What is this?
Well, quite simply as you might have guessed, these are tools used for assessment. But there are difference between how and when you use them. Digital assessment tools allow you to easily assess the learning of your students. If your students have access to iPads or laptops, then using something like Kahoot so that you can learn what your students already know about a topic can be very simple in an elementary classroom. But what if you don't know about Kahoot, or any other type of digital assessment tool? Well, at their most basic, DATs are just a paper test put onto a computer screen. The students then answer the questions on their computer. There are many different tools for this that all do things differently, and for the most part they all have different goals when using them. That is where the difference between Pre/Formative and Summative assessment tools is, what they aim to achieve. Pre and Formative tools are designed to be used AS a learning tool, to assess where your students are while learning. Summative tools are used after learning as a way to showcase what a student has learned.
Well, quite simply as you might have guessed, these are tools used for assessment. But there are difference between how and when you use them. Digital assessment tools allow you to easily assess the learning of your students. If your students have access to iPads or laptops, then using something like Kahoot so that you can learn what your students already know about a topic can be very simple in an elementary classroom. But what if you don't know about Kahoot, or any other type of digital assessment tool? Well, at their most basic, DATs are just a paper test put onto a computer screen. The students then answer the questions on their computer. There are many different tools for this that all do things differently, and for the most part they all have different goals when using them. That is where the difference between Pre/Formative and Summative assessment tools is, what they aim to achieve. Pre and Formative tools are designed to be used AS a learning tool, to assess where your students are while learning. Summative tools are used after learning as a way to showcase what a student has learned.
So Why Should You Use Them?
So I started to cover this in the above paragraph, but lets really dig into this here. But assessment tools help you learn how to teach your students better, and they also help your students really demonstrate what they have learned in a different way. Either way, they can make assessment a much more enjoyable experience for both you and your students that say, having them write a paper then having to grade each those. however, you do need access to computers to use them, whether this be laptops, iPads or whatever, if you don't have those in your classroom then this whole discussion is pointless because DATs will be difficult for you to implement effectively.
I believe that DATs can be a very helpful tool, and time saving as well. They are especially convenient if your classroom has computers in it. I can see myself using tools such as Kahoot and others in my classroom. They do take time to set up and implement, but once you have that done, you can potentially use that same assessment multiple times over until you decide to revise it or move to a different tool.
So I started to cover this in the above paragraph, but lets really dig into this here. But assessment tools help you learn how to teach your students better, and they also help your students really demonstrate what they have learned in a different way. Either way, they can make assessment a much more enjoyable experience for both you and your students that say, having them write a paper then having to grade each those. however, you do need access to computers to use them, whether this be laptops, iPads or whatever, if you don't have those in your classroom then this whole discussion is pointless because DATs will be difficult for you to implement effectively.
I believe that DATs can be a very helpful tool, and time saving as well. They are especially convenient if your classroom has computers in it. I can see myself using tools such as Kahoot and others in my classroom. They do take time to set up and implement, but once you have that done, you can potentially use that same assessment multiple times over until you decide to revise it or move to a different tool.
What Are Some Examples of Pre and Formative Assessment Tools?
Here are a couple example assessments using a few different DATs:
Here are a couple example assessments using a few different DATs:
- Formative: This is a site that allows you to build quizzes/test, and you can get REALLY creative with it. I only created a really simple one, and this is something that I would probably have students take before or while we are learning. Personally, I would use this one because of how, almost "stupidly", easy it is to build a test on. You can do it really, really quick here. It also has the added benefit of tying into Google Classrooms if that is another tool you use.
- Kahoot: Kahoot is a fun assessment game really. You have a "test" ready to go, and then all of your student are able to join this test with a code. All of the questions are timed, and this is really more like a game as I said already. However, this is a really good Pre assessment tool. Once you get all of the results in, you can use this to discuss why students chose different answers, and this can be a nice segue into learning. I would use this as a jumpstart tool, that is, a tool to get the students "into" what I would be teaching about afterwards.
- A Tool Built into a Learning Management System: This is probably the most convenient DAT to use so long as you already currently are using a Learning Management System. Say you are already using something like Moodle or Schoology in your classroom, those already have Formative assessment tools built into them. These tools usually are just quizzes and the like, but they still are formative assessments. Since your students would already be familiar with the LMS that is implemented, these can be much more convenient than other tools. I would use this instead of other tools simply because it's already built into something you are using, and I would most likely already be familiar with that tool.
