This week in class, we learned about a really cool website called Socrative. On this website you can create online quizzes, Space Races, and exit tickets. All of these functions on the website come with three options of types of questions that include multiple choice, true or false, and short answer. While online quizzes and exit tickets are self explanatory, space races are not. Space races allow students to get into teams and answer a series of questions. Each time a person on a team gets an answer correct their rocket ship goes ahead in the race. It is a fun way to get students thinking!
I really like the idea of Socrative because it gives the teacher instant feedback on how the students did. Also, you can download a spreadsheet of the results, and see which questions were answered incorrectly the most frequently. This is an amazing tool for teachers because we can immediately respond to and review/reteach content to students that was unclear to them based on the results. This isn't as easy when tests are administered on paper. Also, by having the computer do the grading, teachers will save a ton of time not having to go through and correct quizzes by hand.
Even though Socrative has a lot of positive attributes, there is definitely a time and a place to use it. For example, the program grades the short answer questions word for word what the teacher writes down for the answer. This means that these kinds of questions would be good if the question for sure only had one answer. This function could not be used for free response questions. Also, this program would also we hard to use if it is difficult to obtain computers or other devices in a school. Not all schools have efficiently working computers, so it might not be worth the time trying to boot up the computers to have the students do a 5 minute quiz.
After looking at the pros and the cons of this application, I think it could be really useful in the Spanish classroom. I think doing a quick quiz on Socrative, for example on verb conjugations, would be a really good idea. This way I can get instant feedback and see where my students are so I can adjust my teaching accordingly. Also, the specificity of the short answer response would be helpful because spelling and accents are really important when learning Spanish. I am looking forward to using this in my classroom!
As a fellow Spanish teacher, I agree with you on the relative usefulness of Socrative. I really like that there's a mode where the students can get instant feedback, that might help them on future questions, which would be great for a formative assessments. It's also great for the teacher to get instant feedback on what her students do or don't understand. On the other hand, I agree with you that it's not good for longer-form answers, so it's probably only good for early-level Spanish classes.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of instant-feedback for conjugations, I also really like the game Conjuguemos, which not only gives students instant feedback, but won't move on to a new verb until the student has typed in the correct form of the verb they just made a mistake with, basically forcing students to self-correct. Do you know any other games that help students learn Spanish?
I found your take on this tool to be quite interesting, and I am completely on-board with the way in which you envision this in a Spanish classroom; I think that you are absolutely right, the tools ability to essentially word-match student responses to the answer key could be all kinds of useful for testing things like knowledge of conjugations or even basic spelling. Particularly in a language class, where so much depends on a sense of camaraderie, the rocket-ship game could be interesting, promoting a sense of competition and excitement, while keeping things good natured. I'll be honest, my only really issue with the tool is that access and usability is bound to be problematic. I know that most of these things have been designed in such a way that they can be accessed from a mobile device, but usually when they say that what they mean is phone browsers/SMS. I have found both of those to be kind of kludgy interfaces and are sometimes a veritable minefield of compatibility headaches and oddities. I guess what I am saying/asking, is whether or not this is something which would require pre-planning on a tech level (i.e. We're going to the computer lab today class!) or if this is something which you envision (if you were to use it) as a daily/always available thing. I'm curious, because I feel like that's what it wants to be, but I don't know if reality can accommodate that.
ReplyDeleteAnna,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your perspective on socrative, and I agree with you on. It is probably one of the better online assessment tools I have seen, but you're right, there is definitely a time and a place for it. I don't think that online assessments are always appropriate, but like you mentioned, it can be useful for a quick check in or using a space race for a fun activity. I think I could also see myself using socrative to have students submit project ideas, or as a poll. Access to technology is always an issue at schools, and the reliability of a tool like socrative will greatly depend on that availability.