This online tool is a way for teachers to poll and quiz students online that mimics the use of iClickers. Teachers can create assessments that are either multiple choice, true/false, or short answer. In each of these types of questions one can select the correct answer and can also provide instant feedback to students. Teachers then provide a code to students for the socrative "classroom" and then as the teacher you can release the quiz that you created to your students. You can also choose to use a "quick question" to poll students like one would for a iclicker question. You can also provide a fun quiz in the form of a "space race" where students can work in teams to complete a previously created quiz. Teams race against one another to answer the most questions as quickly as possible. Socrative is a simple and powerful online tool that allows teachers to assess students understanding in a few different fun ways.
My biggest concern with this technology in the classroom is that each student must have access to either a computer or smart phone. In my current placement we do not have access to laptops in our classroom daily and the computer lab computers are extremely slow. I think that it would be interesting to try to use this tool with students on their cellphones. While this tool is easy to access on a phone I think that one must establish the correct norms for use in the classroom, however our current policy is that students do not use phones in the classroom. It is left to the discretion of the teacher in my placement to decide how cellphones are used in the classroom, however, my mentor teacher prohibits their use.
I am inspired to think about how to incorporate this online tool into my future classroom. Although concerns with having technology are the most prominent in my mind, I think that the incorporation of technology into the classroom is essential, especially as the use of technology is so important for the future success of our students. Some may argue that knowing how to use technology effectively is more important than the regurgitation of rote information. This assignment not only introduced me to many different online tools, each with their own pros and cons, but it made me think more critically about how to incorporate technology into the classroom, the norms that would need to be established for student use, and what things are important for a teacher to consider when checking out new tools.
Hey Kaitlyn,
ReplyDeleteYou bring up some excellent points about the use of socrative and the BYOD (bring-your-own-device) movement, namely that we will have to set norms for use of cell phones. And given how attached students are to their cell phones this is likely to be a very difficult job. In my own placement cell phone use is allowed, but there seem to be very few rules regarding their use. Students are frequently playing on them or texting or even listening to music during lectures! I agree that the incorporation of technology into the classroom is important, but I have also seen first hand that allowing cell phones in can spiral out of control. I will need to learn some classroom management techniques before I can think about inviting such an opportunity for distraction into my class. Thanks for sharing!
Samantha
You make some great points about Socrative Kaitlyn! I completely agree that it might be difficult to implement in the classroom because it requires that each student have a cell phone or computer in class. I know that Samantha commented on how distracting phones can be in the classroom, which I completely agree with, but I also am concerned about the ease which students are able to use this app on their phone. Multiple times we have used a tech tool that has worked well on the computer, but has been extremely slow when using a phone or an iPad. I don't know about you, but the last thing that I want to do is bring technology into the classroom that is going to slow things down.
ReplyDeleteKaitlynn- You post did an excellent job of recapping how Socrative would look in use in a classroom. I agree with you and Mrs. W. on the feasibility of using the technology in the school setting. I currently see any regular use of technology as a huge obstacle at my placement. Putting aside school policy, and thinking about the fact that students are on their phones nearly all the time. It would be great to get them to do something constructive with the devices. But I still don't know if it would be prudent to ask students to use their phones for something like this. Especially if not ever student has a phone, or if a student got their phone taken away by a parent, etc. It can only happen if there is a classroom culture built around appropriate phone/tablet uses and expectatio
ReplyDeleteKaitlynn
ReplyDeleteI think you hit the nail right on the hammer with having to use technology within the classroom. It is extremely important to make sure that there are classroom routines and norms set in place or else students will just use their cellphones whenever. Especially after seeing many of the tools that our cohort presented this semester, I am itching to use them but don't necessarily know exactly how to do so. Im glad you have such a positive response to the fact that your mentor teacher doesn't allow cellphones in the class. Perhaps this is something you can shift slowly in the winter. I have thought about doing this with bell work but Im always open to new ideas.
Thanks for sharing!
Hi there Kaitlynn,
ReplyDeleteI also wrote a blog post about Socrative as I found it to be one of the most useful tools that we have been shown. I loved that students can get immediate feedback on their performance! I definitely have the same major concern as you about access to technology. If all students in my future classroom had a smartphone, after setting up a policy about using technology respectfully I would definitely use tools like this one to assess students. I loved the Space Race feature of Socrative and I think students would love it too! Creating quizzes on Socrative was super easy to do as the presentation showed us which makes it a really useful tool for teachers whose students have access to technology. Thanks for your thoughts!
Betsy
Kaitlynn, I hope you find an appropriate opportunity to engage your students in using socrative on their smartphones. Socrative has some nice potential as a tool for formative assessment, and it might be really exciting for your students to use Socrative in this way.
ReplyDeleteHere's a link to a posting that Liz Kolb did on this topic:
http://cellphonesinlearning.blogspot.com/2013/04/socrative-for-mobile-polling-just-got.html