Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Teacher Table: Lauren on Socrative





My two favorite ways (and the reasons why) I use Socrative in my classroom:

1. Formative assessment – using the Quick Question feature
This is by far the number one reason I love using Socrative in my classroom. I can ask students multiple choice, short answer, or T/F questions and see their responses immediately. It is instant, live feedback. BEST of all – those can be shown to the entire class (anonymously for an added bonus) and the entire class can learn from the responses of their peers. This allows me to identify quickly if the class has grasped a topic or skill or if that’s something I need to revisit, reiterate, or reteach. Another plus – Quick Questions require absolutely no prep from me. It can be spur of the moment and used immediately in class. All these answers are saved online and/or as excel spreadsheets for later review.

2. Summative assessment – using the standard Quiz feature
Quizzes – or even unit tests! – can be created and given. There are options for student-paced or teacher-paced tests. The multiple-choice and T/F questions are all graded for you by the Socrative program and provide instant grades.

Socrative gives me instant feedback. It does the grading for me. It keeps all answers/results organized online. There is no paper to prepare, print off, or lose. The Quick Question feature allows me to tailor my instruction to exactly what my students need; it prevents me from spending a great deal of time on something my students already know, as well as stopping me from speeding ahead when my students have not mastered a topic/skill yet.

My one main reservation is the one that holds true with anything digital – If the internet goes down, this becomes a useless tool. Always have a Plan B. J

Socrative gets 5 stars from me. It’s a practical, simple, very user-friendly tool that helps me be a better, more effective teacher. …Couldn’t ask for much more than that.

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