencastify, Explain Everything, Educreations, SeeSaw, and FlipGrid are all simple tools for students to record with. With these tools, we can ask every student to explain how they solved a problem as they submit an answer. When the student reviews their video explanation before submitting, they are checking their metacognition! How often does a multiple choice test do that for us?

3. Global Publishing - This option comes with a disclaimer - students under the age of 13 are not legally permitted to use social media accounts.
For our middle - high school students, we can allow them to share their learning through a blog, mini blog (twitter), or other social media outlet. This allows them to ask for feedback from others. Think about the effect of meaningful conversations with others, including experts, would have on the learning of a topic.

The Flipped Classroom: Response Tools

This post is the second in a series on flipping your classroom. The first post, Tools for Student & Teacher Production, can be found by clicking this link.

A large part of "flipping your classroom" involves giving students multiple opportunities to respond and interact with content that is being delivered to them. Students no longer have to wait until the next day to turn in a piece of homework, or have a conversation with students or teachers about their work.

There are many tools that this blog has shared over the last few years that explain that purpose. This post will highlight some of those tools, as well as introduce some others.

Video Interaction - EdPuzzle & PlayPosit

These two EdTech tools offer an interactive video instruction experience to students and teachers. PlayPosit (formally known as EduCannon) and EdPuzzle allow you to upload a video, or take one from YouTube, and add multiple question types. You can even prevent skipping ahead in the video, so the students must watch it in it's entirety.

Multiple Choice, Open Response, Voice Instruction, and Voice Response, are just a few of the options available in the tools. They both have subtle changes in what they offer, so it really is a matter of personal preference.

Video Response - Recap & FlipGrid

Let's Recap and FlipGrid allow teachers to ask their students questions and receive a video or audio response back from them.

I personally like to use Recap if it is just going to be a question that I want to keep in the classroom, no outside sharing. They have a newer feature called Journeys where you set up a lesson flow for students to follow and complete. Recap also allows you to use it's platform for free, without asking you for upgrades.

FlipGrid allows teachers and students to share globally. They can send out links to their grid globally, and have control of who can see responses. Conversations that start in one classroom can quickly get traction from all over the world. FlipGrid allows you to have one Grid for free with some options. To utilize the full experience of the tool, you do need a paid FlipGrid Classroom account. UPDATE 6/18/18 - Flipgrid is now completely free for all educators.

Gamification Interactivity - Quizziz

Similar to Kahoot, Quizziz is a game styled quiz experience for students. It allows them to compete with each other for the best score. What Quizziz has to offer is that it has a homework option. The teacher can assign a Quizziz between a specific window for the students to complete. It still allows students to compete by showing a leaderboard according to correct answers and time taken to complete. Teachers also have the ability to shuffle questions and answer options.

Other Online Response Tools

Here are links to two other previous articles from this blog on Classroom Response Tools:

Student Response Tools for the Digital Classroom

Facilitate Online Discussions with Backchannel Tools

Presentation Tools that Ignite Student Creativity

I am an educator who is constantly in search for tools that promote student creation over student consumption. For years PowerPoint, Prezi, and Google Slides have been the "go to" presentation tools that allow for some student creation in the classroom. At times, many teachers and students look for something different to use, something a little more engaging for their audience.

There are many free online presentation tools out there, but I am going to highlight a couple that your students can use to create with.

Adobe Spark

Example of a Adobe Spark Web Story

Spark offers 3 different presentation types: Social Media Posts, Web Stories (similar to a PowerPoint), and Videos. All three types are simple for students to use. Students can search for media and information without having to leave the application. This allows for a more efficient presentation development time. At the end of the presentation, all of the photos are automatically cited. For students wanting a professional looking product, Adobe Spark is an amazing option.


Buncee Edu

Buncee is a fun and simple tool for students to create engaging presentations. The platform is set up like PowerPoint/Google Slides but caters to kids more creative side. As with Adobe Spark, backgrounds, pictures, animations, stamps, and several other media types can all be searched and found within the app.

Buncee's click, drag, and search options are simple to use for all learners.

Accessing free eBooks with Open eBooks

Last month EdSurge and several other news outlets released an article about Obama and the White House releasing millions of dollars worth of eBooks to kids in Title One and Special Ed programs.

I jumped in right away to see what this was all about. The program runs through First Book and an app called Open eBooks.  Right now, the app only works on tablets (iPad/Android), but the Open eBooks company informed me that they hope to have a web based version out later this year, so if you are a Chromebook district, keep your eye peeled!

I have made the following tutorial to guide anyone who wants to get signed up!

Using Zaption or EDpuzzle: Teaching Students HOW to Watch Videos

I came across an article published by Gaggle titled The Biggest Mistakes Teachers Make When Flipping Their Classrooms by Jackie Myers. A quick read that is well worth your time. It points out a few mistakes teachers make when they begin to flip their classroom. One of which really stood out to me. "Not teaching students HOW to watch videos."

For decades we have been using technology within the school to show educational videos to our students. From reel to reel to VHS to DVD and now to sources like YouTube, students of all ages have viewed videos in their classroom. In May, ISTE tweeted that "40% of students use online videos to help with homework." Because of these facts, it is easy for teachers to think that students automatically already know HOW to watch videos to gain information. The truth of the matter is, students need guidance and modeling if they are expected to watch a flipped lesson, or educational video, and have a firm grasp of the content that was on the screen.

This can be done in several ways in the classroom, but there are a couple of tools that could be used to accomplish this task: Zaption and EDpuzzle.

Zaption and EDpuzzle are two sites that allow a teacher to take a video and insert questions or comments as the video plays for the students. These are both excellent tools when it comes to using videos in the classroom.

Of course the questioning options are a great. The teacher can ask open response or multiple choice questions and collect data. This is really allows the technology to be used at a new level it hasn't before. Students have the time to stop and review video material before answering the questions. The previous way of whole group viewing obviously didn't allow for this.

However, for the idea of teaching students HOW to watch videos, the commenting options are fantastic. The teacher can simply add comments to the video for the students. Students could then write those comments down on what ever note taking method they desire. This would be a great way to model for students either face to face, or in a flipped environment.

Both platforms import videos from a variety of sources, such as YouTube. They both also allow you upload videos that you have created.

Example of EDpuzzle


Example of Zaption

YouTube Offers Free Music for your Classroom Videos

One of the things that teachers and students often want to add to a video presentation is background music. Of course, this can become difficult when you want to post these videos to YouTube or any social media site. Do to copyright issues, you are not allowed to post videos with just any music added to them.  

YouTube actually gives you a solution to this problem! They offer free to use music that you or your students can add to videos that is legal to post and share to the public.

I have made the following tutorial for you to see just how this works: