How to Utilize FREE Electronic Testing in the Classroom?

Perhaps you have clicked this post and didn’t know that free testing options may be available to you! If so, please check out our article on free electronic testing options for your classroom here. If you already have a free testing option such as Office 365 Forms or Google Forms, here are 5 advantages and 5 ideas on how to utilize electronic testing in your classroom.

First, let’s look at 5 advantages of having electronic testing in your classroom.

1. Saves Grading Time

I feel like this is obvious, but still needs to be stated. Electronic grading saves A LOT of time! This is clearly an advantage to teachers. We are always pressed for time in our classrooms and personal lives as we strive to be the best teacher that we can be. The time saved by using electronic testing can be invested into so many other areas of our lives and our students’ lives. Is it more important that I grade a multiple choice question or work with a student that has missed a multiple choice question?

We need to take the time we save by using electronic grading and put it back into the development of our students, our classrooms, and ourselves. The time saved is clearly an advantage that we all could use in our classrooms. All it takes is a little bit of time learning how to use these new and many times free electronic grading options to save more time.

2. Instant Feedback for Students

All teachers at one point were students, and all of us have probably been in the situation where there was an assignment or test turned in and it took forever to get back. I have personally been in situations where I was about to take the next test in the class, and the first one had not been returned yet graded. As a teacher, I know things happen and people are busy. I do that think we should ask the question if it is to our students’ advantage to have extended periods of time between the test and the results? Our best effort should be made to return student feedback in a quick and timely way. I remember sometimes I wouldn’t even remember what was on the assignment or test before it was returned.

I really do think it is to students’ advantage to receive that instant or at least faster feedback, while the material is fresh in their mind. I have found that students seem to be more interested in their mistakes when feedback is more instantaneous. It is not that electronic testing is perfect or the magic bullet, but it can help students and teachers in relation to the topic of feedback. There will still be free response, or long response, that you will need to grade by hand. However, this certainly helps in getting graded feedback to the students faster.

3. Reduced Fear of Online Testing

I am not 100% sure how all states handle testing at the end of the year, but where I am at least the tests are now almost all online now. As a teacher, I want my students to know what they should expect and to be as prepared as I can get them for the test. So, I find it to be somewhat of a necessity to build my students skills and comfort in relation to electronic testing. If I have my students hand write all of their assessments throughout the year, then they are not going to be as prepared for the test at the end of the year when they have to type some of their responses. I’m not saying that we totally eliminate handwriting, but what I am saying is that I don’t feel guilty using electronic testing in my classroom. I certainly don’t want to abuse electronic testing, but I don’t want to abandon it when it has multiple advantages for teachers and students.

4. Quick Data Analysis

Another awesome advantage of electronic testing is that most of the forms will automatically start grouping important information automatically. For example, as the responses are collected, it will total the number of correct and incorrect answers for each question. So, not only does it grade the questions for you, but also totals the numbers of right and wrong for you! This is so exciting because time is saved grading and the electronic testing gives you some really meaningful data that the teacher can use.

The teacher can start analyzing the data in relation to whether their instruction was effective. The data can also start showing almost instantaneously where student strengths and weaknesses are. The overall data collection lends itself to seeing where the overall class strengths and weaknesses are. The data analysis is so quick and gives the teacher time to reflect on what worked and what didn’t.

5. Easier Future Planning

This advantage is closely tied to the advantage of quick data analysis. Since electronic testing gathers information so quickly and organizes it so well teachers can analyze data faster. When teachers analyze data, they almost naturally start to rationalize it and start planning. Teachers see the weak and strong areas and they can plan future instruction where students really need it. Teachers see where they need more review and what curriculum they need to move on from. Sometimes we have so much curriculum it can be overwhelming, so it is hard to know when to move on. Read our tips on how to handle curriculum problems here. Planning is easier because the teacher has a clearer picture of where students are and where they need to go.

Now let’s look at 5 ways to utilize electronic testing in the classroom.

1. General Assessments

The first and most logical way to utilize electronic testing in your classroom is for your assessments. It might take a little more time to create your own assessments using the Office 365 Forms features or the Google Forms features, but it is worth it. First, the assessment will grade itself, so you will get back the time that it takes to make it from that feature alone. Secondly, the assessments you create will give you a quick item analysis of student’s correct and incorrect responses. This would normally take the teacher extra time on top of grading. Thirdly, using electronic testing prepares students for some of the electronic formatting of the end of the year tests. The Google Forms and Office 365 Forms are real electronic testing options that can be used to benefit your classroom.

2. Self-Check Station

These electronic testing options are a great way to make your stations in your classroom more accountable. You can have students complete a form during or after the station. Once the student has completed the form, the data will be saved and can be used for grading purposes or just formative assessment. When you have time, you can login to your Office 365 or Google account and quickly check your students’ responses that have been automatically graded. The teacher could even have a laptop or iPad with them at a small group station and check the students’ results as they rotate. Electronic testing has the power to make your stations more accountable and gives the teacher fantastic data to plan future instruction and stations.

3. General Independent Work

Perhaps you haven’t considered it, but any worksheet you create can now be created electronically. Do you have some practice problems you want your students to do? Create a form and when it is completed the form will grade the student’s work and save it. Maybe your students are doing an online scavenger hunt on a website and you want them to collect information and answer some questions. You can make a form for that. I have even heard of some teachers that have started creating homework this way. I do think you have to be careful with this depending on your students’ access to the Internet, and other factors. Electronic testing with forms can be used for many of the independent work assignments in the classroom.

4. Ticket Out the Door

Your probably familiar with the Ticket Out the Door strategy, but if not here is a short explanation. The Ticket Out the Door strategy can be utilized different ways, but I view it as a quick question or few questions that check your students understanding at the end of the lesson. This strategy in the past has been utilized with post it notes, notecards, or a half sheet of paper. The teacher would ask a question at the end of the lesson to check and see if the students understood the main point of the lesson. After asking the question, the teacher would collect and filter through the responses to inform the teacher of how successful the instruction was that day. This strategy helps to guide their future steps.

With Forms this same process can be done, but it can be quicker and more efficient. This can be done with QR codes or posted links. Once the forms are completed the teacher can quickly see what is going on with the students.

5. Be Creative

This is of course not a comprehensive list of all the ways that forms and electronic testing can be utilized in your classroom. However, it is a good list of general areas where you can start to use electronic testing in your classroom. Be creative and venture into some of these areas, and try something new. My wife used forms to administer leveled spelling tests. She recorded herself reading the spelling tests over the summer and students would not move to the next spelling test until they got at least an 80%. The free electronic testing options opened up this possibility to her classroom. Be creative with electronic testing and your ideas. You are only limited by the technology and your imagination.

I hope this was helpful to you so you are able to utilize electronic testing in your classroom!

Thank you for Continually Learning with us!

Kyle and Sarah

Continually Learning