Tag:

Kahoot!

How to Easily Convert Quizzes Between Platforms

by Miguel Guhlin June 20, 2023

written by Miguel Guhlin

Are you an online quiz user? Not the social media quiz kind, but the teacher who uses tools like Quizlet, Kahoot!, Quizizz, and others? While quiz questions are often available in various places, they may not be on the platform you want them to be in. How do you get a quiz from Quizlet Flashcards into Kahoot!? Or a quiz from Kahoot! into ClassQuiz? Let’s learn how to convert from one quiz maker to another and how to export and import questions. We’ll walk through the following actions, and you can feel free to jump to any section that will meet your needs.

Export and Convert from Quizlet
Import Quizlet to Kahoot!
Import Kahoot to ClassQuiz
Import Quizlet/Kahoot! to Quizizz
Import to Quizalize
Bonus Tool: The GetMarked Digitaliser

1. Export and Convert from Quizlet

Do you have a Quizlet Flashcard or quiz? Then you will want to follow these two guides and free tools from GetMarked:

For this demo, I decided to use this Quizlet Photosynthesis Flashcard.

Image of a photosynthesis flashcard in quizlet

Here are the steps I followed:

Save and Edit. When viewing a public flashcard, choose SAVE and EDIT from the ellipsis (three dots) as shown.
Create. You will need to create the flashcard after making any changes you desire.
Export. Now that you have your own edited copy of the flashcard, click the three dots again and select EXPORT.
Use default settings. Do not change anything that appears.
Copy text. Click the copy text button in the window that appears.

You are now ready to use the GetMarked MCQ Converter. Follow these steps:

1. Convert. Paste the copied text copied from the Flashcard into GetMarked MCQ Converter. Click CONVERT. Click COPY. This will put a copy of text in your device’s clipboard. As soon as you click COPY, the EXPORT button appears.

2. Export from MCQ Converter to Text to Quiz Converter. When you click EXPORT, it will take you to another page, the Text to Quiz Converter. At this point, you can paste in the text and choose from a drop-down menu what you want to convert to.

At this point, you can now convert your Quizlet flashcard to any of the following:

Google Forms
Gimkit
Kahoot!
Quizizz

This process is pretty straightforward.

2. Import Quizlet to Kahoot!

Export your questions from Quizlet, then use GetMarked MCQ Converter process above. Here are the steps you would take:

Convert Quizlet to Kahoot! using GetMarked MCQ Converter and Text to Quiz Converter tools.
Save the generated XLSx file with questions.
Go to Kahoot! and create a Kahoot! Then click ADD QUESTION.
Select IMPORT SPREADSHEET.

You will then be asked what you want to do on this screen:

Choose SELECT FILE, and find the file you exported from the GetMarked Text to Quiz Converter. You will upload that file and Kahoot! will process it. When done, you should see:

Then, you can ADD QUESTIONS and the questions and responses will appear in Kahoot! as shown below:

You can now share the Kahoot! with others. Be sure to copy the website address/URL to the Kahoot!

3. Import Kahoot! to ClassQuiz

A few educators have asked me, “How do I get questions from Quizlet into ClassQuiz?” The process is simple. If you want to use ClassQuiz (open-source and free), then you can import your converted Quizlet quiz that is now in Kahoot! Format into ClassQuiz.

To do that, open up ClassQuiz and go to the IMPORT tab at the top of the screen:

Paste in the Kahoot! link you copied into the appropriate box (left side). Then click Submit. After a few moments, you will see the imported Photosynthesis quiz in ClassQuiz:

Example of Kahoot Photosynthesis question imported to Classquiz

4. Import Quizlet/Kahoot! to Quizizz

If you have a quiz you want to import into Quizizz, all you need to do is use the GetMarked tools. Since Quizizz imports from Google Forms, you would follow these steps:

Export from the original quiz tool (e.g. Quizlet) then use MCQ Converter to get question text.
Copy that text and paste it into the Text to Quiz Converter.
Select Google Forms as the output, then click CONVERT.

Once you do that, GetMarked will give you a multi-step process to get the questions into Google Forms. It will involve using Google Scripts, but it is straightforward.

Upon completion, you can open a fresh tab in your browser, and look for the most recent document (check RECENTS). You will see an oddly named Google Form. Click and open it to see it:

At this point, you can go to Quizizz, and select Google Forms:

After you grant appropriate permission, you will get a list of files in your Google Drive that you can open:

Quizizz will work on the import process:

And after a few moments, you now have the quiz in your Quizizz space:

5. Import to Quizalize

Are you a Quizalize user? Then importing is easy. You can import from Quizlet or Google Forms directly. This makes getting content from another quiz provider into Quizalize easy.

Need more? Get the GetMarked Digitaliser.

Back in the day, converting quiz questions was a nightmare. Thanks to GetMarked’s free tools teachers can move back-n-forth between quiz formats. But the GetMarked Digitaliser offers even more comprehensive quiz conversion support.

