Ms Cantrell's Learning Garden: Student Response Systems

Student Response Systems are apps, programs, or websites that allow allow teachers to obtain real-time feedback while lessons are being taught. They are a great formative assessment! If you are like me, you are wondering: How does it work? If you are using an app like Nearpod, your students are connected to your computer, and you can create whole lessons, polls, questions, and assessments through the app. It looks like a power point, but it is so much more!
Students respond to questions or polls posed through the app, and their answers come up anonymously on the screen, which opens up room for discussion. As the teacher, you can see each answer before it goes up on the screen, which allows you to monitor for inappropriate answers. Using apps like these for student response systems help keep students engaged and also on pace with the entire class. With student response systems, you can also monitor things like attendance. You can also assess prior knowledge. When questions are posed, the app only tells the teacher who missed the question, not the students. This is wonderful, because it doesn't embarrass the students who got the question wrong. These students can actually learn from their mistakes and not be focused on the shame that might come with getting the answer wrong.
Teachers can collect data, analyze it, and implement strategies based on the results. Using student response systems helps students become self regulated learners! It also eliminates manual grading, which allows faster time between assessment and feedback to students, and more time to re-teach topics if needed. There are game features on this app, but they are all educational. Teachers receive grade reports even when the students are playing games! There are so many benefits of using student response systems, as discussed above, but the main ones are: Student response systems increase meaningful communication between students, and between students and teachers. It allows for discussions based on data collected from assessments. It provides anonymity for students who are introverted or embarrassed. Lastly, teachers can adapt their teaching methods immediately. Based on how students are scoring on assessments provided using the student response system, teachers can either move on or go back if they need to.
Student response systems are a great way to assess students without the rigidity of pencil and paper tests. They are also a great way for teachers to accurately collect data, without factoring in the pressure of an exam on a student who is not a good test taker.
What have I learned? How will this benefit me as a teacher?
I never contemplated the use of student response systems. It is an understatement to say that my experience with technology, especially technology used for educational improvement, is limited. However, I am floored with the impressive nature of student response systems! This is such a great way to assess students without all the formalities that made me anxious as a young student. It is amazing how universal these apps are, and how easy they are to use! Not only is it a fantastic formative assessment tool, it is a great way to engage students in learning in ways that aren't textbook! I am definitely going to implement this in my classroom one day, because I believe that it is so important for every learner to have a chance to "show what they know," and that some learners are too shy or nervous (like I was) to physically express my thoughts or write them down on a test paper. Students learn so much more when they are actively engaged, and free of anxieties that might hold them back. I believe that these student response systems can provide what these students need and more.

The following pictures are examples of student response systems being used in the classroom. The first image shows an example of how students can be kept on the same page during a lesson. The second image shows an example of how a teacher would view the lesson on a student response system app.