Teaching with Technology

Using educational technology to enhance the learning environment and increase student engagement!

Fabulous Updates to Google Forms

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Google has unveiled yet ANOTHER fantastic addition to the already wonderful Google Forms. Now, with the flip of a (digital) switch, teachers can view data by individual student or question, provide students with feedback on each question, grade subjective questions, AND award partial points per question! Woohoo!

To get started, create a Google Form and turn on the “quiz” feature through settings. Here are the options I chose for my quiz settings in Google Forms… notice that I uncheck the correct answers option and select the “release after review” option.

While in settings, be sure to choose “collect email address” in your options. This will allow your students to view their score and your individual comments on their responses.

To view the data from your quiz, select “responses,” where you will see a more useful selection of data-viewing options! You can choose to view the summary of the data, which provides a bar graph with question responses – this is not a new feature – or, you can view data by individual student or question. If you choose to view data by individual student, you will be able to provide specific feedback on each question and can share this information with your kiddos via email. If you choose to view information by question, you will be able to see how your students have performed on each question – this is PERFECT for formative (and summative) assessments!

By choosing to view data by question teachers can also award partial points for responses! I can’t tell you how many times teachers have asked me how to award partial points … Google came through!

This update for Google Forms is FABULOUS! I can’t wait to see what comes next!

Thanks for reading 🙂

 

New Formative Assessment Tool – Triventy

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I honestly have no idea how I stumbled upon Triventy … does that ever happen to you? It wasn’t Pinterest or Twitter, I don’t think it was in any newsletter I subscribe to. When I share tools I find with you,  I like to also show you how I found it. Hmm. Oh well! Be sure to add Triventy to your formative assessment arsenal! Here’s how it works in my classroom.

Triventy is a gamified formative assessment tool, similar to Kahoot or Quizizz. Teachers can create games and can easily share them with their students via link or through Google Classroom. Games can be public or private and teachers can search (and modify) existing public games to fit the needs of their students.

To create a FREE account with Triventy, make sure the slider is on “education” and not “events” on the home page.

Next, choose “sign up” and choose “sign in with Google.” Be sure to sign in with the Google account you use to access Classroom — if you want to be able to post Triventy games on Classroom, that is 🙂 I know I’ve said this before, but how awesome is it to be able to sign in/ sign up with Google and not forget another username and password?!

To create a quiz, simply select “create quiz” on the main screen. Triventy gives quiz creators the option to invite others to collaborate by adding quiz questions. This could make for an interesting class assignment!

When creating a quiz, teachers can determine how long students will be given to answer quiz questions, and can also add an image for the quiz. Teachers can add images for individual questions as well … if you choose to add an image to the quiz, that same image will be added to each question. If you’d like to change the image on individual questions, you’ll have to make that change while editing the questions. 

I think it’s fun to add my bitmoji to the test and question images 🙂

Triventy provides a quiz question option and a survey option. Teachers can also include hints for each question or a “did you know” fun tidbit of information to display at the end of the question.

 

Be sure to add Triventy to your formative assessment toolbox!

Thanks for reading 🙂

 

Google Form Formative Assessment- Do You Understand?

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Do you remember the formative assessment platform, Let’s Geddit? It was fabulous … aGoogle Formnd then it went away. I was so sad. I’ve been looking for an alternative that was as simple as Let’s Geddit, and I’ve found many great platforms. However, I’ve been looked for something that requires little setup and great data. I should have known … a great Google Form and Spreadsheet are the answer to my problems!

Here’s what I did…

–Create a new Google Form and link the Form responses to a new Google Sheet

 

–Include at least the following questions:
–>Name (obviously)
–>Class Period … unless, of course, you are a self-contained classroom
–>Inclulde a question that asks students to gauge their level of understanding
1. Green – I totally understand the concept and could teach it to my peers!
2. Yellow – I need a little more practice/help/information to grasp the concept.
3. Red – I need HELP!!

–Open the Spreadsheet that contains the responses. Locate the column that will display the color responses from your students. Then, access the “Format” menu and select “Conditional Formatting.” Create rules for student responses. For example, if the cell contains “red,” choose to color the cell red. Do the same for “yellow” and “green” responses. This will allow you to quickly view which students are struggling and those that have varying degrees of understanding.

conditional formatting

 

conditional formattingSuper easy and quick formative assessment.

Reuse the Form and designate a different Spreadsheet for student responses. You could, of course, delete student responses from the sheet … but who wants to delete data?!

I hope your year (if you’ve already started!) is off to a fabulous start!

Thanks for reading 🙂

Great New Features Added to Kahoot!

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Kahoot is an absolutely fantastic game based student response/formative assessment system. This great tool providKahoot Additions - Mayes a fun and engaging platform for teachers to quickly assess student knowledge.

One of the many fantastic things about Kahoot is that the wonderful people who created it often make adjustments and add new features! Check out the most recent additions to this awesome product.

Streamlined Creating Process
Creating Kahoot games is now easier than ever. The new creation screen just feels cleaner and easier to navigate. Not that the previous platform was difficult! When the description and bells and whistles are entered, creators simply select “ok, go” to add questions.

Kahoot

Time Limit for Questions
Users can easily adjust the time allotted for responding to each question. This function is much easier to find in the new creation screen!

Kahoot

Answer Streak Points
Kahoot is currently testing a new feature that awards points to individuals who answer questions correctly in a row. This is a GREAT new addition for those students who consistently answer questions correctly, but perhaps take a few more seconds to get to that correct response. When students miss a question, the streak ends. I’m excited to use this with my students!

New Kahoot 3

Awarding Points for Questions
Yet another great addition to Kahoot is the ability to turn off the point value for questions. This option would be great for previewing content to gauge prior knowledge, polling, etc. Great addition, Kahoot!

I’m excited to see what else Kahoot has in store for their awesome tool!

Thanks for reading 🙂
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New Features Come to Quizizz!

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quizizz updates may 2016Quizizz is a fantastic game-based formative assessment tool that just keeps getting better!

As I’ve shared before, Quizizz is a FREE website where teachers can create FUN quizzes and activities for their students. Similar to Kahoot and Quizlet Live, teachers can create their own games or can choose from a variety of existing activities. Read more about Quizizz here!

One of the many great things about Quizizz is that the great minds behind this platform make frequent and AWESOME updates! Check out a few of the newest additions…

quizizz printPrint Quiz
Yes, sometimes we still need to print, or at least have a backup, just in case. Sometimes the WiFi crashes, the electricity goes out, or some other catastrophe will undoubtedly throw a wrench in our otherwise beautiful lesson. The print quiz feature is fantastic for a great backup plan 🙂

 

Create Keyquizizz print
The option to create, view, and print a key is also a new addition to Quizizz. The ability to print quizzes goes hand in hand with the ability to print the quizzes.

 

Share to Classroom
This feature is probably my favorite addition to Quizizz. I am fortunate enough to teach in a GAFE building, and tools like Google Classroom are absolutely indispensquizizz classroomable in my classroom! I love that I am able to create Quizizz games and share the game link with my students via Classroom. Students then simply click on the Classroom link and join the game – NO pin to enter! Not that entering a pin causes a huge issue in my high school classroom, but this feature would be a huge sanity saver in the elementary classroom!

 

Upload Memes
Ok, this is cool. For those of you that are particularly gifted in the art of creating memes, this new feature is for you! Use popular websites like IMG Flip, or simply use Google Drawing to create your own memes. Then, upload them to your account and add them to your games. It’s really that simple!

Quizizz is a fantastic learning tool for any classroom! Give it a try!

Thanks for reading 🙂
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