The price is an annual subscription with an anytime cancellation option. You can see their price chart online, but the Basic pricing at $29 seems affordable. It offers a lot of support for imports from various formats, including:

Word documents
PDF
Google Forms
MS Forms
Kahoot!
Quizizz
Quizlet
Blooket
Gimkit
Socrative
Formative
Canvas
Blackboard
Brightspace
Moodle
Schoology

Highlighted above are the formats most common in K16 settings. And the GetMarked Digitaliser can export to all these formats and more. The custom pricing is only useful if you need support for LearnDash, GIFT, or LTI Integration.

I hope you found the information in this article helpful with your quiz-making, exporting, and converting. If there’s something else you’d like to know about online quiz tools, leave us a comment.

June 20, 2023 0 comment

Good Teaching

Test-Enhanced Learning Made Simple with Knowt

by Miguel Guhlin March 26, 2020

written by Miguel Guhlin

The research is clear: rereading a text doesn’t work as well as taking a test over the material. Known as retrieval practice, it involves students studying a passage of text. Then, students take a low-stakes test about it. In this blog entry, we’ll explore a tool that empowers students to make their own tests.

The Testing Effect

“Retrieval practice” involves frequent testing or quizzing. Students take practice tests over a period of time. This pushes them to recall material from memory. In time, this assists students with remembering the material. Research shows that students recall more information from practice testing than rereading.

Practice testing has an effect size of .46. The Visible Learning Meta X database describes it in this way:

Practice testing is a well-established strategy for improving student learning. The aim of practice testing is to support long-term retention. It is also to increase access to retrieving the “to-be-remembered” information. Sometimes called retrieval practice, practice testing, or test-enhanced learning.

Let’s take a look at some research. These results compare studying versus practice testing as a way to increase retention:

Studying
- Need information retained for a short time? Study it.
- Studying over fewer, longer sessions is less effective than its alternative. The alternative is spacing out the intervals of study over a longer period of time. This is called Spaced vs massed practice and enjoys an effect size of .65.
Practice Testing
- Need long-term retention of information? Use practice testing.
- Testing has a greater impact than repeated study when done over time.
- Testing after reading improves students’ ability to answer questions. That includes questions that are “in the text” and “in the head.”
- Testing done once a day after covering material increased retention
- Students tested often had increased retention.
- It doesn’t matter what form the questions take. Students gain the benefit of practice testing regardless of question type. All questions were as effective as the others at enhancing the students’ learning. Question types include:
  - multiple-choice,
  - short-answer, and
  - hybrid questions

You can deepen the impact of practice testing if students receive feedback. Delayed feedback yields better results. That’s no surprise since feedback has an effect size of .64 itself.

What’s convenient about practice testing is teachers or students can create the test. The question is, what’s the best way to do that?

Reviewing High-Effect Size Strategies

Before we jump into the technology side of this, notice that there may be a happy confluence. The confluence is of high-effect size strategies that include the following:

It’s easy to see how these powerful strategies speed growth in a year and a half in a school year. Ok, now that’s out of the way, let’s review some technology tools.

Ways to Create Practice Tests

Although teachers can make a practice test, there’s a benefit to students making it. No doubt, teachers are making tests using various tools that support quizzing.

Some of those tools teachers use include the following:

Google Forms: Create quizzes with this easy to use tool
Kahoot!: Check out these TCEA TechNotes blog entries on Kahoot!
Microsoft Forms: Learn more about Microsoft Forms via this blog entry
Quizlet: Explore this tool via these blog entries
Quizziz: A few blog entries discuss how to use this tool

While students can use these tools, there is another one available.

Student-Created Quizzes

As a high school student, I stumbled upon a technique that I wish someone had told me about earlier. That is, how to read a selection of text then select content that might appear on a test. At the time, I did not create a test. I highlighted, wrote down or summarized critical test information. It was only later that I would reformulate my notes into test questions. This technique was quite effective in history classes, which I made straight “As” in.

Students can now use a free service to turn their notes into practice quizzes. Students can use an online notebook, or import their notes. The imported notes can be in Google Docs, or Word format. Once imported, the student click a button and their notes get turned into a quiz.

Wondering what the digital tool is that can students can use? Asking yourself what tool can they use to get a .47 effect size boost to knowledge retention? Let’s find out.

Meet Knowt: Get to Know Your Notes

Students can take their online notes, click a button, and a quiz appears. Knowt features fill in the blank, multiple choice or short answer questions. Recall that question type doesn’t matter for practice testing. Instead, it’s the repetition on a daily basis to allow for spaced practice (.65 effect size).

For fun, I asked Knowt to import a tough Google Doc. The Google Doc? Matching High-Effect Size Instructional Strategies and Digital Tools. It created a twenty-five question quiz out of the content.

