Engaging Formative Assessment Techniques with Technology

By Eric Milou
December 15, 2016

There is firm research evidence showing that formative assessment is an essential component of classroom work and that its development can raise standards of achievement (See Inside the Black Box: Raising Standards Through Classroom Assessment by Paul Black and Dylan Wiliam).

It is also evident that technology can provide students with opportunities to engage in the Common Core Mathematical Practices, such as conjecturing, justifying, and generalizing, and can change the nature of school mathematics by engaging students in more active mathematical practices encouraging them to ask questions rather than only looking for answers. See the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) position paper on technology.

Thus, in this session, we will explore several digital tools can provide students and teachers with instantaneous feedback on the accuracy of their work and the ability to track the strengths and weaknesses of individual students and the class as a whole. We will explore several formative assessment platforms such as Kahoot, PearDeck and Desmos Activity Builder, among others. Attendees will experience - and be engaged in - several lessons on these platforms on their digital devices (laptop, tablet or cell phone). We will then compare/contrast these various apps and examine their strengths and weaknesses.

We will also discuss design principles that can help teachers and curriculum developers imagine new possibilities for formative assessment lessons/tasks in the mathematics classroom. Christopher Danielson and Dan Meyer write in the November 2016 issue of Mathematics Teacher that the principles that guide their lesson development work include the following:

• Use technology to provide students with feed­back as they work.
• Use the existing network to connect students, supporting collaboration and discourse.
• Provide information to teachers in real time dur­ing class.

We will examine these design principles as they apply to formative assessment apps that will be demonstrated in this session. Come join me to start the conversation!

Be sure not to miss Eric's session at the 2017 NCTM Annual Meeting in San Antonio:

Engaging Formative Assessment Techniques with Technology
This session will have teachers engaging in several formative assessment tasks using free technology. The tasks will demonstrate that we can engage students in their learning and assess them understanding in real time using such technology.