Why Giving My Students More Choice Was the Most Punk Rock Thing I Could Do
Edsurge
JUNE 18, 2025
This goes further than the saying “some kids are good testers and some aren’t.”
SMART Technologies Launches AI Assist in Lumio to Save Teachers Time
eSchool News
APRIL 17, 2025
Designing effective quizzes takes timeespecially when crafting well-balanced multiple-choice questions with plausible wrong answers to encourage critical thinking. Speedup : A fast-paced front-of-classroom race where students compete to answer questions quickly, with the first car crossing the finish line declared the winner.
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Will AI Make Standardized Tests Obsolete?
Edsurge
AUGUST 29, 2024
Whereas last year, her focus was on using AI to help create traditional multiple-choice questions, now, she says, “what I am really focused on now is dynamic generation of content on the fly. McWilliams, of ETS, says she’s had a “mindset shift” in the past year about how she thinks about AI in testing.
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Should Professors (a) Use Multiple Choice Tests or (b) Avoid Them At All Costs?
Edsurge
MAY 10, 2018
Multiple-choice questions don’t belong in college. Yet more professors seem to be turning to the format these days, as teaching loads and class sizes grow, since multiple-choice quizzes and tests can be easily graded by machines. Defending Multiple-Choice To be fair, not everyone is so down on multiple choice.
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Improving Critical Thinking May Take Practice
Edsurge
SEPTEMBER 8, 2021
But only one group spent time actually putting that training into practice, through an exercise that asked them to read passages about scientific claims—like the one in the first paragraph of this article—and answer multiple choice questions about possible problems in the logic.
The Case for ‘Edtech Minimalism’ in an Age of Distance Learning
Edsurge
DECEMBER 16, 2020
You might be wondering how this is possible—how one might actually minimize their dependence on education technology in an era of remote instruction and screen-dependent learning. Less frequently asked were some more fundamental questions: How might we preserve a sense of belonging and connectedness between students?
What Is Missing From Our Curricula?
Edsurge
SEPTEMBER 4, 2018
Truly rare are those careers where employees advance based on their ability to regularly answer multiple-choice questions correctly! Truly rare are those careers where employees advance based on their ability to regularly answer multiple-choice questions correctly!
NAEP Scores Show a Long Road to Academic Recovery. Edtech Can Help Shorten It.
Edsurge
OCTOBER 28, 2022
Education technology with built-in lesson recommendations, like WordFlight , can provide teachers with instant access to a detailed view of each student’s progress, including insights about which concepts or skills students should learn next and which of their classmates are ready to learn those concepts too.
How AI Can Foster Creative Thinking in the Classroom and Beyond
Edsurge
SEPTEMBER 18, 2024
These are the moments where creative activities can replace traditional methods like note-taking or multiple-choice questions and garner a much wider and deeper set of learning outcomes. Start by identifying areas in your curriculum where students need to dive deep into a concept or fully demonstrate their understanding.
Watch Out For These 3 Mistakes You’re Making During Distance Teaching
Edsurge
AUGUST 27, 2020
But sometimes, distance learning can take an “app-centric” approach, where students spend more time watching instructional videos and answering multiple-choice questions than talking about concepts with their peers and teachers.
Not Just Numbers: How Educators Are Using Data in the Classroom
Edsurge
OCTOBER 25, 2016
To shed some light on the questions above, EdSurge talked to six educators to get their take. Here’s the big takeaway: Data doesn’t just come in the form of grades, attendance records and answers on multiple choice questions.
College Board Changes AP Exams Again to Accommodate Pandemic-Era Testing
Edsurge
FEBRUARY 4, 2021
There is no evidence, he adds, to suggest that the modified, shorter tests last year were easier, and in fact he has heard from students that they were more difficult because they did not include any multiple choice questions, on which students typically perform better.
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When a College Chatbot Breaks Up With You
Edsurge
DECEMBER 16, 2021
It sent multiple-choice questions asking how they felt about the transition to college, with options such as: [1] Excited and ready to start already! [2] I want you to remember something: you’re a superstar, and there are great things coming your way no matter what path you decide to take this year!” 3] Stressed.
What Happens When a School Closes Its Library?
Edsurge
SEPTEMBER 12, 2024
But three months in, she had had enough of watching students in her English language arts class mentally check out from the monotony of the new structure: She read off district-created slides, and then students answered a multiple-choice question by holding up a markerboard where they scribbled an A, B, C or D.
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Study Finds Classroom-Response 'Clickers' Can ‘Impede Conceptual Understanding’
Edsurge
MAY 25, 2017
The study , which appears in the latest issue of the peer-reviewed journal “Computers & Education,” states the surprising finding in its long title: “Clickers can promote fact retention but impede conceptual understanding: The effect of the interaction between clicker use and pedagogy on learning.”
