Page 80 - Resources and Support for the Online Educator

Leveraging Technology for Teacher Efficiency and Effectivenes • CHAPTER 11

NWEA has a blog post on 65 digital tools that support formative assessment
practices (tiny.cc/fn0iwy).

Effectively using formative assessment data is not easy, nor is it natural for most
teachers. Yet, it is, perhaps, one of the most powerful ways to improve teacher
practice and student learning. If you haven’t been using formative assessment,
think about pursuing professional development on the topic. Even watching some
YouTube videos on formative assessment can help.

VOICES OF EXPERIENCE

Desiree Alexander, EdS, Founder and CEO, Educator Alexander
Consulting
educatoralexander.com, educatoralexander@gmail.com, @educatoralex

Assessments. As educators, we are always planning how to
assess our students to ensure that we are not only teaching
the skills, but that our students are indeed learning the skills
so they can authentically use them. There is no other way to
do this besides assessing our students. However, the way we
assess them can vary greatly. One of the ways we can assess
our students is through the use of technology. There are many
resources to help educators do this, so to narrow my focus, I will concentrate
on four resources that can be used to assess students without using a red pen:
Kahoot! (kahoot.com/what-is-kahoot), Quizizz (quizizz.com), EdPuzzle (edpuzzle.
com), and Google Forms (google.com/forms/about).
Kahoot! and Quizizz are both online quiz systems where a teacher can assess
students on any content. Teachers can use both of these tools in the classroom
in a live mode, where the entire class is working on the assessment together, or
in a self-paced mode, where students can work independently. In the live mode,
the teacher can either use 1:1 mode or team mode. With both of these, students
take the assessment together. Educators use this to see how much students know
(think bellringer or exit ticket) or as a review of content. My suggestion is to not use
this mode as an actual grade because students may make mistakes when trying

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Integrating Technology in the Classroom: Tools to Meet the Needs of Every Student 80