Formative Assessment Digital Tools

1. Flip [FlipGrid]

1.1. An interactive digital program that facilitates video discussions. Teachers can post video lessons, "shorts" to create short answer responses, and students can record answers and presnetations then post them to their timeline feed.

1.2. Pro: Made for "bring your own device" settings, this tailors to school districts as many have a 1:1 technology initiative.

1.3. Con: Teachers have noted that since it resembles social media, students are often distracted by these aspects of the program.

2. SeeSaw

2.1. A communication app for schools and families that also has interactive activities for students to complete.

2.2. Pro: Families are able to see work completed by students and be used to communicate with the teacher.

2.3. Con: An app-wide hack sent out multiple inappropriate pictures to many users this past year including students.

3. Formative

3.1. Digitally enhanced lesson plans, "paced lessons" created with embedded activities to keep students engaged.

3.2. Pro: Compatible with Google, very helpful as most districts assign Google Accounts to students

3.3. Con: When students are presenting work, any interactive response from the class is displayed very little and often times hard to see.

4. Jamboard

4.1. A free, digital, interactive whiteboard application within Google Suites.

4.2. Pro: A Google extension, presentations can be exported to Jamboard, cutting down on preparation time.

4.3. Con: Lacks the ability to input media content.

5. Miro

5.1. An AI generated, whole class collaborative, interactive, workspace.

5.2. Pro: The ability for an entire class to collaborate on a digital whiteboard. This is beneficial because the information is still there when class is over and is still a live document to manipulate.

5.3. Con: New AI technology, can take quite a while to adapt and understand how to fully work the software.

6. Boom Cards

6.1. Pro: Independent, errorless learning for students. Can be used as a review for students, but can also collect data to assess growth

6.2. Con: Free subscripton only allows 5 students. To upgrade is $4.17/mo, I had to pay this subscription fee myself, my district denied the request.

6.3. Review assignments, activities, and formative assessments called "decks" that have interactive screens/questions. Students immediately know if they get the answer correct/incorrect. If correct they move to the next slide, if incorrect a short review of the correct answer is shown.

7. Kahoot

7.1. Game-based learning environment that interacts with small groups or whole classes. Quizzes/games called "Kahoots" are displayed on a screen, players are given a set time to answer. Answers are immediatley shown and data is saved to the creator's database.

7.2. Pro: extremely engaging for students

7.3. Con: students can create any "handle" (name) which can cause issue when reviewing answers at a later time. A solution would be to require part of their name within the handle.

8. Google Forms

8.1. A tool that allows you to create surveys, forms, and quizzes. These can be sent to individuals or large groups of people. Questions can be multiple choice, short answer, likert scale, or essay. Graded feedback can be given automatically upon submission.

8.2. Con: Must have a Google account to complete a form. Many school districts do not allow forms to be sent to anyone "outside of network"

8.3. Pro: Free! Data can be collected and uploaded to a Google Sheet while being updated as submissions are accepted.

9. Quizlet

9.1. Interactive learning platform that allows users to create flashcards, study guides, and quizzes.

9.2. Pro: They have a new AI feature that can write test questions for you based on the information you have provided, acting as a digital "study partner".

9.3. Con: In order for a whole class to use it, a Teacher Plus Subscription must be purchased at $72/year.

10. Pear Deck

10.1. Con: Presentations can often take quite a while to create because of the tools included that are available to the user.

10.2. Pro: Real time feedback is provided to the users and answers are collected for data usage. Very engaging!

10.3. An interactive presentation of lessons. Users can embed activities such as drawing, quiz questions, prompts, etc. throughout the lesson.