Here’s the first question:

In case you’re wondering, the answer is C. Performance. How did Knowt do this? Knowt describes their process in this way:

First, we take your notes and analyze them using machine learning. On our server, the A.I. determines the best question formats for each sentence. Once it knows the best questions, the algorithm sends it to the web or mobile app for you to take a quiz. It only takes seconds. At the end, you get great quizzes that are custom made from your notes that you can take anywhere you go.

In this 25-question quiz that I created from complicated content, the questions made sense and worked. Here’s what my notes looked like in Knowt:

Fiction vs Non-Fiction

For fun, I decided to drop one of my favorite stories into Knowt. The story? Frank Stockton’s The Lady or the Tiger (online). One of my favorite teachers, Fr Richard O’Shaughnessy, introduced it to my classmates and I. Like everyone else, we agonized over the ending.

Knowt turned the story into another 25-question quiz. Some of the questions were not reasonable, but if you have to know it cold, Knowt works great.

Watch a Video

Need a quick way to get started? Check out esteemed educator, Richard Bryne, as he shares a demo of GetKnowt.

A teacher’s edition is under development and is due out in April 2020. That’s right around the corner. Sign up for the beta.

Making an AI-powered quiz of study materials has never been easier. Give Knowt a try. Want to share quizzes you create as a teacher? The Knowt Teacher’s Edition makes it possible. It also features a class section, student management, and more. Pilot programs for the teacher’s edition are also available.

Image Source

Feature image. Screenshot by author.

March 26, 2020 0 comment

How to Start Your Flipped Classroom

by Jill Hobbs, Guest Author January 23, 2020

written by Jill Hobbs, Guest Author

Are you sold on the flipped classroom model but don’t know where to start? I’d like to help you get there. I’m very passionate about this method and can’t wait for others to join me.

It’s been a year and a half since I started flipping, and seeing the transformation of my class and my students is exhilarating. Students are more engaged and interested and there is more active learning in class. I’d like to share my knowledge with you to hopefully help lessen the anxiety of trying something new.

Let’s get started with a few things I believe are important to a successful transition to a flipped classroom.

Consider Access First

First, incorporating technology is the most important aspect of flipping your classroom as this is how students will access materials outside of the school. In my district, we use the learning management system (LMS) Canvas to offer a blended learning approach.

An LMS is a great tool to deliver vast amounts of information through a web-based environment. It is easy for students and offers 24-hour access to information (i.e. calendars, learning content, multimedia, assignments, etc.) anywhere they choose as long as they have internet access. Learning your districts’ LMS is crucial.

You can also register for a free account if your district doesn’t have one. Check out the 11 Best Free, Open Source LMS Tools for Your Small Business to explore some options.

Use the Right Tools

Secondly, integrating various digital tools for your students to use is also a must. One of the biggest struggles with flipped classrooms is having students come to class ready. In my class, students need to watch a video for homework and answer at least five questions to check understanding. How do you encourage students to complete this before class?

It helps to ensure that there are engaging, fun, and interactive activities during class for students to participate in when they come to class prepared. Make sure the students know this up front and they will come to class with their work completed so they can participate in all the excitement.

Plus, for the first several weeks, you can send emails to parents informing them of their child’s progress with homework. I also encourage a weekly newsletter so parents and students are well-aware of the expectations for the week. Whether you flip or not, communicating with parents regularly is very beneficial.

Useful Digital Tools

Here are a few digital tools I find very helpful to use with my class:

Edpuzzle – Edpuzzle uses videos you make or find to engage students. You can embed questions throughout the video to track comprehension.
Flipgrid – Flipgrid is a social learning platform. Students are asked questions and respond with a video, allowing other students to comment on their post and opening the door for discussions.
Nearpod – Nearpod is an easy way to engage students with interactive lessons they can do individually (self-paced) or in groups. There are a lot of lessons to choose from, or you can create your own easily.
Kahoot! – Kahoot! is a game-based learning tool. There are a lot of games already created by other teachers and you can also create your own. Students are highly engaged as they answer questions, creating an exciting learning environment.
Quizizz – Quizizz is a fun and engaging way to provide student-paced formative assessments.
Padlet – Padlet is a powerful resource for student collaboration. It is a digital canvas where students can upload videos or images, write text, or upload documents.

There is a lot to learn when flipping the classroom, so don’t try to figure it all out in one night. Learn as you go and don’t be afraid to go slowly. Start out with only flipping one lesson a week and then move to two lessons a week.

The same goes for integrating various digital tools – one at a time, and before you know it, you’ll be flipping all your lessons.

Let Your Students Shine

The best part about flipping is when your students shine. This past year, I had a student who really excelled with the flipped learning method. He struggled in math for years, and the first semester in my class was no different. However, once he and his parents grasped the concept of the flipped learning method, his grades and understanding vastly improved.

The use of instructional videos, external videos, practice problems, quizzes, and interactive games to play assisted him to see if he “gets it.” His success was a combination of having all the resources easily and readily available to him, as well as his willingness to work hard.

