Meaningful technology integration has become a major component in the courses I teach at my university. I want my teacher candidates to be comfortable with and knowledgeable about integrating technology in their instruction during field and student teaching experiences and eventually into their future classrooms. Because of this, I am always excited when students report back on what they are doing with technology in their placements.
Recently, my student Meg asked what I thought about her giving students a math quiz on telling time using the game-creation tool Kahoot! I immediately told her that I thought it was a great idea and to go ahead with her plan. Her school site had recently received iPads, and she was going to be the first to use them. A couple of weeks later, Meg burst into my office, telling me how successful her Kahoot! activity was. Her students loved the game format and demonstrated that they understood the content well. Then Meg shared some real interesting information regarding assessment in her class.
She stated that the students were very successful with the Kahoot! quiz for review and she expected them to perform satisfactorily on the pencil-and-paper test that followed. However, that was not the case. Despite demonstrating understanding of the math content in a digital format, students performed poorly when given a traditional test assessment. This is evidence that 21st-century learners desire their in-school literacies to match their out-of-school digital lives and that it is time to rethink how we assess students.
After this exchange with Meg, I was reminded of my own experience with digital assessment. When I was teaching a mixed-age middle school class, I found that traditional literature circles were not working with my students. They did not read consistently and were disengaged during face-to-face discussions. Their responses to my discussion prompts were superficial and lacked any evidence of deep thinking.
When I moved the literature circle to an electronic format, I saw an increase in engagement and higher level thinking regarding the text immediately. A group of five students who read Tuck Everlasting used the annotation and notes features in the iBooks app to record their thinking. Collectively, the group recorded 211 annotations and 80 notes. They also posted 91 substantial comments to the digital discussion board for the book. These digital tools provided excellent formative assessment data and allowed me to see my students’ thinking about the text we were reading. That my students were more comfortable with the electronic format and were willing to engage with text at a deeper level than they were with traditional literature circles was evident.
Whether the goal is formative or summative assessment, there are many digital tools available to assist teachers in gathering information on the performance of their students:
Kahoot! is a free, interactive, “game-based” tool that allows users to engage with content in quiz, survey, or discussion formats. Kahoot! is multiplatform, and teachers can use this tool for preassessment and postassessment, as well as connecting with other Kahoot! classrooms globally. As a challenge, students can create their own Kahoot! quizzes.
Nearpod is a multiplatform presentation tool that allows teachers to embed real-time assessments into their instruction. Assessment tools include quiz, poll, drawing, and open-ended responses. The basic version is free. For a small yearly fee, teachers can upgrade to the gold version, which includes options to print individual and class assessment reports.
Socrative is a free tool designed specifically for assessment. Teachers can create multiple choice, true/false, and short answer questions. There is an option for individuals or teams to play a customizable quizzing game called Space Race. Students can submit exit tickets for formative assessment through Socrative. Socrative also provides an assessment reporting system for teachers.
Other digital assessment options include drawing apps and having students record their thinking through video and audio. The possibilities for integrating digital assessment are limitless, especially when teachers embrace assessment methods that go beyond the traditional pencil-and-paper test.
Kristin Webber is a veteran teacher with over 22 years of teaching experience. Currently, she is an assistant professor in the Department of Early Childhood and Reading at Edinboro University, where she teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses in literacy. She also serves as the program head for the Graduate Reading Program. While in the classroom, Kristin has taught at every level from preschool to high school. Her research interests include the new literacies, instructional technology, adolescent literacy, and reluctant readers.
This article is part of a series from the International Reading Association’s Technology in Literacy Education Special Interest Group (TILE-SIG).