9/27/10

An Evaluation of Online Assessment Tools

A colleague asked me to evaluate five online tools for assessment as cited in a blog post from Free Technology for Teachers. I added one more tool that we use at our school... Blackboard. Below are my initial impressions.

Tool

Pros

Cons

Blackboard

* Security- students must login as themselves to access the quiz, then they are matched to the Bb gradebook
* many question types (t/f, matching, ordering, hot spot, etc)
* instant feedback
* control over the number of attempts and when the assessment is available to students

* can be cumbersome to create

* tricky to get a nice report out of the test data

Google Forms

* many question types (t/f, matching, ordering, hot spot, etc)
* easy to use format
* can generate a spreadsheet for results

* need a Google account

* must enter a question to know who is taking the quiz

Zoho Challenge

* can set a time limit and provide immediate feedback

* only multiple choice or open-ended questions

ProProfs Quiz Maker

* provides immediate feedback
* tracks attempts

* only multiple choice questions

My Studiyo

* modern look
* can embed video and audio

* no tracking of quiz takers
* only multiple choice questions

That Quiz

*wiki-like meaning you can use quizzes other teachers have made

* dated look


Overall: For me personally, I would stick with Blackboard because I am used to it. However, delving further into Google Forms might be worth the effort.

5 comments:

  1. Nice sharing, I think maybe ProProfs Quiz Maker is the easiest quiz maker that I've ever used before. I've been a lecturer for quite a few years, and in my professional opinion, if you're a teacher or a trainer, I suggest Articulate Quizmaker and Wondershare QuizCreator. Check them at:

    http://www.articulate.com/products/quizmaker.php

    http://www.sameshow.com/quiz-creator.html

    Cheers.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Crangle, thanks for your ideas. We are a school that uses Blackboard, but many teachers find it not user friendly. I will check out your suggestions.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Dausing,
    Thanks for mentioning Zoho Challenge.
    Zoho Challenge does support true/false,fill in the blanks, multi media based questions and also comprehension passage / graph interpretation questions.
    Also, user restriction, advanced security options, timer control are available.
    Do check out and contact support@zohochallenge.com if you need a demo / clarifications

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  4. Thanks, Kerry. Is there a way for teachers to share their assessments in blackboard?

    Having a way to track data is key-and keeping the format consistent but fresh is always important to me in getting reliable feedback.

    -Andrea

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  5. You can always export a test or survey in blackboard and send that to another teacher who can then import it to their class (if that's what you mean by sharing).

    Same with the assessment data. You can export it to an excel file and share it.

    If you want a teacher and their students to participate in the same assessment in your class, you'd have to add them to your class.

    -Arline

    ReplyDelete