Technology and Classroom Data

• What makes EdTech integration innovative is meaningful work that enhances student learning in ways that are impossible without technology.

• Traditionally, student data available to teachers offers information about what a student has already done. Real-time, formative data would be far more useful as it would allow teachers to tweak their lessons on the fly as needed based on student need.

• Intelligent adaptive learning technology has shown early promise in student achievement. Companies such as Fishtree, DreamBox, and Smart Sparrow are developing software to meet teachers’ real-time data needs.

Tech-based formative assessment

• EdTech can be a useful tool for collecting formative data about students and their progress.

• Some technologies allow you to embed questions/surveys directly into your lessons to check for understanding. 

• Giving students the opportunity to choose the technology for their assignment can offer further insight into their thought processes. For example, students can create screencasts to narrate what they are thinking as they go through their steps.

• Virtual exit tickets can help make the end-of-lesson formative assessment more efficient and meaningful for students as the tickets can be posted to a variety of external media (instagram, digital portfolio, etc.)

75 digital tools and apps teachers can use to support formative assessment in the classroom.

• When considering EdTech for the purpose of formative assessment, it is important to first determine what purpose it will serve as there are dozens of cheap or free programs available online.

• Different types of software can give valuable data for whatever you need to focus on.

• For example, Kahoot! is great for creating competitive, real-time quizzes whereas Miro gives students tools to create online collaborative mind maps.