Western Regional Noyce Conference - Continuous Formative Assessment

Conference Schedule  |  Handout

Apps for formative assessment

• • EdPuzzle - Add accountability to videos. Sample

  • Kahoot - quiz

  • NearPod - interactive presentation and assessment tool 

• Padlet  - example (collaborative bulletin boards)

  • Quizlet- live - collaborative quizzes (in Beta… search on Internet for access)

• Plickers - scan audience cards - multiple choice

  • Poll Everywhere - text message polling

  • Socrative -student response system that empowers teachers to collect dat

Continuous Formative Assessment (CFA) in the STEM Classroom Using Cloud-Based Collaborative Resources

Western Regional Noyce Conference, February, 2017, Fresno, California

Assessment in the STEM classroom has traditionally been a summative process taking place following a number of class lectures. This type of assessment uncovers deficiencies in student learning weeks after the student’s understanding is initially breached. This makes it difficult for the student to catch up. More frequent assessment of student learning has its advantages in providing the student with timely feedback on progress and in informing the teacher what adjustments to the teaching should be made. Such frequent assessments are termed formative and have been practiced in a great variety of ways.

Continuous Formative Assessment (CFA) employs cloud-based collaborative document technology to instantly collect responses from multiple students, groups, and class sections. In this workshop, participants will learn how to collect response data from large sets of students across groups or classes and analyze them quickly and accurately. Participants will gain experience using CFA strategies to enhance student engagement and monitor student understanding during synchronous online or in- person instruction. As instructors analyze student responses, instruction adjustments can be made to meet immediate student needs. This workshop introduces specific instructional strategies that may be employed to increase the accountability and involvement of students in face-to-face, blended and online settings. Preliminary data suggests that the CFA methodology promotes engagement, accountability, and understanding through formative assessment for both students and instructors.

Chapters

Herr, N.; Tippens, M.; Rivas, M.; Vandergon, V., d'Alessio, M., & Reveles, J. (2016). Continuous Formative Assessment (CFA) - A cloud-based pedagogy for evaluating student understanding to optimize STEM teaching and learning. In Chao, L.,  Cloud-Based STEM Education for Improved Learning Outcomes to be published by IGI Global, Hershey, PA: IGI-Global Publishing. 

Vandergon, V., Herr, N.; Tippens, M.; Rivas, M.; d'Alessio, M., & Reveles, J. (2015). Collaborative data analysis. In Chao, L., Cloud-Based STEM Education for Improved Learning Outcomes to be published by IGI Global, Hershey, PA: IGI-Global Publishing. 

Herr, N., Rivas, M., Chang, T., Tippens, M., Vandergon, V., d'Alessio, M., & Nguyen-Graff, D. (2015) . Continuous formative assessment (CFA) during blended and online instruction using cloud-based collaborative documents. In Koç, S., Wachira, P., & Liu, X. (Eds.), Assessment in Online and Blended Learning Environments. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.