Employing Student Response Systems
Capturing Live Feedback to Impact Instruction
Technology provides tremendous opportunity to help improve the efficiency of instruction, and student response systems take these opportunities to the new level. Each of these tools provide the ability to collect information from students seamlessly and instantaneously, equipping you with information that will help you (and your students) check their understanding. There are quite a few of these out there, and here are some of the best available.
Blendspace
Blendspace is a Content Management System that allows teachers to generate lessons with a variety of different content types. This site allows teachers not only to create quizzes to check student understanding with most any type of content, but will also allow students to rate the content that you have given to them.
Student Response Systems Blendspace - A sample blendspace for this in-service
Sample blendspaces from D. Gorman - A sample curriculum resource from Mr. Gorman's class.
Padlet
Think of Padlet as an electronic version of a graffiti or word wall - a place where students can easily post their thoughts, links, or multimedia content. Incredibly easy to use, teachers at all levels have experience success with students creating their own Padlets for class demonstrations or to lead their own mini lesson.
Student Response System Padlet - A sample blendspace for this in-service.
EDpuzzle
Sometimes a video is the best way to demonstrate content to students. But how do we know they are actively engaged? More important, how do we know the video is making a difference in their learning? Enter EDpuzzle: this user-friendly website allows you to enter questions your students can respond to or comment on as they watch the video. At the end, you will know exactly who watched the video, and who truly understood the content.
Kahoot
Kahoot allows you to create a game based atmosphere where your questions are recorded by the website, an engaging way for you to check for understanding. Following the game, the results are provided for each individual students, allowing for long-term charting of progress.
Quizizz
A gamified quiz generator similar to Kahoot, Quizizz operates asynchronously - allowing students to work at their own pace and see how they did. This may be a stronger option content that you want to reinforce students taking their time with each question.
Nearpod
Often PowerPoint presentations are criticized in educational circles as one dimensional, where the teacher is the only individual playing an active role. Nearpod removes this restriction from such presentations, providing interactive elements that create a more meaningful connection between teacher and student as well as track meaningful feedback in a world centered on data assessment.
Socrative
Socrative provides a formative assessments for student response, focused on scaffolding individual responses. Similar to other response systems in terms of gaining a real time look into student understanding, Socrative tools lend themselves to keeping track of student understanding over time and in a more formal manner.
Christopher Brockman
Media and Technology Integrator
Pennridge School District
Pennridge School District
Email: cbrock@pennridge.org
Phone: 215-278-5804