👋 Howdy! Long time no blog, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been trucking along, loving the teaching and traveling life. Post-Covid, I feel like I’ve learned how to maintain a little more balance in my life, establishing healthier work/life boundaries. Sometimes that means I have the *BEST* of intentions to share here, and then… I never do… which is a shame because I do think about this dusty ol’ blog often (you should see my unpublished drafts…!) These days, I’m the mom of a college student, I have more gray hair than ever, and I’m about to celebrate 25 years married to my love…! During the work weeks, we work hard… and when we’re not working, we play hard. For us that usually means a trip to Orlando to eat, play, and even cruise. The middle-aged life is good!
The reason I’m passing through here today is to prepare a quick PD to reference when I return to work on August 1. AUGUST 1. UM, THAT’S EARLY…! I’ve been asked to share about a few ThatQuiz updates at our first math department meeting, so… why not share that info here too? Plus, it’ll be really easy for me to find in August! 😂
ThatQuiz is a free and fabulous tool for assessing students. I’ve been gushing over this simple green-gray UI for over a decade, but if you need a refresher or introduction to this unassuming, self-grading tool that quietly keeps getting better and better, check out this and this and maybe even this first. Or, go straight to the source here.
Early in the 23-24 school year, ThatQuiz added a new featured called “Observe“. While students are quizzing, the teacher (logged into one’s own ThatQuiz teacher account) can select Observe and see a thumbnail of each student’s screen in real time – amazing!
ThatQuiz has included something valuable under the “Observe” area! I thought this feature was only useful while students were actually quizzing live and in front of me, but there’s SO MUCH MORE here if you set a threshold for students on assessments. For example, there are some ThatQuizzes that I set at 80%, so students who earn less than 80% are prompted to retest. I *thought* the data for previous attempts was lost and inaccessible, but under OBSERVE they can be seen for 30 days! There’s a history hiding under that counter-clockwise clock icon! When the teacher selects the clock, each student’s observation / screen has its own history icon… and the teacher can literally scroll through every screen of every assessment that student has redone within the most recent 30-day range…!!! Do you hear me cheering over here?!? YAHOO!!!
A second improvement I’m THRILLED to share is in the Slides area. I could write about ways to use Slides for hours (check out those aforementioned hyperlinked posts to see more love for Slides) but in this post, I’m focusing on a new feature – ALTERNATE CORRECT ANSWERS!!! In the past, teachers have only been able to create open-response questions with ONE correct answer noted in the self-grading “key” we establish. Now, Slides provides space for teachers to add up to 4 alternate correct answers… which is super-handy for a self-grading tool in a math class where equivalence should be celebrated. Below is my attempt to show y’all how to create a basic slide with some text on it, as well as a field for students to type an answer. Now we can include UP TO 4 ALTERNATE CORRECT ANSWERS TOO!!! ❤️
Finally, the kind ThatQuiz folks have updated the way teachers can schedule assessments. In the past, we could only begin and end an assessment using increments of 5 minutes. Now, we have the ability to align assessments with our unique bell schedules. Watch this quick video to see how to begin and end an assessment at exact minutes.
I am infinitely grateful to the folks at ThatQuiz who are ALWAYS open to UI suggestions and ALWAYS ask for ways to improve and ALWAYS implement any suggested improvements that help teachers and students! They are the best!!!
What’s your favorite free, self-grading math assessment tool, and why is it ThatQuiz? 😉