In your flipped classroom, you could see these same results. So remember to start with one lesson at a time and go slowly. Don’t rush, as it takes time to learn all the resources, but you will get it. Once you do, you won’t want to go back.

Photo: stem.T4L

January 23, 2020 0 comment

Good Teaching Web 2.0 Tool

High Five: Free Web 2.0 Assessment Tools

by Guest Blogger April 6, 2017

written by Guest Blogger

This is a guest blog by Beth A. Burau, Instructional Technology Coordinator and German teacher at Bishop Lynch High School in Dallas, TX.

Perhaps the most frustrating sound for a teacher is that of complete and utter silence following the question, “Are there any questions?” While a student or two may take a teacher up on the offer for some clarification or insight, more often than not, the silence simply indicates to the teacher that the class understands the material. It’s not until homework is turned in later that the truth and the teacher’s assumption are revealed – there should have been questions.

To monitor whether or not students are learning and to help provide immediate feedback, we should make sure that “checks for understanding” or formative assessment tools are a consistent part of any lesson. Here are five simple Web 2.0 tools to help teachers quickly assess student understanding before the bell rings. They’ll be certain to prompt high fives at the end of class for a job well done.

Socrative – With this free app, students can use their own computers, tablets, and phones to respond to teacher-created questionsl which are either self-paced or teacher-paced to check for understanding. Socrative also has an easy-to-use Exit Ticket option, which is great for getting student responses to spontaneous questions during class or as a way to check for understanding after the lesson is done. The responses are graded, and the results are easy to use.

Plickers – If students don’t have access to devices, but the teacher has an iOS or Android device with a camera, this is the perfect free Web 2.0 tool to use. However, this tool requires some preparation in advance and is not suggested for last-minute assessment. The teacher needs the app installed on a mobile device to use during class, but can create the true/false and multiple choice questions on a desktop computer. Teachers create their questions online and print out Plickers Cards for each student to use. The teacher poses questions to monitor class learning. Then the students simply hold up their card to show their answer, and the teacher scans the room with a mobile device to record and view the results.

Quizizz – Have you used Kahoot! with your classes? If so, you may want to try Quizizz, a similar Web 2.0 tool for formative assessment. Students can use their own device or share devices to answer teacher-generated questions. As a teacher, you can use the app in class or assign quizzes for homework or review. Unlike Kahoot!, Quizizz is self-paced, so students don’t feel as much pressure under time constraints, which is great if you have anxious students or students who need more reading time for each question in class. Students are afforded more time to process the questions and respond instead of simply guessing quickly to earn points.

Microsoft Forms If you’ve heard of Google Forms, but have Office 365 Education at your school, you may wish to use these forms for formative assessment instead. As the instructor, you can require the students to log in using their Office 365 account to access the form, which allows you to not only verify the student’s identity, but also to view student results by name. The teacher can then quickly scan all the class responses to check for understanding or identify select students who may need some additional help or instruction.

QuizSocket – This free, online “fast quiz” beta tool doesn’t require an account, just an email address. Using mobile devices, students are given a quiz key to join in. A teacher can then ask real-time multiple choice questions verbally, write them on the board, or include them in a presentation slide. The pace of the poll or quiz is controlled by the teacher, who advances the multiple choice options “ABCD” one at a time for the students. Individual question responses can be viewed synchronously on the website during each question and can also be downloaded as a .csv file at the end of the quiz for further analysis by the teacher.

These are just a few great—and best of all, FREE—assessment tools, so you’re never left wondering if your students are truly understanding the material. Do you have any favorite assessment tools? We’d love to hear from you in the comments.

Beth A. Burau has taught levels PreK-College across various content areas since she began teaching in August 2000. She now serves as the Instructional Technology Coordinator and German teacher at Bishop Lynch High School in Dallas, TX. Beth holds a B.A. and M.Ed. from the University of Notre Dame and has published education articles and chapters both in print and online. She is a proud member of TCEA and a TCEA certified Campus Technology Specialist.

April 6, 2017 0 comment

Chromebooks

Best Practices for Learning in a Chromebook Classroom

by Miguel Guhlin October 6, 2016

written by Miguel Guhlin

As we all have discovered by now, Chromebooks can be an amazing tool for students of all ages. But to make sure that they help kids learn what they need to, take a look at these best practices.

Best Practice #1 – Establish procedures before issuing Chromebooks.

“Figure out which toys your friends can play with,” I remember my mom saying to me before a sleepover with classmates. “And put the ones you don’t want to see damaged, lost, or stolen away.” It’s advice that I took to heart and shared with my own children before they had friends over.

