Formative Assessment Using Technology Part II *Updated*

Quizizz

Last week, I created a formative assessment using Formative. The topic was plant cells for fifth grade. I made it somewhat like a Hyperdoc, by including a video for students to watch, and a link for them to go to. I then asked them to draw the cell on the whiteboard embedded in the quiz.

This week, I created a new plant cell assessment using Quizizz. I wanted this assessment to be more like a quiz. After reading Elisabeth's blog post, I chose Quizizz because the interface seemed much more user-friendly and fun for students. Formative gives the students all of the questions at once, which did work well for making a Hyperdoc, but not so great for a quiz.

I referred to this page for help in getting started, but it was very easy to create a new quiz. If you would like to try my quiz, go here and use the code 452006. *Update: I thought I tested this when I did my original blog post, but Robin commented that it didn't work, and sure enough it didn't. Then began the frustration of trying to find a new code to share the quiz. The only instructions I could find were how to share the quiz with teachers. I ended up creating a homework game, and then I got a code. But this homework game ends November 10. (I actually like that you can assign a game as homework and pick the due date). Here is the new code. Go to this link and type in 193081.

This is a screen shot of the editor for adding a question to the quiz. As you write in the question and the answers on the left, they also appear in the screen on the right to show what it would look like to the student.

You can also add questions from other people's quizzes. Here is a screen shot of that process. I typed in "plant cell ribosomes", and a list of quizzes came up on the left. Just click on one, and the questions appear on the right. If you add a question from someone else, make sure the answer is correct! I saw some that were not.

Since updating my post to create a Homework Game, I was able to do a couple test runs on the quiz and see data in the Reports section. You can see how all the questions were answered for each student, and there is a tab to see how this data aligns with standards. Here is a screen shot of the main Reports section:

Quizizz vs. Formative

I think Quizizz has a more appealing format for students, and it was a little easier to create quizzes. Formative is a lot more options for how students can answer questions, and I think Quizizz is too limited in this way. Both platforms say you can tag questions with standards, but I could only get it to fully work with Quizizz. One thing I really liked about Formative is that as kids are answering questions, I can give feedback. I do not think that is something that can be done with Quizizz. I also like the option of removing students' names with Formative. That way, a student answer can be used to show the class, but the student would not be embarrassed. I feel that this is a very important learning opportunity for students. However, after listening to the Cult of Pedagogy podcast on Retrieval Practice, I also see the value in just doing a simple quiz. Asking students to retrieve information, especially after some time has passed after the original lesson, is a very effective learning strategy. One of the things I appreciated from the podcast, is that they stressed the importance of explaining this to students. It helps them to understand their own learning, and engages their metacognition. It also has the effect of decreasing test anxiety because they understand that they are taking quizzes to learn rather than perform.

A Final Thought

I was substitute teaching this past week, and in one of the classes I was asked to give the students an assessment that involved cutting and pasting. It was an assessment that was intended to be creative, but it just became very time-consuming for students. A couple students worked on it all day. I had to give directions multiple times. Pieces were lost. The wrong things were glued. Names were not written on papers. And the teacher had to take the time to grade each paper and record the grades. I just kept thinking how much easier the whole thing would have been using technology. [I am not criticizing the teacher in any way. For some kids, this would be a fun way to take a quiz, and I definitely believe in mixing it up and doing different things.]

Sometimes it takes a while to learn new technologies, and it can be frustrating to sit and work for hours on creating one assessment. But I believe time is saved in the long run because once you learn how to use technology, you don't spend nearly as much time creating other assessments. You can save them and use them year after year. The platform grades them for you. Students don't lose things or forget to put their name on their paper. And it's a more engaging format for students to use.

~Heather