Professor Dylan William has found that in the classrooms of the best teachers, students learn at twice the rate they do in the classrooms of average teachers- they learn in six months what students taught by the average teachers take a year to learn. And in the classrooms of the least effective teachers, the same learning will take two years. He also found that students who were from disadvantaged backgrounds learned just as much as those from advantaged backgrounds if they were in the most effective teachers’ classrooms. Also, the students who suffered from behavioral problems all learned as much as those without.
I have found by using Edmodo quizzes and activexpressions or activotes for formative assessment that I really can see who “gets it” and who doesn’t. It is the perfect opportunity for me to analyze the test results with the students. It gives us the chance to talk about the answers they missed and why they thought that. It allows students to discuss and present their point of view. Every time I retest after one of these discussions, the students always do better. They remember the answers they missed the first time and do much better. I tell them that we all learn from our mistakes in all areas of our life, not just on tests and assessments.
Research from Promethean compared 3 types of assessments:
20 questions on paper, 20 questions on Activexpressions 1 and 20 questions on Activexpressions 2:
1. Paper test took 20 minutes to complete and peer mark, teacher didn’t have time to complete the analysis before class was over.
2. Self-paced AE 1 took 10 minutes to complete while some only took 5 minutes. The results were analyzed and feedback was immediate because it was electronically graded.
3. Self-paced AE 2 took 5 minutes to complete, some in 3. Analysis and feedback was immediate.
My advice is to use your Activexpressions, activotes, laptops with Edmodo, iPads with Edmodo or activengage to assess your students, provide instant feedback, and analyze results. Teach your students to explain their thinking, argue their case and discuss their ideas. You will improve learning in your classroom: Guaranteed!
One of my goals this year is to use the Activotes in the classroom as a quick method of assessment for my students. I envision it being an excellent way of revisiting skills that have been taught and a good source of data when planning future review lessons.
Reading about Edmodo and Activexpressions sounds wonderful. It has certainly replaced the magic slates and white boards I used to provide immediate feedback. The electronic grading by these devices frees up the teacher’s time and allows for immediate correction. This makes the teacher’s job easier while reinforcing the correct answers individually with the student. It makes me want to dive back into the classroom and try out these new tools.
I completely agree with what was said in the blog about using activexpressions in the classroom. I always wanted to provide feedback to my students on their assignments as opposed to just handing them a graded paper. Not only did the activexpressions allow me to actively engage the students in my lessons (they loved any opportunity to use them and their focus increased) but they also enabled me to provide them with the immediate feedback I had always desired! I felt so much stronger as a teacher knowing I had gone over the correct answers and hit trouble spots.
This post makes me jealous! I SO wish I had this type of technology in my classroom. I teach elementary music, and I honestly do not have the time to do a 20 minute assessment very often, since that would take up half of an entire class period! However, I recognize the need for immediate feedback to guide instruction. It would be so nice to have more than questioning or “thumbs up/thumbs down” for feedback. The results of your research are amazing. If I could take only 3-5 minutes to assess whether the students really understand, I could quickly adjust my teaching to either reteach the material or move on.
Immediate feedback is always beneficial!! I think it helps the teacher and students know if the concept was understood and when they each need to focus more time. Sounds wonderful!