Plickers: The Best Formative Assessment Tool You (Probably) Aren’t Using.

One of the biggest traps in teaching any subject to a group of humans is the assumption that silence equals comprehension. You teach a concept, ask if there are any questions, get a room full of silence, and assume everyone gets it. I have fallen into this trap countless times in my career, even though I am fully aware that the trap exists. Obviously, just because nobody asks a question doesn’t really mean they all understand what is going on. One third of the group most likely is thinking about something else, one third is paying attention and understands it, and the rest have some questions, but see that nobody else is saying anything, so they figure they are the only one not getting it and then all sorts of social pressures start piling up in their heads. It’s…. not ideal. 

Any effective educator knows that collecting accurate formative assessment data is crucial when teaching any concept. You have to know if the kids are understanding before you move on. There’s no point in plowing through the curriculum if half the class has no clue what’s happening. Sure, you “covered the standards”, but if only a few students mastered the material, did you really cover them?

So how do you check in with all of your students, get accurate data, and do so with as little anxiety as possible?

About 15 years ago my school invested in a student response system in which each student got a handheld device that had 6 buttons on it (yes, no, A, B, C, D). The system cost over a thousand dollars, and we were able to buy 2 class sets. I used them often for about 2 years. I remember lots of batteries, a whole classroom management structure that needed to be implemented, and a system that worked most of the time, but not always. 

As cell phone ownership became pretty much ubiquitous among students, several apps were developed that made the stand alone handheld devices obsolete. Things like JotForm, VeVox, and Socrative can now be used to get real time data from students using only a smart phone or Chromebook. Kahoot! came along and gamified the whole student response arena, adding points based on speed and accuracy (read this post if you’d like my thoughts on incentivizing speed in mathematics). I’ve tried most of these systems, and must admit that Kahoot! can be a lifesaver on a minimum day right before winter or spring break.

The problem I find with all of these systems is the heavy reliance on technology in the hands of every student. A device for every student brings with it problems, such as having to monitor what site the students are on, whether they have charged it, or if the Wi-Fi is connected or working properly. Relying on 36 students to all have their Chromebooks charged and ready every day is not realistic. And to be completely honest, I want my students having less screen time, not more of it.

So what is the answer? How can you collect quick formative data from every student, do so with little to no anxiety for students, reduce the reliance on each student having a device, and gather that data anonymously?

Plickers.

With Plickers the teacher has all of the tech and the students have a piece of cardstock. 

What Is It?

Plickers is a free platform (with an optional premium account) I can use to create a presentation slide deck with up to 5 questions on it. The questions can be surveys (how are you feeling this morning?), or multiple choice with a correct answer (what is the side length of the square?). I show a slide on my overhead projector, and the students all think about their response. When ready, each student holds up a QR code that has been printed on some cardstock. The direction the student holds the card indicates the answer choice they want to give, either A, B, C, or D. Once they hold up their cards I use the Plickers app on my phone to scan the room with the camera and it instantly records all of the answers. The app will show me in real time on my phone screen who is getting the questions right by displaying either a green or red dot next to their card. If a student is giving an answer that isn’t possible (answer C for a question that only has choices A or B), the dot shows up as gray. Every time I use this it feels like magic. Results are tallied instantly and anonymously, and you can share them, or not, depending on the purpose of the question. That’s it.

I love this system because the students don’t need any kind of device, you get feedback from everyone, you know who has answered and who hasn’t, and the results are instant. It’s the fastest, most reliable whole class formative data I’ve ever found.

How I Use Plickers In My Classroom

I prefer to start a class with a Plickers slide show that asks a general survey question, such as a “Would you rather…?” or “What do you prefer?” It gets class started in a fun way, and can start a fun conversation that engages the students.

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The image search feature in the slide deck builder is really easy to use, and finds school appropriate images very quickly. You can edit the photos as well, but I haven’t used that feature very much yet.

Next I will do a few review questions about the current topics we are learning. Depending on the answers, I can pivot my lesson if needed, or just spend a bit more time going over an example from the day before to make sure kids are understanding. As a fun little bonus, the screen gets showered with confetti if every student gets the question right. This rarely happens, but it’s pretty great when it does.

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I also like to use a question or two in the middle or end of the lesson to see how students are understanding the new material. It’s so easy to show an example in the middle of the lesson, have students solve it on their whiteboard tables, and then get answers from the whole class. With a well crafted multiple choice question and a little forward planning  you can find the misconceptions students have and deal with them in real time, rather than the next day, or even worse, find out a third of the class doesn’t get it during the actual summative assessment.

Setting up your classes on the Plickers web site is pretty easy. I create a class for each period, and leeave the student names as “Student 1, Student 2, Student 3, etc”. Since each card has a small number printed on each corner of the QR code, the students know which number they are each time they use it. This way I don’t have to assign a specific card to each student. I like this approach, since I just want whole class anonymous feedback. If I needed to know how each student answered, and wanted to keep the data, I would put actual student names in the system (first name, last initial), and assign a specific card to each person. I don’t plan on doing this though, since I want Plickers to be quick, enjoyable, and anonymous. The more information I want, the more I have to manage in my classroom. I find it way easier to give each table group a set of 4 random cards rather than have each student get their specific numbered card every time I want to use the system.

Issues I Have Encountered

While I like a lot about Plickers, it’s not perfect. Since the students have physical cards, they tend to get damaged easily. So far I have seen students tear them, roll them into tubes, and use the corners as toothpicks (gross, I know). One class set of cards printed on heavy cardstock might last a whole school year. I could try laminating them, but I’m not sure how well the camera will register the QR codes with the additional glare. I plan on trying it out with one laminated card next year to see how it goes.

The camera system can be pretty sensitive as well. If the student covers up any part of the code with their fingers then it won’t register the answer properly. Also, if the card is tilted at more than a 10 degree angle, it won’t show up. The most annoying thing though is when students get their card registered, sometimes they bring the card down, but still have it visible. The camera system will register the card a second time and change the students’ answer because it is now giving a different response. This can be mitigated by training the students to put the card QR code face down after they see that their response has been counted on the screen.

As with any tool you use in the classroom you must teach the students how to use it properly. Once I realized those problems were happening, we were able to fix them pretty quickly.

Conclusion

Overall I think this is a great low cost system that teachers of all grade levels can use in their classroom daily. It’s easy to set up, simple to use, and gives great formative data quickly so that you can focus on making sure every student in your class is understanding the lesson. If you haven’t tried this system yet, I recommend checking it out.

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Plickers in any way. This is not a paid endorsement. I just really like this tool and I think it can help a lot of teachers help a lot of students.