Courtesy of tlceducationalsolutions.com

Another formative assessment tool I discovered this year is the online response tool, socrative.com. This free tool allows you to build quick quizzes that students can access with their smart phone. The quiz can be student or teacher directed and results can be displayed immediately. It’s a fun activity, that allows you to quickly assess if material has been absorbed and understood or if more instruction is necessary . My personal favorite is the quick exit question , ” What did you learn today?”. This is a great tool to determine how effective I was and then I can modify my next lesson based on the feedback, if necessary.

I am intrigued by the assessment option referred to as the Word Journal.

The word Journal was introduced to me in the article , Technology-Enhanced Classroom Assessment Techniques by Jacqueline Mangien from Faculty Focus. I have used  journaling as a means of student reflection and self-reflection in a number of my classes. This semester, I introduced blogging as an electronic form of reflection and to build student-student interactivity. I have found this form of assessment very effective and especially enlightening for me. Reflection is a great tool to decode and internalize a learning experience. This method of expression allows the student to self -assess and collaborate with peers , along with the instructors assessment of   higher order thinking skills. It also adds a measure of the ‘authentic audience’ which tends to motivate students to do a better job.

A Word Journal defined by  Faculty Focus:

In the Word Journal assessment, students summarize a lesson, concept, or text in a single word, then write a short narrative explaining their word choice. Encouraging students to write blog posts for their word journals provides a relevant and wider audience for their selections and allows classmates to comment on one another’s ideas. The professor might then collect the word journals and create a word cloud such as Wordle to visually display comment themes and elements from the responses.

Looking to engage my own new bloggers I tried a modified version of this lesson.  Please check out my lesson instruction and outcome, on my student blog; Blogging with Mrs. C.  Additional examples can be viewed on any student blog listed on the right, feel free to comment on your favorite. I’m sure my class will get a kick out of it!

KLC