Online Assessment: Tools That Can Be Used!

 

Here are some tools for online assessment.. Set your belts teachers! 🔐📝

As teachers we understand the importance of assessment data in our instruction as this helps in guiding us regarding planning for any future lesson. This actually happens through the identification of any misconception and the continuous check for understanding of a given topic. However, with all the circumstances we are passing through nowadays regarding remote learning, it is a challenge to make sure that we are offering students meaningful lessons as well as assessments. So, basically, here are some ideas that we as teachers can use while performing online instructions and which in turn helps us in gathering assessment data that we need to move further. 

One of the tools that probably the majority of teachers are using is the Google Suite which includes Google Docs, Google Slides, and Google Forms. These are considered as great ways to collect data when assignments are given on Google Classroom for example. These applications can be used in a wide array of assessment. For instance, Google Docs can be used to perform extra worksheets, or they can go even beyond that where students can use Google Slides to present a certain concept and play the role of the teacher themselves. Such tasks can be done either individually or as group work. In addition, Google Forms can be used in the form of quizzes which has the option of being auto-graded hence saving time and efforts in one way or another depending on the question types created. Exit slips on Google Slides or posting questions on Google Classroom are also other ways to use the Google apps in evaluating students' understanding.  

Another online assessment tool is Flipgrid which a platform that allows both students and teachers to post short videos of themselves answering a question or discussing a certain topic. This is considered as a funny way to assess students' understanding and let them present their ideas instead of using the regular paper-and-pen method. It can be also used in the closure part; at the end of the class to recap some major points discussed right away. When the teacher watches the video, he/she can easily identify any misunderstood ideas and basically clarify them. 

An extremely interesting and popular game-like platform is Kahoot. It allows the teachers to create online quizzes that can be done either individually or as small groups as well. It is engaging for students because it is done in a game-like and competition-like way. The teacher will be sharing the questions from his/her device and the students basically are going to observe the answers and interact with questions. Kahoot provides an opportunity for an active and engaging learning process using games which is a thing that kids will definitely enjoy. 

Pear Deck is another online assessment tool that can be used as an add-on in Google Slides. It allows teachers to insert interactive slides within their presentations. These are slides where students can submit responses or where you can insert polls that make the slides more interactive and more engaging as students will be giving real-time feedback. Speaking about real-time evaluation, other tools including Wordwall, Mentimeter, Jamboard, and Padlet are considered highly effective in summarizing some major points mentioned throughout the sessions so that teachers can figure out where do students stand and whether we can all move to the next step. They also include a wide variety of  game-like questions that students will definitely find attractive and hence get engaged in the activities posted or shared. 

These are actually some of the ideas about online assessment tools that we can begin using in our instructions to help save some time, efforts, and most importantly grasp our students' attention and make them feel involved, interested, and enjoying the learning taking place.