GoFormative is an educational platform that allows teachers to create various types of assignments that students can interact with in real time and across different devices. Teachers can view students responses in real-time and provide timely feedback.
GoFomative is an ideal tool for doing formative assessments, and to a certain extent summative assessments as well. The difference between the two types of assessments, according to Carnegie Mellon University, is that a formative assessment is an assessment for learning meant to monitor students learning with the goal of providing timely feedback to students and identifying students learning weakness and strengths. An example of formative assessment is comprehension check questions at the end of the lesson.
On the other hand a summative assessment is an assessment of learning and seeks to “evaluate student learning at the end of an instructional unit by comparing it against some standard or benchmark”.
Examples of summative assessments include midterm exams, final term papers, etc. For more on the difference between summative and formative assessments, check out this visual I share in a previous post here in educatorstechnology.com.
GoFormative provides you with all the tools you need to create your digital assignments. First, you start by creating your class on the site and ask students to join in. You can then create various types of Formatives to share with your students. These include homework assignments, exit slips, quizzes, worksheets, tests/exams, reviews, and many more.
Your assignment can include different types of content: numerous question types, videos, images, graphing, etc. You can also upload your own content such as PDFs and Docs or use the site’s Library to search for pre-designed Formatives to use with your students.
GoFormative allows you to see students responses in real time enabling you to provide timely feedback and take instant remedial action. Furthermore, you can use the site’s Tracker feature to access detailed insights about your students performance. You can export these insights to share with parents and school administrators.
The purpose of today’s post is to introduce you to the different features provided by GoFormative and share with you links to helpful video tutorials where you can learn everything you need about Formative.
1- How to create a class on GoFormative?
To be able to create a class on Formative you need to log in to your teacher account (watch this video to learn how to create an account and log in) and from the Formative dashboard click on Classes (watch this video and this video to familiarize yourself with Formative dashboard).
You have the option to create a new class, edit an existing class, and/or archive your classe. You can also choose to sync your classes from Google Classroom, Clever, and Microsoft Teams. Other options provided there include cloning a class, locking it (premium feature), and adding co-teachers (premium feature).
To create a new class, click on ‘+New Class’. Provide a name for your class, choose a colour, and use an icon or type a two-letter abbreviation. Next select Grades and Subjects and click on Create.
Watch this video to learn more about how to set a class in Formative.
2- How to add students to your class?
After you create your class a code is generated for you to share with your students. To join your class, students use it on app.formative.com/join. Or you can manually enter or paste student information from a CSV (first name, last name, username, email, and password).
Watch this video to learn more about how to add students to your class.
3- How to add content to your Formative?
To start adding content to your Formative click on ‘+New formative’ from the Formative dashboard. You can add various types of digital content to your Formative such as videos, images, various question types, embed or upload your own.
You can also add content from Formative library. Some content types are only available for premium users which include: audio, audio response, file response, fill in the blank, graphing, match table grid, numeric, resequence, inline choice, hot text, and video response.
Watch this video to learn more about how to create Formatives.
3.1 Question Types
There are multiple question types to choose from: Free Response, Multiple Choice, Short Answer, Show your Work, and True or False. When you are creating your assignments you can set your own point value. ‘This allows you to give some questions more weight than others, when factoring into the total score.’
Watch this video to learn more about how to add questions and content type
3.2 Add Standards
You can also use the ‘Standards set’ “to select one or multiple standards to link to your question. This allows you to track student growth, as they attempt each standard over time. ” You can also add images or math blocks to your question by simply clicking on the + sign in the question box. Features such as use rubric and show your work are only available for premium subscribers.
Watch the tutorial to learn how to find and tag standards
3.3 Add content from Formative library
Formative Library features pre-designed content that you can easily add to your Formative. Use the search functionality to locate content you are interested in then click on the ‘+’ icon next to it to copy it to your account.
3.4 Tag your formative
You can organize your Formatives by adding tags to them. To tag a Formative click on the the triple dot menu in the right hand corner and select ‘Set Formative type’. Choose from the options there. There are several types of Formatives to choose from: assignment, benchmark, exit slip. homework, independent practice, lab, playlist, pre-assessment, and many more
3.5 Assign a Formative to your class
Now that your Formative is ready, go ahead and click on the ‘Assign’ button from within the Formative and choose a class or multiple classes. Click on the ‘Adjust settings’ button to customize the settings of your assignment. Once finished click on Assign.
Watch these video to learn about:
4. Auto-grading
Auto-grading is an excellent feature in Formative but it is only available for a select few of question types including: Categorize, Free Response, Matching, Multiple Choice, Multiple Selection, Resequence, Short Answer, and True or False.
Watch the following videos to learn:
5. How to view students responses?
One of the best features of Formative is the ability to view students responses as they happen allowing you to intervene in the right time with the required feedback. To access this feature click on ‘View responses’ button in the Formative dashboard.
There is also the option to share students responses with others. You can click on show/hide names button to show/hide students names. Additionally, for certain types of questions you will have two view options: list view and grid view.
Watch the following videos to learn:
6. How to track students data?
Tracker provides you with all the insights you need to develop a nuanced understanding of students performances. In the Formative dashboard, click on Tracker. There you will be able view scores from Formatives or by standards. You can also filter data by class, date, grades, and subjects. You also have the ability to export the generated data to show to parents or school administrators.
Watch the following videos to learn:
While a number of the features provided above are provided for free, yet I believe that the real power of Formative resides in the premium features. Some of these features include:
- Transform pdfs/docs to digital formatives
- Anti-cheating tools to detect copied answers
- Assign individual students
- Create and save soundbytes for students to listen to
- Randomize the order of student responses in your live results feed
- Batch scoring and feedback
- Set default point value
- Emojis in student feedback
- Premium avatars
- Print formatives
- Images in answer choices
- Randomize question order
- Unlimited Formative data exports.
For more resources (e.g., video tutorials, webinars, courses, etc) on how to use Formative in your teaching, check out the Resources section.
