Formative assessments play a vital role in understanding student progress and adapting teaching strategies for better learning outcomes. With the advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI), educators now have access to a wide array of tools that can transform the way they create and use formative assessments in the classroom. Let’s explore some AI-powered tools that help teachers develop effective formative assessments:
What Is Formative Assessment?
Formative assessment is an ongoing way for teachers to check student understanding of what’s being taught. It gives the teacher information about how students are doing while they are still learning new material. Formative assessments can help identify concepts students are struggling with so teachers can adjust instruction, review, and reteach if needed. Examples of formative assessment include questioning during class discussions, quick writing or drawing assignments to show what they learned, practice quizzes, exit tickets, and more.
Six Tools for Creating Formative Assessments
1. ChatGPT
You can always ask ChatGPT or your favorite AI chatbot to create a formative assessment. An example prompt you could use is, “Generate a list of [number] formative assessment ideas related to [insert topic] for my [grade level and subject] students.” Just replace each bracket with the information for each prompt. You can also ask ChatGPT to align your formative assessments with specific learning objectives. In addition, differentiate your formative assessments by asking ChatGPT to give you five assessment ideas using a variety of modalities like exit tickets, quizzes, graphic organizers, etc.
2. Conker
Conker lets you create fast quizzes and formative assessments that can be differentiated by question type, grade level, and more. It will also allow you to copy/paste reading material to generate quizzes. All you have to do is open Conker and provide details about the quiz you want to create. Conker will then create a short formative assessment you can assign to students with a code or export it to Google Forms. You can even create a printable question sheet and answer sheet. There is a limited free plan, and teacher registration is required.
3. Magic School AI
Magic School AI offers several tools and features that can be valuable for creating and implementing formative assessments in your classroom. This tool allows you to quickly build multiple-choice quizzes tailored to specific topics or standards. You can customize difficulty levels, question types, and answer keys to assess students’ base knowledge and readiness for new learning. In addition, you can generate quick reflection prompts or questions to collect student understanding at the end of a lesson. Then, you can quickly analyze the responses to identify areas for further clarification or address common misconceptions before moving on. There are both free and paid versions of the program. Learn even more about Magic School AI here.
4. QuestionWell
QuestionWell generates questions so teachers can focus on what matters. Start by identifying the topic, content, and grade level. If you have text you want your formative assessment based on, you can provide it, but it isn’t necessary. Then, the AI will write questions. In the free version of QuestionWell, you can create a multiple-choice quiz with 20 questions. Once the questions are generated, select which ones you want to include in the quiz. Then, you can export the questions to tools like Google Forms, Kahoot, Canvas, Microsoft Word, and more.
5. Quiz Wizard
Quiz Wizard is an AI-powered tool that generates multiple-choice questions and flashcards that can be used for formative assessments within seconds. The process is straightforward and involves you entering the topic of your choice into the tool, and Quiz Wizard takes care of the rest by generating unique questions and answers. The content can be exported to other platforms, like Microsoft Word.
6. Quizizz AI
Quizizz AI is an artificial intelligence-powered tool that can generate multiple-choice questions with four answer options. The tool can also automatically determine the appropriate number of questions to generate for a formative assessment from the content provided. You can create a quiz by uploading a document, entering text, or pasting a link to a webpage. Quizizz AI offers free and paid premium versions.
These AI-powered tools offer not only instant feedback but also insights into individual student needs, allowing you to tailor your instruction effectively. By leveraging these AI tools, you can create a dynamic and adaptive learning environment, fostering student engagement and growth.