Google Forms are an assessment tool that have become popular with a lot of our staff. I’ve seen staff use Forms to survey students, create self grading quizzes, bell ringers and exit tickets. Forms allow you to include a variety of question types, embed video and images. Responses immediately populate into a spreadsheet. Checkout the Edtech Website for a tutorial on Google Forms.
Creating and administering a Google Form is the easy part. The real challenge is determining what to do with all the data after collecting it. On our October Institute days, we defined a formative assessment as any assessment during the learning process that is used to modify teaching and learning activities for the same group of students. Below are two strategies you can use to manage the data in a Google Spreadsheet and quickly make adjustments to teaching and learning activities.
First, use the summary of results feature to get an aggregate view of student responses. This feature shows you a bar graph or pie chart for each question. In addition, you see the percent of students that choose each response. Use this view to immediately clear up any common misconception or sticking points. Simply click “Form” and “Show summary of responses.”
Another tip is to set up conditional formatting within the spreadsheet. Conditional formatting will color code the spreadsheet, so that you can instantly pinpoint individual students that are grasping the concepts and which ones need further intervention. Checkout the tutorial below to learn how to set up conditional formatting in a Google Spreadsheet.
Stop by TPACK Tuesday this week to discuss Google Spreadsheets and conditional formatting.
During our October institute days, we discussed the impact formative assessments have on student learning. This week at TPACK Tuesday, we will discuss a formative assessment strategy that can provide students immediate feedback on concepts and key terms covered in any content area. We call it Tic Tac Tell.
First open up a Google Document and create a tic tac toe board with three columns and three rows. Enter key terms and concepts from a unit of study into each of the boxes. Tell students they need to create one to three sentences demonstrating their understanding of the key terms and concepts in the grid. The only requirement is that the terms/concepts selected must make a tic tac toe. This is a great way to have students make connections between key terms and concepts covered in any unit of study.
Now lets integrate a little technology to give students immediate feedback on their responses. Have students anonymously enter their sentences into the quick question open response option in Socrative. As a class you can provide feedback to students by discussing each of the responses. Since students entered their responses anonymously no one will feel singled out. To spice things up a little more, you can use the voting option in Socrative to determine the best response in class. If you need help with Socrative, check out the Socrative tutorial on the Ed Tech Website.
We hope to see you in the collaboration room this Tuesday!
Rob Ridenour recently showed me Learnerator, a formative assessment tool for Advanced Placement courses. Learnerator has thousands of practice questions with solutions for all the following AP courses: AP Biology, AP Calculus AB/BC, AP Chemistry, AP Comparative Government, AP Computer Science, AP English Language, AP English Lit, AP Environmental Science, AP European History, AP French Language, AP Human Geography, AP Macroeconomics, AP Microeconomics, AP Physics 1 & 2, AP Physics C - E&M, AP Physics C - Mech., AP Psychology, AP Spanish Language, AP Spanish Lit, AP Statistics, AP US Government and Politics, AP US History, and AP World History.
As students answer questions, they get immediate feedback. Questions are also aligned to learning objectives, which allows you to track student progress over time. The free version gives students access to easy and medium difficulty questions. Simply go to www.learnerator.com and create an account to get started. Give your AP students the practice they need!
A well used video can help students make connections to ideas and concepts. The problem is many students miss key parts of the video simply because it is hard to keep their attention. EduCanon to the rescue! EduCanon is a great tool that I recently learned about from +Tony Venetico. It allows you take videos from Youtube, Vimeo, TeacherTube, etc. and insert reflective pauses, multiple choice questions, and audio clips. You can even track student responses to ensure they watched the video and were engaged. Whether you use video to hook your students into a topic or flip a lesson, EduCanon can turn students from passive learners to active learners.
First, use the summary of results feature to get an aggregate view of student responses. This feature shows you a bar graph or pie chart for each question. In addition, you see the percent of students that choose each response. Use this view to immediately clear up any common misconception or sticking points. Simply click “Form” and “Show summary of responses.” 