The Best 8 Web Tools for Doing Formative Assessment in Class

February 25, 2015
Formative assessment, as we have agreed elsewhere, is assessment for learning which is completely different from summative assessment, which is assessment of learning. The insights gained from formative assessments are usually used to decide on the next instructional steps and also inform teachers as to the additional opportunities needed to ensure students' success. Examples of formative assessment include: assigning projects and performances, giving writing assignments, and asking questions.

There are a variety of ways to do formative assessment in class and this post features some interesting examples of formative assessment techniques. You can also draw on technology to formatively assess your students and gather feedback from them. Here are some of the best web tools to use for in-class formative assessment, for more tools you can check this page.

1- Today’s Meet

This is an excellent tool to use with students to gather instant feedback on their learning or poll them on matters related to what you teach them. Today’s Meet allows you to create rooms and invite students to join them with no sign up. It is also a very good backchannel platform where students can engage in fruitful discussions and conversations.

2- Socrative

Socrative is one of our favourite tools for getting feedback from students. Teachers can use the different question types provided by Socrative to poll their students and garner their feedback in a variety of formats using both smartphones or computers.

3- Infuse Learning

Infuse Learning provides a platform by which teachers can seamlessly engage every student on any device. Make informed decisions at the point of instruction with real-time, student feedback.

4- iClicker

iClicker is a powerful formative assessment tool and intuitive student response system that allows for dynamic student-teacher interaction. Here is how it works: Instructors ask questions through any presentation application; students answer questions with a remote or smart device; instructors display results in real-time and
record responses

5- Poll Everywhere

Poll Everywhere is another powerful web tool to collect feedback from your students. It  provides you with a variety of templates and feedback forms to choose from. Students answer in real time using mobile phones, Twitter, or web browsers. The neat feature I like the most about PollEverywhere is that it lets you see your response live on the web or in a PowerPoint or Keynote presentation.

6- Mentimeter

Mentimeter allows you to use mobile phones or tablets to vote on any question you specify. This is how it works:

• Create your question
• Let your students vote using their mobile phones or tablets
• Show the result to your audience in real-time

7- Geddit 

Geddit is another interesting tool that you can use in class to gather instance feedback about your students learning in real-time. You can use both multiple choice or short answer responses to check for evidence of your students understanding.

8- Plicker

Plickers lets you poll your class for free, without the need for student devices. Just give each student a card (a "paper clicker"), and use your iPhone to scan them to do instant checks-for-understanding, exit tickets, and impromptu polls. Best of all, your data is automatically saved, student-by-student, at plickers.com.

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