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Juggling ‘Roomers’ and ‘Zoomers’? How Teachers Make Hybrid Learning Work
Edsurge
MARCH 17, 2021
Don’t put them in a room to talk about a multiple choice question. Give them a real question to discuss. Provide meaningful, engaging work : Make sure students are invested in the work by giving them engaging activities. Give students real meaningful work,” Watkins recommends.
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Why Old Arguments for Earning a Diploma Don't Resonate With My Students — and Which Ones Will
Edsurge
MARCH 6, 2024
Why Our Approach Must Change I am tired of practicing approaches to multiple choice questions and breaking down unnecessarily confusing writing prompts at the expense of project-based assignments relevant to my students’ daily lives, or deep discussions of texts that provide windows and mirrors to validate and challenge their experiences.
Digital Devices in the Classroom Can Hinder Long-Term Retention
Edsurge
AUGUST 17, 2018
The students answered 126 multiple-choice questions in class on materials that were just presented. However, a week later, they don’t remember it because that’s the effect of dividing attention.” In the study, students in two sections of a college course were instructed to use digital devices in only half the lectures.
How You Can Take the Pain Out Of Data-Driven Classrooms
Edsurge
AUGUST 30, 2016
It may sound like an oxymoron, but it is possible to assess where your students are on their learning path without taking home a stack of papers or forcing your students to complete mundane multiple choice questions in a simulated testing environment. The free account also includes free writing and drawing options.
Inputs Do Not Guarantee Outcomes: Getting Online Credit Recovery Right
Edsurge
SEPTEMBER 28, 2016
Students who correctly answer 60 percent of the 10 multiple-choice questions on a pre-test can skip that unit. The Times acknowledges that the district’s online credit-recovery courses, developed by Edgenuity , are rigorous. But it notes that students can pass them without completing assignments.
How AI Can Help Educators Test Whether Their Teaching Materials Work
Edsurge
JULY 11, 2023
One example in particular is getting students that are taking, say, an online chemistry course to create a multiple choice question for us. And so if you have a course with 5,000 students in it, and everyone elects to create a multiple-choice question, you now have 5,000 new multiple-choice questions for that chemistry course.
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Schools Drop Acellus Learning Platform Over ‘Glaring’ Offensive Content
Edsurge
SEPTEMBER 10, 2020
Change.org petitions have been circulated opposing the use of Acellus in Hawaii Department of Education schools and at Alameda Unified. A multiple-choice question asks students to name the terrorist group Osama bin Laden led, and one answer option is “Towelban.”
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The ABCs of SEL (or, the Impact of Social-Emotional Learning)
Edsurge
JANUARY 28, 2019
The data included traditional ABC metrics drawn from student information systems, as well as data from the Panorama Social-Emotional Learning Survey , which asks students to reflect on their behavior, attitudes and mindsets through psychometrically-validated , multiple-choice questions.
LearnWith.AI Launches TeachTap, the first AI-powered learning app for AP exam prep and high school courses
eSchool News
MAY 1, 2024
matching; multiple choice questions; free response questions graded in real time to provide students with instant feedback; and controversial conversations: Two historical figures debate on the most controversial topics within a particular course. To learn more about TeachTap or to download the app, visit [link].
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How Intelligent Tutoring Systems Make Deep Learning Possible
Edsurge
NOVEMBER 26, 2018
That’s different than the standard delivery of text and multiple choice questions. One thing we do is build agents that hold a conversation in natural language. The computer has to understand as best it can what the meaning is behind what the student said. This is more interactive, and it attempts to pick up emotions.
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Top Hat Buys Canadian Textbook Business to Compete With Publishers in Digital Courseware
Edsurge
MAY 26, 2020
The term comes from the physical devices that other companies used to sell, where students literally pressed buttons to respond to multiple-choice questions. The Toronto-based company once relied on textbook publishers to distribute its technology.
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Coronavirus Has Led to a Rush of Online Teaching. Here’s Some Advice for Newly Remote Instructors
Edsurge
MARCH 11, 2020
Use Polls to Keep Students Engaged There are many tools available to pose multiple-choice questions to students remotely. Or professors can just ask students to respond to a prompt in the text chat included in most video conference platforms.
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?Updates, Upgrades and Overheard: What Was Unveiled at ISTE 2017
Edsurge
JUNE 27, 2017
Google also announced Cast for Education, a Chrome application that allows teachers and students to wirelessly share their screens with the class. Quizzes on Google Forms now allow for a bit more customization: Teachers can offer partial credit for answers choices while auto-grading multiple choice questions.