Setting ground rules can certainly help you avoid trouble and heartache down the line. The advice is definitely worth taking when it comes to inviting students and staff to use any kind of device, even durable Chromebooks, in your classroom, library, or school. TCEA member Erin Laughlin (@MrsErinLaughlin) recommends that you consider your responses to questions like the ones below:

How will students be issued Chromebooks?
How should students be advised to transport Chromebooks?
What happens when there is a substitute teacher in the room? Will students be permitted to take advantage of the Chromebook?
What should be done when a Chromebook suffers damage?

In response to the last question, one teacher in Fairfield ISD during their Eagle Leadership Academy,pointed out that damage had occurred to a school-owned Chromebook issued to a student. “What did you do?” I asked, wondering if the student was to be forced to reimburse the district or forced to replace the device. “We made sure it wasn’t malicious and then just worked to get it fixed or replaced. No action was taken since this was an accident.” Erin also suggests having rules like these in place:

No food or drinks should be in sight when Chromebooks are out.
Carry Chromebooks with two hands at all times.
Do not get a Chromebook if teacher is out of the room.
Nothing should be on the desk except the Chromebook unless told otherwise.
Students should only be on websites assigned or approved by the teacher.
Have students and parents sign a statement saying they will abide by the rules.
Have reasonable consequences for students who aren’t following the rules; taking away the Chromebook should be your last resort.

As you might imagine, some common-sense suggestions include assigning a student to be in charge of the Chromebooks, ensuring monitoring of issuance and receipt of devices by class members. Consider including a Google Form to let students report how a Chromebook was damaged. Be sure to label your class Chromebooks so they will be easy to locate in case they leave your classroom. Finally, Kim from Fairfield ISD suggests that the teacher and students get in the habit of plugging in Chromebooks correctly so they are charged for the next group.

Best Practice #2 – Teach Chromebook basics along with digital citizenship.

“You can’t issue students devices until they’ve had digital citizenship lessons required by E-Rate.” These lessons also ensure that you can discuss important issues about caring for other people’s equipment.

In my experience, students often take great care of equipment issued to them when there is a culture of care cultivated in the school as a whole. Keys aren’t ripped off keyboards in classrooms where the teacher makes every effort to care for his/her technology and assigns students the jobs of cable management, removing dust from devices, and cleaning keyboards/screens.

Every device brings its own challenges, and Chromebooks are no different. Providing an overview of Chromebook and Google Apps tips ensure that students feel confident in using new technologies, rather than frustrated.

Best Practice #3 – Promote collaboration.

“My two favorite tools for a 1:1 classroom,” I shared at the recent Tots and Technology Conferences that took place in Galveston and Frisco this past summer, “include Nearpod.com and Seesaw.com.” Each provides tools for sharing your screen with students and collecting their work.

Nearpod serves as a presentation and eyeball management tool for you, pushing your screen out to all student Chromebooks. Seesaw serves as a digital portfolio that collects students’ digital and physical work in one virtual space that is easily shared but manageable.

Let’s quickly explore some other top tips for promoting collaboration:

Quiz tools: Other ways to engage students include quizzing tools like Quizizz.com and Kahoot.com. Quizizz allows students to log in with their Google account and all completed assignments are reported and available in Google Classroom.
Easy video assessment: Use tools like EdPuzzle and/or FlipGrid to take already existing videos from YouTube, Khan Academy, etc. You can also put your own online, adding your voice and questions to create an interactive video lesson. You’ll be able to see how many times your students watch the video or attempt a question, as well as the responses given.
Share web links with Google Tones: Facilitate the sharing of complex uniform resource locators (URLs) using Google Tone.
Take screenshots or record video screencasts: Use tools like the Nimbus Screenshot/Screencast extension for Google Chrome to quickly capture your screen for a flipped lesson or explanation.
Use Google Classroom to create a virtual classroom presence for students, blending in Google Calendar and YouTube videos to facilitate online learning.
Use badges in your classroom: TCEA member Joe Camacho (@CamachoEdTech) recommends setting up and issuing badges to celebrate student learning and sharing. Students can learn Google Apps tools such as Sites, Classroom, Forms, Docs, Drawings, and Slides, as well as other tools in use like DocHub, Flubaroo, Edpuzzle, Kahoot, Quizizz, creating screencasts, and Padlet.

Another neat tip for promoting collaboration and sharing comes from Erin Laughlin again. She suggests creating a “shark tank” in your classroom, having older students create products that are evaluated by younger students serving as “the sharks.” Older students pitch their solution to a problem using Google Hangouts, bridging the distance between their classroom at one campus and another. Of course, this activity can also be done at even greater distances. If that is of interest, consider the Connecting for a Cause website, where students create a Google Sites web presence that represents their cause.

Interested in learning more ways students can collaborate in a Google Apps-powered classroom? Drop me a tweet @mguhlin and request an in-person workshop.

