I recently taught a lesson to my fellow teacher candidates on using apps for formative assessment. Many of my ideas for this lesson came from a blog post entitled Empowering Teachers with Tech-Friendly Formative Assessment Tools by Monica Burns. I created a lesson plan and Google Slides to help present the information. As part of this lesson plan I had my fellow teacher candidates explore four stations with different apps and websites that could be used for formative assessment. They then engaged in a placemat activity on Lino to share their thoughts and questions about each tool. I have made the lesson plan, slides, and Lino wall available to be viewed.
Monica Burns post provides insight into my inquiry project as well as helps all teachers considering using technology for formative assessment. This blog post looks at different tools for formative assessment. The author begins by suggesting that tech-friendly formative assessment can become a seamless part of the daily classroom, helping teachers stay organized in collecting information and providing easy and effective ways to assess on an ongoing basis (December 14, 2015). Burns suggests some factors that need to be considered when selecting a tool for formative assessment: the audience or age group, the goal of the assessment, and the type of formative assessment (December 14, 2015). It is important that formative assessment fit the grade level and not be too easy or too difficult. What works for one grade level or class may not work for another, therefore, it is important to experiment with a few different tools until you find one that you are comfortable with.
There are different purposes for formative assessment and consequently various apps to meet these different needs. Burns gives suggestions for various types of apps such as quiz apps, show what you know, and data collection (December 14, 2015). Because there are so many apps and websites available for teachers to use for formative assessment it can be overwhelming. That is why it is important to focus first on the assessment, what do you want your students to learn and demonstrate. Once you know what you want your students to show you can determine what assessment tool will best help students demonstrate their understanding. Burns states, “As you begin to develop a strategy for gathering and utilizing formative assessment data in your classroom, take a moment to think about how technology can support this work (December 14, 2015).” For technology to be a meaningful part of formative assessment, we must first construct meaningful formative assessment. These formative assessment tools can help to support formative assessment.
Burns, M. (2015, December 14). Empowering Teachers with Tech-Friendly Formative Assessment Tools. Retrieved from: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/tech-friendly-formative-assessment-tools- monica-burns
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/12-UhRK5f4PMMv1a470F84Pw2bm39yrzovnm31Ip4R6I/edit?usp=sharing
http://linoit.com/groups/Inquiry%20451/canvases/Inquiry%20451