Technology Solutions for

Formative Assessment

By

Jessica Pollock
EDU 525 Project
Fall 2015
Dr. Taylor

PROJECT INTRODUCTION AND RATIONALE

The toolkit I have prepared is a professional development course on use technology to
facilitate formative assessment in the classroom. Assessment tools should be embedded
into the course to allow smooth implementation and opportunities for students to selfmonitor their academic progress.
Over the past year, my school district has focused professional development initiatives on
assessment. The faculty has incorporated formative assessment practices into every
lesson and redesigned summative assessments to be more effective. Our current trainings
mention web 2.0 tools that can be useful but there is no software training offered for any
of these tools. Some teachers are overwhelmed and there is much discussion and
collaboration about best practices and strategies. With this course, I would like to offer
technological solutions that will help teachers and engage students.
Educators can no longer stick to the teaching strategies they have used for
years. Teachers are expected to constantly improve their content and instruction to be
more relevant to our digital native students. Assessment, as we know, is a cornerstone
of good instruction. Teachers need to assess students mastery of skills and concepts
after instruction to ensure students are ready to move to the next skill. In addition, they
must also assess student readiness for those skills and concepts before instruction takes
place. There are numerous technology tools that exists to aide teachers with their
assessments. Common Core model is driving many changes in education; including an
emphasis on technology and 21st century skill development. Teachers must be fluent in
these skills if they hope to hone these skills with their students. A technology competent
teacher will be able to structure effective lessons that facilitate instruction and assess
student outcomes.

PROJECT GOALS
The educational goal is for this project is to encourage educators to take what they
already do well (assess students) and integrate 21st century knowledge and skills.
Teachers will transform lessons they currently teach into technology enriched
lessons. The original lesson plans should include some form of formative assessment
that can integrate a tech tool.
It is important for professional development initiatives to be tied together to show
teachers the big picture. The instructor will demonstrate the connections between
effective assessment and effective technology use will inspire teachers to be innovative
and branch out from their educational comfort zone.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES

Teachers will be able to design an interactive presentation with Nearpod using

formative assessment questions for understanding.
Teacher will be able to create quizzes, quick questions and exit tickets for
formative assessment during classroom activities using Socrative, Poll
Everywhere, Plickers, Kahoot, and Zaption.
Teacher will be able to modify existing formative assessment lesson plans to
integrate the web 2.0 tools.

PROJECT TOPIC OUTLINE

Main Topics
o What is formative assessment?
o What are examples of types of formative assessment (quick quizzes,
exit tickets, etc.)?
o How can technology enhance formative assessment?
Sub Topics
o Nearpod, Socrative, Zaption

Poll Everywhere, Plickers, Kahoot, Padlet

o Lesson plan integration

RESOURCES
To complete this project I need to create accounts on the different software examples
taught in the class. I will also need copies of the Norwin School District formative
assessment lesson plan developed last year. I will reference the notes and readings we
studied during last years professional development. In addition, I will prepare a
presentation about formative assessment and a handout with account information for all
of the software used.
Students will need to have a laptop with access to the internet to use the software. Every
employee can use their Norwin Google email to create the accounts on the different
websites if necessary. Teachers will also need to have access to formative assessment
lesson plans they currently teach.

REFERENCES
Vicki Davis Blog entry- Click the link to read the article.