October 6, 2016 0 comment

Professional Learning

Five Tips to Increase Webinar Interactivity

by Miguel Guhlin May 6, 2016

written by Miguel Guhlin

“How can I make my webinars, which are usually 30 to 60 minutes long, more interactive?” I asked myself after being a talking head in my last webinar. Facilitating webinars at TCEA on a regular basis, I definitely want to know better approaches for engaging the audience, enabling them to move from being just listeners to active participants. With that imperative motivating me, I stopped for a moment and asked some colleagues, “How do you make your webinars more interactive?”

Join the ongoing TCEA Microsoft Innovative Educator (MIE) SkypeChat via your mobile device or online. Explore and share concepts at the intersection of teaching, learning, leading and technology!

From the wealth of advice these veteran webinar facilitators shared, here are five nuggets of wisdom I gleaned from their words:

“Are you a rookie, veteran, or webinar fanatic?” That’s how Peggy Reimers (@preimers) starts out her Lunch and Learn webinars (free for TCEA.org members, by the way). Kick your webinar off with a poll or survey to get folks going. You can use a variety of polling tools, whether it is Poll Everywhere, the one built into Adobe Connect, or a Twitter-based poll. The goal is to engage your audience, to help them feel a part of the online meeting so you can begin building a relationship. You crack the ice that naturally exists between strangers.
“A person’s name is the sweetest sound to them” is a paraphrase of Dale Carnegie’s famous quote, which he shared in his book How to Win Friends & Influence People. Make a point of always welcoming everyone to the conversation by name, even if you just learned their name from their login.
To facilitate collaboration, Jennifer Bergland (@jbergland) recommends creating a Padlet that participants can add their ideas to in writing, audio, or video. You can share the web link to the Padlet, send them off to work, and then bring them back at the appropriate time to share their thoughts. Some webinar facilitators, like TCEA member Susan Reeves (@susanfreeves) from the Education Service Center Region 20, even use Padlets for unconference session planning, a great distributive way to interact with collaborations. Play music (some like the Jeopardy television show tune) while they are “gone” and then end the music when they are supposed to return. You can also take advantage of tools like Quizizz and Kahoot! to connect people. Setting a time limit works, too, the equivalent of “calibrate your digital watches” to ensure people return to share what they’ve worked on.
Peggy Reimers also suggests that webinar facilitators “create a breakout room, something you can do in Adobe Connect, so participants can work together. Be sure to grant one person audio/microphone rights to facilitate communication.” At the end, pull them all back into the “common room” so they can share their insights and learning. In this way, you build community. Or have the group speaker create a Vocaroo and then share the link to the audio in the common room.
“With OneNote Class Notebook, you can easily have a shared virtual space for collaboration to modify an existing document, maybe use a rubric to assess a document or creation,” I thought after watching the Class Notebook intro video. You can also use Google Draw to create a collaborative whiteboard space where participants can fill in information and contribute ideas, taking advantage of digital ink to articulate their points in visual shorthand. Diana Benner (@diben) shares “I created a vocabulary matching activity. They [participants] have to move the vocabulary term and match it to the definition.” While we have seen this type of activity in other venues, I never would have thought to use it to engage webinar participants and to do it in Google Draw.

And, since five tips may not be enough, you might try what I did in my last webinar. Set up a webquest focusing on each aspect of your topic, then invite people to work through the process, collaborating and creating as they go. At the end of the webinar, they can share what they have created. Whether you are a rookie or veteran webinar facilitator, participants will appreciate your efforts to involve them in the learning. Why not make the effort to connect, collaborate, and create with them?

May 6, 2016 0 comment

an orange sign depicting test center entrance

iOS Tips and Tricks

Solving the Testing Problem with iPad Assessment Apps

by Miguel Guhlin April 7, 2016

written by Miguel Guhlin

“Miguel, I hear complaints from educators about standardized testing almost every day,” said Lori Gracey, TCEA Executive Director, recently, “and I fully understand how they feel. All of those tests take much-needed time away from learning, they’re so 19th century (Scantron sheets and pencils? Really?), they’re unfair in that they pigeonhole students, they’re hard on the kids and teachers alike, and so much more. ”

“Those are all valid complaints,” I responded.

“Yet,” Lori responded, “standardized testing isn’t going away. What we can hope and work toward, however, is that it will change.”

At an Apple briefing yesterday, an assessment expert shared what other states are doing to improve the quality and depth of assessment and incorporate technology into the process. She showed us how technology can enable the tests to go beyond guessing and multiple choice and into the realm of really helping to determine what a student does and doesn’t know. To see examples of some of these type of questions that can be answered using technology, scroll toward the bottom of this page of demos. You’ll find test questions where students must draw or highlight on an image, label a map with drag and drop, sort or order lists by moving items around, plot points and lines on a grid, and much more that cannot be done now with standard paper and pencil testing.

Join the ongoing TCEA Microsoft Innovative Educator (MIE) SkypeChat via your mobile device or online. Explore and share concepts at the intersection of teaching, learning, leading, and technology!

