Audio and Visual Assessment Tools

      I am always on the lookout for useful, easy to use apps and software that I can easily incorporate into my classroom practice.  I have used many Web 2.0 tools over the last few months to make learning more engaging and more enjoyable for my students.  The kids love to use technology, and to utilize technology in such a way, that they can be creative in ways that move beyond simple pencil and paper activities.  One major area that I am continuing to develop within my teaching practice is assessment, using online applications that will assist in evaluating student understanding and performance.  In terms of audio and video assessment strategies, I believe I have found two, very easy to use applications, that can incorporate online audio and video into a formalized diagnostic assessment.

     There are many programs and applications online that utilize audio for sharing purposes.  One such application that I recently discovered is the Vocaroo online voice recorder.  I have used many online voice recorders in the past, but I have to say that Vocaroo is by far the most simplest and easy to use recorder, especially for elementary student use.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBUsOrAXcLw


      There is no need to make an account, provide a user ID and password, or register for anything.  It is simply a click to record, play, listen and save application.  The recordings are very clear, and it is easy to save and share as an MP3, QR code, as an email, or share through social media.

      A specific expectation for the grade five social studies curriculum strand, looks at the ways that citizens of Ontario, and Canada, can take action to address social and environmental issues. Specifically, students will:

B3.7  -describe some different ways in which citizens can take action to address social and
environmental issues (e.g., by determining the position of their local candidates on various issues
and supporting/voting for the one whose position they agree with;...) http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/sshg18curr2013.pdf

A great task for the students to partake in, would be to create radio spots as candidates in a municipal, provincial, or federal election, and to discuss how they would resolve a conflict within society today. Students would use the Vocaroo software to record their radio spots (working individually or in partners) outlining their plan to deal with this societal issue.  After recording and listening to each radio spot, students could then have a mini election, where they vote for who had the strongest arguments and made the best plan within their radio spots.  The votes and follow up discussion would be valuable data for assessment and evaluation.

     Aside from audio and voice recording tools, I have also used many web video tools for the curation and creation of lessons and projects to display student understanding and learning.  One tool that I have talked about in past blog entries is that of Jing, the screencasting software that allows users to take a picture or video of the user's computer screen, and uploads it to the web, automatically creating a URL for sharing purposes.  I have been looking for ways to use this application within my practice, and I stumbled across a great article and video from "Ideaconnect", the professional blog of Graham Whisen, physics teacher and part-time teacher librarian.  He shares a great strategy for using Jing to assess students online work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ow0pguD3Ic


      Graham uses the Jing software, to give assessment and feedback for an assignment that a student has submitted online.  He can use the application to go through all parts of the assignment, recording video of him giving feedback for each section of the assignment.  This is a great application to use for assessment purposes.

      I recently have started my grade four and five students with online blogging.  I encourage students to not only use it to share writing assignments, but to post their thoughts and ideas on anything that is of interest to them.  The Jing application will be a handy tool for me to review the writing with them on their blogs, give feedback, evaluation, and next steps for future blog posts.  Furthermore, the access that parents can have to both the student blog, as well as my feedback videos, will help to keep parents updated on the progress of their child, and what they can do at home to reinforce what is being done at school likewise.

      I look forward to using both of these assessment strategies within my classroom!

You can check out some great links below, that I have updated on my online bookmarking page:
https://delicious.com/timstevens111