Using InkSurvey with Pen-Enabled Mobile Devices for Real-Time Formative Assessment. I. Applications in Diverse Educational Environments
Date: August 13, 2013
Author: J.V. Gutierrez and Enrique Palou
Summary:
InkSurvey is free, web-based software designed to facilitate the collection of real-time formative assessment. Using this tool, the instructor can embed formative assessment in the instruction process by posing an open-format question. Students equipped with pen-enabled mobile devices (tablet PCs, iPads, Android devices including some smartphones) are then actively engaged in their learning as they use digital ink to draw, sketch, or graph their responses. When the instructor receives these responses instantaneously, it provides insights into student thinking and what the students do and do not know. Subsequent instruction can then repair and refine student understanding in a very timely manner.
To illustrate the wide applicability of this use of technology, we report a series of seven vignettes featuring instructors of diverse subjects (mathematics, food chemistry, physics, biology, and chemical engineering), with students using diverse pen-enabled mobile devices (tablet PCs, iPads, and Android 4.0 tablets), in diverse educational environments (K-12, community college, publicly-funded engineering university, private university, graduate school), in two countries (United States and Mex- ico). In a companion paper, each instructor also shares some data, insights, and/or conclusions from their experiences regarding the effectiveness of this tool.
Source Article: http://arxiv.org/pdf/1308.3727v1.pdf
