From Pen and Paper Exams to Immediate Digital Assessment:
One new emerging technology that is changing the way educators assess student understanding is the digital assessment. Whether the educator chooses to use purchased soft and hardware such as a set of classroom clickers or he/she decides to use a free internet program that works with student’s cell phones and text messaging such as polleverywhere.com the digital assessment provides instant feedback of student understanding. Results are projected immediately for the instructor to gauge the level of comprehension of their students. Even though the possibilities are wonderful with this technology there are still a few issues that they must overcome. The problems with classroom clickers are that they are still too expensive to let each individual teacher have a set, so they must be shared. However site limits per schools only allow so many computers to have the software downloaded to them limiting the access to the teachers who want to use the technology. For the cell phone digital assessment programs the problem lies with not every student having a cell phone and those that do don’t always have free text messaging making this activity have the potential for expensive costs.
What could improve this technology would be a free network for students to be able to send texts to for free and have unlimited site licenses for schools that have purchansed the technologies.
http://www.polleverywhere.com/
http://www.classroomclickers.com/
One new emerging technology that is changing the way educators assess student understanding is the digital assessment. Whether the educator chooses to use purchased soft and hardware such as a set of classroom clickers or he/she decides to use a free internet program that works with student’s cell phones and text messaging such as polleverywhere.com the digital assessment provides instant feedback of student understanding. Results are projected immediately for the instructor to gauge the level of comprehension of their students. Even though the possibilities are wonderful with this technology there are still a few issues that they must overcome. The problems with classroom clickers are that they are still too expensive to let each individual teacher have a set, so they must be shared. However site limits per schools only allow so many computers to have the software downloaded to them limiting the access to the teachers who want to use the technology. For the cell phone digital assessment programs the problem lies with not every student having a cell phone and those that do don’t always have free text messaging making this activity have the potential for expensive costs.
What could improve this technology would be a free network for students to be able to send texts to for free and have unlimited site licenses for schools that have purchansed the technologies.
http://www.polleverywhere.com/
http://www.classroomclickers.com/
Thank you for sharing poll everywhere. I do lots of presentations and I am going to incorporate this into my next one. At my school 99% of the students have cell phones, but there is a school wide policy against using them during the school day. On the link it mentioned you could use it on the Internet. Have you used this feature?
ReplyDeleteDave Harms
Yes- and it works very easily! IF you need help I have an excellent tutorial for you to watch.
ReplyDeleteKassidy
Kassidy, fantastic review! I think that innovations like Poll Everywhere are great for engaging learners; however, for lower grades I prefer the proprietary software that allows me to integrate the response systems into my instruction while giving me the ability to differentiate my assignments. Yes, they are expensive, but the 2Know! Student Responders (http://www.renlearn.com/2know/) have an open site license for the software and are very versatile. I can create assignments for students and they are displayed on the LCD screen--they can even complete their assignments in another area and then sync up with the receiver later on in the day. Plus, I have used the same set for 3 years and they are still going strong--they have even just released an upgrade to allow students the ability to text answers. A worthy investment, indeed! Take care
ReplyDeleteGreat post Kassidy! I teach at William Rainey Harper College (www.harpercollege.edu) in Palatine, Illinois. Some of the instructors use clickers, but most do not. We have had inservices about them, and I love using a clicker.
ReplyDeleteOne potential drawback is the cost per clicker. What if someone walks off with one? It doesn't matter whether they can use it off-campus; some people simply want to take a gizmo home. :-)
If there is shrinkage, the college might shy away from usage.
Great review!
Sam
Kassidy,
ReplyDeleteThat was a very interesting technology to select. I have heard of various online survey technologies but never one like this. I do agree that with most educational software, having open or unlimited licenses would better benefit the students. As for the texting, I would have to believe that the cost would always be based on the students' phone service plan versus what the software could do. Good post overall!
Tia