Plickers

I am attending a technology conference in Honolulu right now.  During one of the presentations on free tools and technologies to use in the classroom, Plickers came up.  I've seen it before but I keep forgetting about it.

Plickers is a way to incorporate formative assessment into the class in a very interactive way.

The teacher downloads the accompanying app because the app is what the teacher uses to read the responses.  They also download the cards for free from the company or they can buy a laminated set from Amazon.  The card has a number on it and the letters A, B, C, and D for multiple choice, true/false or survey questions.

Once the teacher has both of these set up, they can set up one or more questions to check student understanding.  The teacher shows the question, students hold up the card with the appropriate letter up and they then scan the cards in the room with the app.  The app records all answers and sorting them into correct and incorrect so the teacher knows who got it right.

In addition, the program is set to produce reports giving the teacher information breaking down who got the question right or wrong and this information then appears in a spreadsheet with color coding so you can see how each student does over time.  The color coding lets the teacher see at a glance how well they did in terms of percent of questions answered correctly.

I can see using this particular program in math either to check new vocabulary by giving choices of definitions or even what its not.  It could be used to check their understanding on the process in the form of showing part of a problem and asking "What is the next step?" either by having the actual line or having the answer in verbal form.

It is possible to use true or false questions as the second step of the problem is correct, true or false.  Another way of using true or false is if the last line is the proper next step.  So many possibilities.

There is a wonderful checklist that appears when you first check in to lead you through the process of setting everything out.  Have a great day and let me know what you think.  I'd love to hear.