Thursday, December 4, 2014

The Twelve Tools of December: Socrative

During the weekdays of December, we're sharing one tool per day as part of our Twelve Tools of December series.  Some of these tools are designed to be used instructionally, some can help you be more productive, and some are just fun.

Today, we're sharing about Socrative.  
What is it?

Educational web 2.0 tools tend to come and go over time.  The tools that stick around are useful and get better as time goes by.  Socrative is one of the good tools.  It has been around since 2011 and keeps getting better over time.

Socrative is a free website/app that works on all devices and all platforms.  Chrome, Android, and iOS apps are also available for Socrative.  Real time formative assessment via Socrative allows teachers to more effectively gauge student understanding and differentiate/individualize instruction whenever possible.   


Why would I use it?  What does it do?

In their own words, Socrative "saves teachers time so the class can further collaborate, discuss, extend, and grow as a community of learners."  It's a powerful, real time learning response tool.  Through various question structures (multiple choice, true/false, and short answer) Socrative becomes an engaging tool for both teachers and students.  Results from responses can easily be exported and shared in Excel as well.  

Concerning terms of service, students either need to be at least 13 years old or have their parent/guardian's and/or teacher's consent to use the tool.  

Are there similar tools?

There are similar tools, but none come close to the functionality and ease of use of Socrative, which explains why the company was acquired by MasteryConnect in 2014.

Where can I learn more?

Socrative creates their own video tutorials and posts them on YouTube here.  Many users create their own tutorials and post them on YouTube as well.

Find out what educators think of Socrative via Graphite.org here.

Socrative is also on Twitter, Pinterest, and Facebook.  Be sure to stay connected to their social media outlets for the latest features and functionality.

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