Source:
Dyer, K. (Jan. 31, 2019). 75 digital tools and apps teachers can use to support formative assessment. NWEA blog.
What is sacred:
Normally, when I read an article that I am going to use for class, I highlight citations that are sacred, but this is a different type of article, so what I wanted to do was keep track of apps that I tried in class or am trying and use Dyer's own lens to talk about worth and value in my own classroom. I cannot do 75. I will do 5.
Her criteria:
- Supports formative instructional strategies and ways to activate learners to be resources for themselves and peers
- Is free or awful close to it (under $10 per year, where possible)
- When possible, both students and teachers can take the activator role (sometimes teachers need to get things started)
1. Flipgrid allows you, students, families to do a video response (from 15 seconds to now 10 minutes - I love a good upgrade). New in 2020 besides the added time - it used to be maxed at 5 minutes - is the ability not just for the teacher, but also other students to provide either video response or written response. Perfect for English teachers like me. I am going to have to bring this back to my methods course. I have not played around with the full potential of Flipgrid in the classroom besides using this as an oral discussion post based on readings, however, I want to play around with this and do some activities that I used to do with VoiceThread before VoiceThread got sucky and expensive. Flipgrid also has an educator free account that makes it seamless to get students on even if they are younger than 13.
2. Padlet is a great way for students to collaborate. Some people swear by Padlet, so I wanted to put it here. I like the flexibility of being able to put up text, photos, gifs, respond to each other, etc. What I do not like, even if it is in my top 5 is that it costs more than $10 although I can use the free version and just keep saving and throwing away Padlets so that I can stay in the 3 free version for 4ever. I am waiting for them to offer a free for educators in a pandemic plan (like Zoom and Flipgrid). Until then, I use this more like I am a used tech salesman than a curriculum creator. As for formative assessment - students can respond to prompts, include text, data, etc. and give feedback to each other.
3. Mentimeter now has an education free. Yes! I like this because it gives me real time feedback and others can see it. I like that you can allow students to respond multiple times so that they can respond based on someone else's response.
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