Tools for Real-time Learning

Barbra Kurshan wrote an article about how schools are using “technology and performance data” for students, and if schools are using technology for the improvement of learning.

Kurshan states, “technology can be innovative when teachers can change the way they use student performance data (2016).”

With new technology tools such as Dreambox, teachers are able to view a student’s progress as they are completing assessments to check for understanding and learning.

When technology companies say that a software program is designed to be an “adaptive,” it should be just that.

While students are completing assessments for any subject, a technology program should be able to “adapt” to a student’s response to recognize where they are misunderstanding the concept, to help the teacher with knowing where the student is having the most trouble. That is adaptive technology, and not having to wait until after the student is done and completed a full assessment to determine the results. The performance data is real-time, so teachers can quickly make adjustments to lessons or future assessments.

Jamie Keaton created a YouTube tutorial video, “The New Google Forms - Detailed Tutorial,” about how to use the “new” Google Form platform for quizzes, formative assessments, polls, and other types of real-time collected responses (2016).

Helpful tip - turn off “required” option until after you have fully created and previewed all sections/areas of the form.

What can be added to the new form? Images and videos from the web. Videos can be watched within the Google form.

Keep in mind - When creating questions with embedded videos and images, do not use the “shuffle questions” option as the image or video will not stay with the correct question it is linked to.

Where can you share the forms? Google Classroom or with anyone who has a link and can be given permission to be an “editor” or “commenter.”

Keaton states, “using the created templates within Google Forms can be a quicker way to get a form completed as the layout for question or response type is already created (2016).”

Monica Burns wrote an article for EduTopia about using technology tools such as Nearpod, Screencasts, Explain Everything, and Spark Post for formative assessment checks (2017).

When teachers want to check for understanding in a “meaningful, sustainable, and scalable” way, they should be embedding questions into their lessons for quick checks.

A formative assessment does three (3) things: who understands it, who mastered it, and who needs help.

Nearpod allows for teachers to create whole lessons with the added benefit of including videos, questions, quizzes, games, and images to provide students with a visual interaction of the content.

Explain Everything is a screencast tool that allows students to create a video of their thinking by having them “show their work” from beginning to end.

Exit Slips provide teachers with quick feedback on where students are at with understanding and learning of the content.

Spark Post is another technology tool for exit slips, which now includes the option of adding graphics.

Burns states, “there is so much you can do with modern tech tools (2017).”

References:

Burns, M. (2017, May 2). Tech-based formative assessment. Edutopia. Retrieved December 8, 2022, from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/tech-based-formative-assessment-monica-burns

Keaton, J. (2016, March 5). The new google forms - detailed tutorial. YouTube. Retrieved December 12, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cm3KyqbaMJA

Kurshan, B. (2016, July 26). Techology and classroom data. Forbes. Retrieved December 8, 2022, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/barbarakurshan/2016/07/26/technology-and-classroom-data/?sh=4142684f2039