Quick Digital Checks for Learning: How Are You Making Learning Visible?

Written by: Jennifer Davis

I first heard the phrase “make learning visible” at a NETA conference several years ago. It isn’t a new phrase, but it was illuminating for me – one of those formative lightbulb moments! Ever since, I’ve had that concept on my radar, always looking for the best ways to see what’s going on inside our students’ heads. There are times when a fast, efficient classroom temperature check is needed, and there are many different thermometers that can be used for that purpose. 

This list is not comprehensive! There are many more formative assessment tools and software pieces, but here are a few of the ideas that I’ve found for speedy formative data gathering: 

1. On-Screen Check-ins: There are several great tools for putting questions or checks in front of students. Dyknow and GoGuardian both have Chrome Extensions that allow teachers to gather quick and simple data and ask questions on the fly. I love that they are built-in and don’t require codes or sign-in. Socrative also has a broad set of rich features that provide seamless questions and activities to students.  
2. Interactive Presentations: If you’re creating presentations, adding in a quick check functionality makes sense. Lumio, Peardeck, Nearpod, and Curipod all allow teachers to build rich and meaningful interactions into their teaching content. They can take a lot of time to create up front, but yield really fantastic benefits for formatively assessing student knowledge.  
3. Classroom Whiteboard Software: the three mentioned above, along with Canva Live all have interactive classroom whiteboards. Whiteboard.fi is another favorite that allows teachers to see what kids are able to do and check for understanding on every screen at once.   
4. Q & A Features in your slide software: Similar to interactive presentations, but much more open-ended, Google Slides, Curipod, and Canva Live have built-in Q&A functions that allow presenters to see questions or ask for answers. These features would likely not allow you to get a quick view of every student, but they would certainly facilitate interactivity and provide discussion starting points. Backchannel sites such as YoTeach also can serve this purpose! 
5. New AI tools: SchoolAI, MagicSchoolAI, and Mizou all allow teachers to set up chats with generative AI and view and evaluate the student responses. This can create a mini one-on-one tutoring session for your students and creates a great opportunity for them to show and clarify their thinking. 

Quick checks-for-learning allow teachers to bring the class back to their lesson’s learning objective take stock of progress toward the learning goal. It gives students an opportunity to do the metacognitive work of evaluating whether or not the learning clicks for them. Most importantly, these quick checks help us to know whether we’re doing the job of reaching each and every kid! How do you check for learning in your classroom?