Nancy Robinson
EDGR 625 - Self Directed Learning - Plickers
  
I teach K-6 health education classes.  I teach in two schools.  One school has limited access to technology for students (laptop and IPAD carts that you can sign out when available but are shared among staff on a first come first serve basis), and the other school has one-one access to technology (Chrome Book) for each student.  One school I travel classroom to classroom to teach and the other I have a teaching space that is shared by many other programs (ie. after school program, special education, and other teachers who need a space and do not have one).  My Action Research is going to be around how student feedback impacts student learning, so I wanted to explore technology that could be used in both these settings to help me get feedback from my students around their learning experiences within the classroom and collect some formative assessments as well to help guide my instruction.  Lisa Forbes, introduced the idea of Plickers in our class one day, and I have been thinking about the possible uses for this tool within my classrooms for this purpose.  I choose to look into Plickers for my self-directed learning.

 

I used the following steps for finding information:

• I went to their website (Plickers) and looked to see what was available on the website.
• I tried Twitter, which gave me information on how teachers were using it in their classrooms.
• I google searched "Plicker Webinars" which took me to some recorded webinars on Youtube and found one that was very helpful in taking me through the whole steps of using Plickers in the classroom.  This was the most valuable resource for me in my learning.

New Learning:

• Plickers provide real time formative assessment data with limited technology.
• All you need is one paper Plicker card for each student, a computer and the ability to project the questions for the students, and one mobile device.
• The one card allows students to answer several types of questions (poll, multiple choice, true and false, and yes and no).  They answer by holding their card so the correct answer is on top.
• Answers can be hidden, viewed only to show who has and has not answered or to show the answers students gave (you choose).
• Plickers are used at the K-college age level.
• Plickers are used for formative assessment, exit tickets, warm up, lesson refreshers.
• The App and paper cards are free.  The App is available on iOS or Android, but the phone App can be used on IPAD.
• Currently you organize your questions by class, but soon you can organize by folders.
• You manage your Plickers accounts (class lists, question banks, etc.) from the Plickers website in the "library section".
• You can set up a "task card system" in place of the questions if you like and their is training on how to do this in the webinar notes I am including a link to at the bottom of my entry.  

How I hope to use Plickers in my classroom for:

• Student self-assessments around class participation.
• Student feedback on learning activities used in the classroom.
• In direct instruction (example instead of voting with hands or thumbs up, use Plickers)
• Exit tickets.
• Trivia games.
• Small group activities - The group enters their answer after research and discussion. 
• I hope to look into creating "task cards" so that I can have grade K, 1-2, 3-4, 5-6 cards. 
  

 I look forward to using these in my class.  I think it will be especially helpful in my grade K-4 classes where access to technology is limited.  I can use technology to obtain student feedback in a way that accommodates both technology limitations and the fact that I travel from classroom to classroom and do not have one space to work in.

Plickers Learning and Resources  This has link has the webinars and some additional resources and learning information.  My next step after I use Plickers in the classroom is to Look at how to use Plickers beyond assessment - which is Plickers 102 webinar on this link.

ISTE Teacher Standards:
2.  Design and develop digital age learning experiences and assessments.

     Teachers design, develop, and evaluate authentic learning experiences and assessments

      incorporating contemporary tools and resources to maximize content learning in context and 

      to develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes identified in the Standard. 

          d.  Provide students with multiple and varied formative and summative assessments aligned

               with content and technology standards, and use resulting data to inform learning and

               teaching.

 

 

 

 

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