The Apple expert reminded us that there are three types of assessment: formative, interim, and summative. Then she shared some great iPad assessment apps that mimic some of the actions needed for the newer standardized tests being tried out in other states. Below are some of my favorite apps that fit these categories, along with alternatives.

Category #1 – Tests, Quizzes, and Polls

For this category, Socrative, Nearpod, and Learnosity (2016 EdTech Award Finalist) were suggested. If you are not familiar with Socrative, it enables you to quickly have students complete an assessment and then aggregates the results. Other similar tools include Kahoot! and Quizizz. Nearpod is another phenomenal tool that facilitates group sharing of information and resources. To get an idea about Nearpod’s use in classrooms, check out this TCEA 2016 presentation that is hosted in Nearpod. In Nearpod, the teacher is able to quickly embed a variety of content, including interactive elements, and share it socrativeteacher4 with students. Some additional assessment tools not mentioned include Plickers and Formative. Of course, you’ll want to keep this point in mind:

…if you’re a committed, caring educator, then you would never follow all of this bad advice about formative assessment. Instead, you would use it as a powerful tool to help modify your teaching strategies and activities and to better help your students learn the critical content they need to be successful. You would use a variety of resources, both technological and non-tech, to help your kids remain interested and excited about what they are studying. And you would instantly share the individual results with them so that they can see where they need to go with their own learning. Read more.

Category #2 – Make, Say, Write, Do

ideament In this group, several of my favorite apps were mentioned, including Explain Everything (which just came out with a collaborative whiteboard version of itself, Explain Everything Discover). Folks often mention Educreations Interactive Whiteboard as a nice alternative to Explain Everything, but the former is my all-time favorite because of its versatility in creating and exporting projects to a variety of cloud storage solutions.

For concept map creation, which is a very powerful way to assess student understanding, Grafio Lite 3 is one option. I typically lean towards the less expensive, free Ideament (with in-app purchases) (shown right), although some prefer $4.99 SimpleMind.

And, of course, image editing can be an awesome way to annotate content. Several apps exist that make that possible, including the oldie but still goodie Skitch, as well as my new pick, Annotate. You can also use the no-cost SnapSeed image editor that includes some nice filters.

What’s neat about these apps is that students can easily share with each other how to accomplish new things, fostering independence and discovery learning. And they all give the teacher critical information to help differentiate learning based on what students already understand. And, when the testing finally catches up to what educators have been doing in the classroom with technology, then your students will be ready to shine.

I encourage you to try out one or two of these apps that might be new to you. If you want to learn more about formative assessment, check out our blog Five Fabulous Formative Assessments for Your Classroom. And download the free iBook Tools for Formative Assessment that includes apps for all three categories of assessment.

Image Credit

Davis, Josh. 2008. Available online at https://www.flickr.com/photos/thedavisblog/2230010178/

April 7, 2016 0 comment

Web 2.0 Tool

Gamifying Learning with Quizizz

by Miguel Guhlin March 25, 2016

written by Miguel Guhlin

This blog was updated on May 21, 2016 to include new information.

Researchers from the Pew Research Center have found that gamifying learning stimulates interest and deep engagement with content. Two tools that facilitate this include Kahoot! and the relative newcomer, Quizizz.

Quizizz allows you to create multi-player quizzes that work on almost any device. What’s more, you can access others’ assessments that can be completed in class or assigned as homework. With your free account, you can export the results as well. Teachers create their account and publish the link to the Quizizz. Then students, working at their own pace, complete the quiz using any Internet-connected mobile device. The more quickly they respond, the more points they gain.

Quizizz has more customizable features than Kahoot!, including the ability to mix up the order of the questions and the answers for each student, the ability to show the correct answer after each question, and the ability to display a Quiz Review at the end that shows all questions. In addition, the teacher can turn off the timer and choose to show a Leaderboard (for greater gamification).

Screenshot 2016-03-07 at 7.26.13 PM.png

Quizizz enlivens the quiz with music and silly “correct” or “incorrect” images drawn from popular media. As the teacher, once the quiz is over, you can access data and analyze reports. The raw results can be exported, as shown in the screenshot below, to Excel format:

Screenshot 2016-03-07 at 7.29.27 PM.png

If a Quizizz is assigned as homework, the teacher can set a deadline for completion of up to 15 days from the start. Students can then complete the quiz at home. Some teachers are allowing their students to take the quiz over again repeatedly to raise their score (and learn the content even more!).

You can also integrate Quizizz with Google Classroom! Some of the features of Google Classroom integration include the following: 1) Quizizz reports will show the actual names of your students; 2) Student safety is enhanced since they are logging in with their Google accounts; and 3) Facilitate assignment tracking since completion reports are available in Google Classroom.

A new feature recently added to Quizizz is internationalization. If you click on the American flag in the upper right corner, you can change from English to Spanish. More languages will be coming soon.