So what about Summative Assessment Tools?
What are some examples of a Summative Assessment tool? Well, there a lot of them actually, and you can do MANY different things with them. They can range anywhere from Coding apps like Scratch Jr., movie creation tools such as iMovie to presentation tools such as Prezi. Well that's cool and all, but what is the purpose of a digital Summative Assessment tool? They allow you to conduct an assessment in a way that you could not do without without them. These tools help you design assessments at the higher levels of Dr. Reuben R. Puentedura's SAMR model.
The final part of the COIL project on another page on this website was an example of an assessment designed to the higher levels of the SAMR model. BUT, to save you some time, let's talk about that here again. I would encourage you to go back to the Online Collaboration for Teaching and Learning page, and read up on what the students have done before the final project of the collaboration. Okay, now that you have done that, if you didn't read through the whole thing including the final project, let's talk about that here again.
So, we are going to have our students create videos based on what they learned about their cooperative classroom. However, we do not want the students to just be sitting in front of a camera speaking to it. That is boring, and is akin to having the students just give an oral report, which is something that doesn't require technology. We want them to explore what they can do with technology. So, can they create a music video about songs that the cooperating classroom listens to? Or how about creating a video tutorial of how to play a game that the other class told them about?
Ideally, you split your students into smaller groups, so that everyone has the opportunity to participate in creating a video. Then, you have the students pick what they are going to do their video on. You do not want students creating videos on the same topic, to sub-topic. Next, have the students brainstorm how they are going to present their topic. Really encourage them to challenge themselves! Let them have fun with this, but remember to keep them on topic.
Again, ideally your students would have iPads or some other device to capture their videos on. Once the video is captured, they can then use an application such as iMovie to finish it. (Maybe you use this as a final project for two different lessons, one on collaboration and/or geography, and then another on using technology in you lives?) Below is an example of creating a movie using iMovie on an iPad.
What are some examples of a Summative Assessment tool? Well, there a lot of them actually, and you can do MANY different things with them. They can range anywhere from Coding apps like Scratch Jr., movie creation tools such as iMovie to presentation tools such as Prezi. Well that's cool and all, but what is the purpose of a digital Summative Assessment tool? They allow you to conduct an assessment in a way that you could not do without without them. These tools help you design assessments at the higher levels of Dr. Reuben R. Puentedura's SAMR model.
- S: Substitution - Technology acts a direct substitute, with no functional change.
- A: Augmentation - Technology acts as a direct substitute, with functional improvement.
- M: Modification - Technology allows for significant task redesign.
- R: Redefinition - Technology allows for the creation of new tasks, previously inconceivable.
The final part of the COIL project on another page on this website was an example of an assessment designed to the higher levels of the SAMR model. BUT, to save you some time, let's talk about that here again. I would encourage you to go back to the Online Collaboration for Teaching and Learning page, and read up on what the students have done before the final project of the collaboration. Okay, now that you have done that, if you didn't read through the whole thing including the final project, let's talk about that here again.
So, we are going to have our students create videos based on what they learned about their cooperative classroom. However, we do not want the students to just be sitting in front of a camera speaking to it. That is boring, and is akin to having the students just give an oral report, which is something that doesn't require technology. We want them to explore what they can do with technology. So, can they create a music video about songs that the cooperating classroom listens to? Or how about creating a video tutorial of how to play a game that the other class told them about?
Ideally, you split your students into smaller groups, so that everyone has the opportunity to participate in creating a video. Then, you have the students pick what they are going to do their video on. You do not want students creating videos on the same topic, to sub-topic. Next, have the students brainstorm how they are going to present their topic. Really encourage them to challenge themselves! Let them have fun with this, but remember to keep them on topic.
Again, ideally your students would have iPads or some other device to capture their videos on. Once the video is captured, they can then use an application such as iMovie to finish it. (Maybe you use this as a final project for two different lessons, one on collaboration and/or geography, and then another on using technology in you lives?) Below is an example of creating a movie using iMovie on an iPad.