Websites for Classroom Use
In this post I am going to give a very brief overview of some websites that can be useful in the classroom. They all lend themselves very well to developing formative assessment methods, and provide both detailed feedback on how students are progressing to you as a teacher, and also give you the ability to give students feedback easily and promptly.
Google Classroom - classroom.google.com
Google Classroom is an excellent tool for setting and collecting work, but is also very effective as a means to make announcements to classes. It can be used in class as well as for homework. You can post announcements, a single question to check understanding, or a full blown assignment to your classes. For each of these you can attach documents or links to other sites. It is a great place to keep everything for a class, so it is easily accessible.
Want to direct students to one of the other sites listed here? Simply create an announcement with the link in the Google Classroom.
Want to have students collaborate on a single document? Create an assignment and give students edit access.
Want each student to fill out their own version of a document (such as an essay, or response form)? Create an assignment and create a copy for each student.
Want to get students to reflect on their learning for the lesson? Create a single question with short answer responses.
Want to ask a quick multiple choice question? Create a question and choose multiple choice.
Want somewhere to store all the course materials? Link to them through the About page (as a Google Doc, or upload directly, or even include videos and links here).
Google Classroom keeps track of if students have completed assignments, and answered questions, so you don't have to. You can even give feedback directly on Google Docs, or through Google Classroom, and "return" the work, as well as give grades (if you want that). All work is stored in Google Drive, but is easily accessible through the Google Classroom.
Getting Started with Google Classroom: http://alicekeeler.com/2014/09/19/getting-started-with-google-classroom/
11 Things to Start with Google Classroom: http://alicekeeler.com/2017/02/27/11_things_google_classroom/
Other posts on Google Classroom: http://alicekeeler.com/google-classroom/
EDpuzzle - edpuzzle.com
Edpuzzle is a fantastic tool to set homework based around a video (perfect for a flipped classroom approach). You can set a video, trim it to the bits you want, and add a voice over or voice notes at certain key points in the video. You can also add questions to the video to check understanding as students watch the video. When students watch the video, the questions will appear at the time you specify.
You can also keep track of exactly how much of the video each student watched, or make it so that the students cannot skip through the video. It also gives you the ability to mark the answers to the questions, and provide written feedback to the students through the system.
EDpuzzle is a great way to direct student focus when watching a video as part of their studies
Engaging students with EDpuzzle: http://catlintucker.com/2015/06/flipped-classroom-engaging-students-with-edpuzzle/
Kahoot - create.kahoot.it
Kahoot is an online Multiple Choice quiz system. You can choose a quiz from the thousands made by other teachers, or easily make your own (or duplicate somebody else's and edit it to fit your needs). You simply give students the code and they log in to the quiz and then choose their answer based on each question. The question appears on the board, as do the answers, so all students have to be paying attention to the board throughout. On their screen, only the colours/icons appear that they choose based on what is on your screen.
After a question you get an overview of how students answered, and a chance to address any misconceptions before moving on. This is vitally important in the learning process.
Students get points based on getting the right answer, and how quickly they get the correct answer, and a leader board is shown after each question.
5 Alternative ways to Use Kahoot in the Classroom: http://blog.getkahoot.com/post/107991831197/5-alternative-ways-to-use-kahoot-in-the
Kahoot Guide: https://getkahoot.com/tutorials/Kahoot_Tutorials.pdf
Image from http://learninginhand.com/blog/quizizz
Quizziz - quizizz.com
Quizziz appears very similar to Kahoot on first appearances, but it is slightly different in how the activity runs. Whereas Kahoot shows the question on the board, Quizziz shows questions on the players screen. And it randomises the order in which students see the questions, so no copying!
In this sense Quizziz is player centred whereas Kahoot is class centred. That does mean that you cannot intervene whole class after a particular question with Quizziz, but you can get a detailed view of how each student is doing through the dashboard.
There are two excellent additional features that Quizziz has that Kahoot is lacking due to the way it runs. You can set a Quizziz as a homework; and there is a fantastic print quiz option if you want/need to go tech-free.
Quizziz in detail: http://learninginhand.com/blog/quizizz
Quizziz helpdesk: https://quizizz.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/categories/115000040305-Creating-And-Organising-Quizzes
Diagnostic Questions - diagnosticquestions.com
Diagnostic questions are multiple choice questions where each incorrect answer tells you something about the misconception that a student has. This site has a large selection of these questions, but also the ability to easily make your own. Set up by a Maths teacher in the UK, there are more questions on Maths than other subjects, but it is starting to grow quite quickly.
You can create quizzes that students answer electronically, and best of all, they have to give a reason for why they chose that answer, which you can then read through to identify any issues. They can also see responses from other students as to why they chose different answers. I often just show a single question on the board and ask students to say which they think is the correct answer using finger voting, as this gives me a snapshot of the understanding in the class.
Diagnostic Questions Help Centre: https://diagnosticquestions.com/Learn
Formative - goformative.com
Formative is a way to get instant feedback on students' work, and for you to provide instant feedback on what they are doing. It also benefits from multiple input methods, including a handwritten answer box. You can upload old worksheets and they will be transformed to an online version, or you can easily create your own work quickly on their platform. I particularly like the way you can create a question where students can annotate an image you have prepared, and you can see their annotations as they do them.
You can set up classes and activities appear in their space automatically, or just use the quick codes (why not use Google Classroom to share the codes).
You get access to a view of each question and what students are doing, or you can see an overview of the whole assignment, which is colour coded by grade (which can be automatically assigned for multiple choice and true/false questions, and which you can assign easily (with comments) for other responses. You can even anonymise the work so it can be projected so students can see others' work.
20 Ways to Use Formative: http://ditchthattextbook.com/2015/12/07/20-ways-to-use-formative-for-awesome-assessment/
Socrative - www.socrative.com
Socrative is a similar tool to Formative, but with the added benefit of being able to assign quick questions off the cuff without having to design a full assignment. As the teacher you can clearly see the results of the class in an easy to use interface which can inform your teaching for the rest of the lesson, or the next lesson.
You can set quizzes, quick questions or make a "Space Race" activity for students to work on, but the real power with this site is the immediate feedback you can give to students as they work.
Socrative Help Centre: https://help.socrative.com/hc/en-us
Padlet - padlet.com
Padlet is essentially a virtual pinboard. It allows you to stick ideas, links, videos, images or pretty much anything else on a single "board". It can also be easily shared with a class so they can add things to the board.
Have you ever done the post-its on the board as a reflection activity? With padlet you can do this virtually, and never lose those post-its!
Want students to be able to ask each other quick questions when stuck? Set up a padlet so students can ask their questions, and their peers (or you) can respond to them.
There are loads of different ways you might want to make use of Padlet in the classroom, and the two links below give you some more ideas.
20 Useful ways to use Padlet in class now: http://ditchthattextbook.com/2014/11/03/20-useful-ways-to-use-padlet-in-class-now/
32 Interesting Ways to Use Padlet in the Classroom: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/102ajRlZ0bDby07MhC79NdxyTSMLHXuT-bZNJ4fpsYHw/edit?pli=1#slide=id.i178
I have made use of some of these sites more extensively than others, and they all have their own unique benefits and drawbacks. Have you tried any of these? What do you think? Do you have other suggestions?