Have you ever wanted a quick way to check student knowledge using quick & informal ways? With a little preparation, polling tools can provide a great way to informally assessing students in an engaged manner.
Various polling tools can enable an instructor to create informal assessments with their students. Informal assessments can be diagnostic, serving as a knowledge pre-check, or formative, allowing for an instructor to check student progress in learning content. This can also help students by providing them a way to check their knowledge without the risk of a grading penalty, allowing students to review content that they may not yet grasp. Instructors can also use an informal assessment via polling tools to determine gaps in student knowledge, knowing where content may need to be covered in more detail or in a different fashion.
Here’s a list of several known polling tools that can serve for informal assessments:
Kahoot!
Kahoot! is an easy to use tool that is popular among K-12 schools, but also has a following within higher education and business. Instructors can create questions through a web-based interface on a desktop system, which then runs the quiz for everyone present. Students answer questions through mobile devices, either from the Kahoot! mobile web interface or the Kahoot! app. Questions are color coded for easy answering, and can contain images, video, or simple text.
Interested? For more information, take a look at the Kahoot! website.
Quizizz
Quizizz is designed to allow an instructor to create a quiz that can then be completed at a student’s own pace or at home. Quizizz offers a distinct advantage for online courses as students can be given an address and code to the relevant quiz. As with other tools, Quizizz can easily be used as a knowledge check for students.
Interested? For more information, take a look at the Quizizz website.
Socrative
Socrative is designed with the ability to choose from a variety of activity types, like quizzes, exit tickets, or quick questions. It allows for reporting of results on a consistent basis, along with a “space race” tool to turn any activity into a competition among students. Instructors are also able to see results in real-time, allowing for quick remediation as may be needed.
Interested? For more information, take a look at the Socrative website.
PollEverywhere
PollEverywhere allows for real time engagement with a class or other audience. PollEverywhere allows for a variety of question types including multiple choice, open ended, Q&A, ranked choice, and clickable images. Questions can be also integrated into a PowerPoint presentation, allowing for an uninterrupted flow of content and questioning.
Interested? For more information, take a look at the PollEverywhere website.
Questions? We can help!
Have questions about instruction, course design, teaching methods, technology to help, or more? Please contact the Center for Teaching & Learning through our contact form or by phone at (708) 974-5347.