Socrative (Mobile App)

Details

Main Website:

http://www.socrative.com/

Activity Description

Use the Socrative teacher’s app or Web site to create formative assessments, which students take on the Socrative Student app, installed on mobile devices. Teachers can create quizzes or pose questions in class and get immediate feedback. The answers students provide to most questions through Socrative are anonymous. The one exception is the quiz. There students are asked to enter their names, which only the instructor can see. The instructor can ask spontaneous questions with the Single Question Activities, or can create student self-paced quizzes or teacher-paced quizzes ahead of time. Instructors can cover a certain amount of content in a lecture and then pose a True/False, multiple choice, or short answer / open-ended question. The instructor can project the class responses immediately and follow up with a discussion, or go back and repeat or review content that may be revealed as unclear to students.

Preparation

Download and install the teacher and student app. You will need two Web-enabled devices (computer or mobile) to test out Socrative before using it with your class. This video on YouTube provides an overview of how the app works.
Sign up for an account using a Web browser (or a mobile device) using the Example Web Site link, above or the previously downloaded app. After logging in to the teacher account the first time, the teacher will see “Ready to go! Quick Overview.” The next time you login you will see your Virtual Room and question options, which will always be on your home screen.
Practice using both before using in class with students.
There are demo quizzes to test out yourself.
Plan and create a quiz to use in class on the topic of your choice. If you want to ask the questions verbally, just have your questions available and choose the Quick Question option when you present the quiz. If you want students to interact with the quiz questions on their screens, you will need to enter the questions (and answers) by going to Manage Quizzes and either creating one or Importing one.
If you want students to use their mobile devices, have them download the Socrative Student app (links above under Mobile App) in advance. Alternately, they can just use the browser on their mobile device and this link http://m.socrative.com if they do not want to add the app to their device.

How-To

After logging in, tell your class to go to http://m.socrative.com (using the browser on their mobile device), https://b.socrative.com/ using a computer, or .
Tell students to enter your Virtual Room. Write it on the board or distribute it on cards. Students will then see the message "Waiting for teacher to start an activity...”
Initiate an activity by selecting it (by tapping on a mobile device or selecting it on a computer) on your main screen:
- Quick Question activities which require no previous set-up (Multiple Choice, True/False, Short Answer)
- Quiz-based activities that require entering questions in advance (Student or Teacher Paced Quiz, Exit Ticket, or Space Race)
If you chose the Quick Question option, pose a question to the class to answer (verbally, on a projected slide or document, or simply written on the board).
If you chose the Quiz-based activity, then start the quiz either as a student-paced or teacher-paced quiz.
Students can then respond on their devices.
When the students respond to the questions, you will see the results visually represented on your screen (which you can project for the entire class to see, if desired, from an LCD projector if you are using a Web browser or project from a document camera if you are using a smaller mobile device).
Once the exercises are completed, you will receive an aggregated report, which can be downloaded or e-mailed. The multiple choice questions will be graded. For pre-planned activities, a teacher can view reports online as a Google spreadsheet or as an e-mailed Excel file.

Teacher Tips

As an alternative, have students individually, or in small groups, write review questions from class lecture notes or the textbook and take turns asking questions to the whole class.
Socrative will work on any Web-enabled device and with any Web browser.
Socrative only allows 50 users per activity.
You can share your quizzes and import quizzes that other teachers have shared. Go to Manage Quizzes and select My Quizzes. Choose the quiz you want to share, then select Edit. To make your quizzes sharable, be sure it says Yes just to the left of the Share Quiz code number. Provide the SOC number to share it. The other person will go to Import Quiz and enter the code in the provided field.
The Apple Socrative Student and Teacher apps for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch are available at the iTunes app store . For Android mobile devices, see Google Play for information about the Socrative Student app and the Socrative Teacher app .
See the Socrative Quiz Store for already created quizzes and support services.

More Ways

If not all students have their own devices, they can be directed to work in pairs or small groups to come to consensus on responses, and use one device to enter their answers to questions. This promotes working together collaboratively, which provides opportunities for non-threatening peer teaching. However, if individual student’s responses are desired and there are a limited number of devices for the class, the pre-made quizzes include the option at the end to “let another student take the quiz,” and a device can be passed to the next student who needs it.
Space Race is a fastest responder game. The instructor needs to prepare multiple-choice questions in advance. Students are divided into small groups (up to 10 teams), and the space ship of the team that answers questions correctly the fastest in the fixed time, wins the race. This sort of team competition works well as a review activity before a test, because students communicate and work together to answer questions and can learn from each other, in addition to the added benefit of creating community in the classroom.
Another use of Socrative is Exit Tickets. Ask students one or more questions at the end of class, not only for checking comprehension of course content, but also as a technique for students to reflect on their learning by replying to the questions, “What is something new you learned today?” or “What do you want to know more about?” Student self-reflection is valuable in helping students perceive how what they learn in class is related to the course objectives, as well as how it is relevant to their educational goals.
Socrative can be used for Web-based summative assessment as well. With the quizzes, which are set up in the Manage Quizzes section of the main page, the first default question asks students to provide their names as the first question, but this question can be deleted if individual student’s results are not needed. After selecting Create a Quiz, the teacher then needs to enter a set of pre-planned, multiple-choice or short answer questions, select correct answers for the multiple choice questions, and optionally include explanations for any questions. Save the quiz. Quizzes can also be imported from Socrative’s Excel spreadsheet template, and quiz questions can be edited or deleted any time.

Program Areas

ESL: English as a Second Language

Levels

Beginning High
Intermediate Low
Intermediate High
Advanced

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