Three ways to take Quizizz to the next level:

Use the tool to facilitate “College Bowl” competition that pits teams against each other.
Have students design quiz content for each other to highlight key content ideas and topics.
Take a team-based approach to quizzes that works like this: Have students take the test and discuss what they got right or wrong. Then have them take the quiz as a group. This facilitates higher-order thinking and focus teams on the subject material.

Ready to try Quizizz yourself? Watch this seven-minute video overview.

March 25, 2016 0 comment

Web 2.0 Tool

Take Kahoot! to the Next Level

by Lori Gracey July 31, 2015

written by Lori Gracey

By now, most of you have tried Kahoot!, the game-based student response system that is a wonderful tool for formative assessment. The teacher creates a free account and then can design quizzes with embedded images and video or use one of the millions of already-created quizzes. Students respond to the quiz using any device with Internet access. The faster they respond, the more points they score. In addition, teachers can create items in Surveys, which does not use points, or Discussions, which are single questions without points that can be used at the beginning of a unit to get ideas flowing.

Accessing the Data

Kahoot! is lots of fun and really engages students. But you may not know that, once the quiz is over, there is good data that you can access and analyze. After logging in to her account, the teacher can look at data from each quiz by clicking on the cloud download icon next to the name of each quiz. This will download an Excel spreadsheet that includes a minimum of three tabs: an overview of the total percentage of correct and incorrect answers, ratings from students on the activity, and a detailed breakdown of each student’s answers and the time they took for each question. This last tab is color coded to make it a quick read with correct responses in green and incorrect ones in red. All of this data is automatically generated and is an excellent resource to guide future instruction.

Taking Kahoot! to the Next Level

Here are some other great ideas for taking your Kahoot! to the next level.

If your students are using iOS or Android devices, you can have them add a quick link to the game on their home screens with these guides. There is also a free Android app and a free iPad app for Kahoot! that you may download.
Have a class-to-class battle. Use the link in the Results page to get one class to play against the results of a previous class.
Do you have students who want to take the quiz again? Now they can in Ghost Mode. Once a quiz is over, you will see a Play Again button that contains a ghost icon. When you click on the button, the same quiz is re-launched. Now, as the class plays again live, all students are joined by their “ghosts,” their previous answers. So students can easily see how they did before on each question and try to increase their score. This is a good way to increase retention.
Use the Send a Link feature to provide the link to each student after they’ve played it once in class. Then ask them to take the quiz again at home to try and beat their previous score.
If your class has a partner class in another location, the teacher can use the Send a Link tool to share a completed ghost game with them. This can give your students the chance to compete against others around the world.
For a major holiday, create a Kahoot! and share it with other classes who will all play the game at the same time. You could do an Earth Day game, one for Martin Luther King Day, or just one over a particular math skill.
Keep a Leaderboard of high scores in Kahoot! and watch your students try to reach the top.

New Features

Kahoot! Kahoot has upped its game by adding a Team Mode. Students get into teams with just one device between them. The teacher opens up a Kahoot! and now has the choice of selecting between Classic and Team Mode. Team captains (kids holding the devices) enter their team’s name and their players’ nicknames. Then they begin the game. This will be great for helping kids learn to work together or for those classrooms where devices are limited.

Another recent feature is Ghost Mode, which allows a student to play against himself. This is a good way for students to informally assess themselves to see if they are mastering the required content. They can play the same review game over and over, comparing their current score with their previous ones.

The latest Kahoot! update offers Jumble, a new game format. Like earlier games, Jumble has students take part in quizzes. But in the update, players are challenged to place the answers in the correct order by dragging and dropping rather than just selecting one correct answer.

On May 2, Kahoot! announced two Windows apps. Kahoot Create is the app for teachers to use to create and run Kahoot quiz games. Kahoot Play is the app for students to use to play a Kahoot game individually or in team mode. Both apps are now available in the Windows Store

Updates from ISTE

Kahoot! At the ISTE conference in San Antonio, Kahoot! unveiled a new mobile app for the game. What’s great about the app is that now both the questions and the answers will appear on the student screens. (Before, students had to look at the projected image in the classroom to see the question and then answer it on their own devices.) It also includes Challenges that can be issued by the teacher or by students to each. You can preview the new app (available in both Android and iOS) by signing up to be a beta tester here.

New: Kahoots Aligned to the Math Standards!

Kahoot! has now released some wonderful resources for math teachers. These quizzes are aligned to the national standards and are top quality. Additional games for science and ELA will also be coming soon.

Additional new features will be added. To make sure you have access to them, go into any of your Kahoots as if you were going to start the game. You’ll see a new option called Kahoot! Experiments. Turn this on and a list of add-ons will appear. Right now, the only one is Answer Streak Bonus, which is designed to reward player accuracy with bonus points for correctly answering multiple questions in a row. Get an answer wrong, and the streak is broken.

This post was updated on September 2, 2017 to include new features.

July 31, 2015 1 comment