Mastery Connect - share and discover common formative assessments

Mastery Connect is an app and service that allows teachers to upload, share, discover and collaborate on common formative assessments and track student mastery of Common Core standards. It has built-in grading tools, as well as data analysis and reporting tools. There is also a user community to share, get help and tips, and more.

Students, parents, and administrators can receive reports of student performance and mastery. Assessments can be used online through any web browser, on iOS, or you can print out bubble sheets that can be scanned and graded. You can also export the data to grade books and student information systems.

The free version has some good features, but does not have the assessment tools. The premium version is $5 per student/yr or $159/yr individual teacher. The Bubblescore only account is $4 per student, per year.



They also have an iOS and Android app (free) that allows you to access the Common Core Standards from your mobile device.


Check it out: http://www.masteryconnect.com/

Assessing Student Learning - do it like assessing someone in their job

These days it seems lots of "Education Reformers" and politicians what to assess students (and teachers) through more and more standardized tests. But that's not how we assess someone at their job. People are assessed in their jobs in their performance on the tasks for their job. We should do the same for students. We need to assess their ability to complete tasks and apply what they have learned to more than some multiple choice, standardized, made by some big corporation test.

I wrote about this as applied to teacher evaluations too.

How do we do that? Through authentic assignments and projects for the class they are in. Projects can be done in any class, for any subject, at any grade level. Have the students do activities and projects that are just like what they would do if they were in a job or profession that uses the concepts they are learning. Mathematician, engineer, scientist, historian, journalist, cook, translator, accountant, etc. Do the tasks that these professions do. That's how we assess EMS students - we assess them actually performing the tasks that they will do as an EMT or Paramedic.

Have the students create something, investigate something, apply subject matter to something. Instead of just writing a book report, analyze the book they read and apply the topics/themes/message to something else. Have students create a study guide for other students. Create a presentation, video, web site, of a concept or topic. In STEM classes, do hands-on research projects that then create something, apply concepts, or solve a problem. Have students write a persuasive letter to a politician. Create a public information pamphlet. Apply science concepts to an invention or to solve a local problem.

Not only will the students apply what they have learned, they will also gain a better understanding of the topics, and will learn other important skills, such as teamwork and problem solving.

There are so many ways that students can be assessed without written tests. The professional educators in the classroom with the students can use these projects to assess the students and determine if they have learned the material and understand it. The educator can then modify the teaching and learning based on the results. Corporate standardized testing doesn't help the teacher help the student with their misconceptions.


What are your thoughts on this?



Related:

Project Based Learning Resources

Teacher Evaluations - ideas and lessons from other professions

EMS Education practices - some good ideas for K12

10 Tech Skills Every Student Should Have

10 Important Skills Students Need for the Future

"How do you know how to do that? I figure it out." How I learn.

BlueHarvest - assessment, feedback, portfolio tool

BlueHarvest is a new resource that allows teachers to assess students and provide feedback to them. You can record formative assessments, make written, video and audio comments, upload files and artifacts for portfolios,  text and email feedback, and collect and analyze data on student proficiency.

It also provides a dialogue between teachers, students and parents, allowing them to communicate and discuss assessments and understanding, as well as allowing students to get more detailed feedback and assistance than just a number grade.

It's not free, but very reasonable. $36/year per teacher for nearly unlimited students. That's not bad considering the features. The site has some nice videos that explain the features and how it works in detail.

Take a look and see if it could help you and your students. https://main.blueharvestfeedback.com/

PS - a web search for BlueHarvest brings you mostly Star Wars and Family Guy returns. Blue Harvest was a fake working title used to hide the 1982 production of Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, the third installment of the Star Wars film series and "Blue Harvest" is the hour-long premiere of the sixth season of the FOX series Family Guy, the last episode produced for Season 5, and the first part of the series' trilogy Laugh It Up, Fuzzball. (Wikipedia)

Three Ring - free app to create educational portfolios of student work

Three Ring is a free app for Android or iOS that allows teachers to quickly digitize and organize student work into portfolios. You use the app to create the digital portfolio (take a picture) and then the photos are uploaded to the Three Ring site where you can organize the student work, create digital portfolios, share work and examples, and even use it for formative assessment. You can even tag the photos before you upload for easier organization.

This is a great resource for teachers to use to collect and organize student work.

Google Play Android Market: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.threering.threering
Apple App Store: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/three-ring/id504311049

Source: http://www.freetech4teachers.com/

Related:

Android for Education resources and apps

Android Smartphone and Apps I use as an educator

Evernote for Education - organize notes, lessons, materials, and more

Using Evernote for ePortfolios - great idea

OrangeBook - easily create online portfolios of student work

Interactivate - free activities and lesson resources for Math and Science

 

Interactivate is a collection of free math and science resources, including assessments, lessons, discussions, and activities.

Resources are aligned to NCTM standards and grade levels 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12. The activities are interactive and there is also a dictionary of science and math terms for students. The activities are well designed and fun and educational.

This is a great resource for educators to use as part of their lessons in class, for students to use as review or self study or to include as part of an online course.

ClassPager - send students quizzes and reminders

ClassPager is a free service that lest teachers use SMS messages to send students quizzes and reminders and receive answers and feedback from the students. It works like a clicker system, but even better.

It is easy to set up and use and there is a special code that is used so no one actually has anyone's phone numbers.

It can be used to check student understanding during a lesson, as an electronic quiz, or to even communicate with students about upcoming assignments and more.

It is free, and can even be used by non-smartphones. Standard text messaging rates apply for the students, so if that is expensive, it can be used through free texting apps (see site for more details).