Stay Active at Home With These 6 Fun AR / VR Apps
Edsurge
MAY 28, 2020
The Scavengar app allows educators and students to build hunts that move you around a designated space to collect points and answer multiple-choice questions correctly. The app integrates artificial intelligence to find and capture specific items such as colors or objects.
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Can a Test Ever Be Fair? How Today's Standardized Tests Get Made.
Edsurge
JANUARY 10, 2018
He recently spoke with us about testing bias, holding psychometricians accountable for the exams they create and whether the future holds any innovation for a field still dominated by math, language and multiple choice questions. Mark Moulton : Here that whole question is, what does fair mean?
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How Faculty Can ‘Click’ Their Way to a More Inclusive Classroom
Edsurge
NOVEMBER 21, 2018
TTQs help students accurately gauge areas they might need to shore up prior to the next assessment and understand the level of depth required to solve a question. Faculty typically default to using polls in a very unidimensional fashion—a multiple choice question with a single correct answer. Play with the polls.
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?What Makes a Smart Course ‘Smart’?
Edsurge
JANUARY 13, 2017
Adaptive technology that depends on algorithms alone is insufficient to foster learner-centric design. After all, one can use the phrase “adaptive” to describe the California DMV computer-based exam because an algorithm dynamically selects the next multiple choice question based on the user’s performance thus far.
Here Are the 10 Stories K-12 Readers Couldn’t Put Down in 2024
Edsurge
JANUARY 9, 2025
She lays out the need for graduation requirements to evolve, considering how little the multiple choice questions or essay prompts on standardized tests have to do with students lives after high school and their ability to thrive. Social-Emotional Learning Strategies Don't Work for Every Student.
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Pulling the Plug on a Personalized Learning Pilot
Edsurge
JANUARY 19, 2017
I want my 5th grader to be well-educated… Tapping away at multiple choice questions is not high level math,” another parent said. “Not every child responds to learning on a computer,” one mother said at the study session. Don’t experiment with our children.” “I 16, urging the district to discontinue the program.
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Why There’s Little Consistency in Defining Competency-Based Education
Edsurge
MAY 22, 2017
Certain low-level yet fundamental concepts, such as single-digit multiplication, can be demonstrated through conventional assessments, such as multiple-choice questions. Figuring out which assessments that are appropriate for each competency takes work.
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64 predictions about edtech trends in 2024
eSchool News
JANUARY 1, 2024
Ten years ago, when we began building equitable, offline-first education technology for the 2/3 of the world who didn’t have internet access, many people told us to just wait and the gap would close naturally. One thing that cannot be denied is the disconnect in today’s education technology between AV and IT and various domains.
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Can Individual Tests Really Measure Collaboration?
Edsurge
JULY 16, 2018
Technology-Enhanced What’s easier to agree on is that multiple-choice questions are a poor way to measure soft skills. Darling-Hammond says the format is rarely used outside the U.S, where it’s unusually popular. “In
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School’s Out for the Latest Y Combinator Batch, and Here’s What Its Edtech Graduates Are Up to
Edsurge
AUGUST 21, 2018
The five-hour long test comes with about 100 questions. There are multiple-choice questions, coding exercises and two essay questions. Cofounder James Lin likens it to an “SAT for software engineers.” The test costs $19 to take, and CSPA can waive the fee for those with financial difficulties.
QR Codes for Quick Student Engagement
Faculty Focus
JULY 27, 2023
Many times, learning a new educational technology tool is time-consuming. In this case, I am proposing using technology that we already use in our daily lives and applying it to our classrooms. To address equity and accessibility, professors could read the questions out loud and allow multiple ways of participation.
French Startup Lalilo Raises $5.5M to Boost English Literacy in the US
Edsurge
NOVEMBER 11, 2019
Some activities involve multiple-choice questions; others ask children to read words and passages in order to assess their oral fluency. Lalilo’s online literacy product focuses on helping K-2 students develop phonics, word recognition and reading comprehension skills through a series of online exercises and stories.
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To Build Voice Recognition for Early Literacy, Soapbox Labs Gives Kids a Voice
Edsurge
NOVEMBER 5, 2019
Some offered multiple-choice questions, for instance, that simply asked kids to pick the correct pronunciation—hardly a useful exercise. She noticed another problem: Many of the apps used speech recognition technologies that were trained with adult data samples.
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Everything you need to know about AI in education
eSchool News
DECEMBER 11, 2023
In a structured classroom setting, an educator can only be expected to teach a certain amount of curriculum, and learners can only retain so much information at one time. Many fear that computer-generated grading would only perpetuate the education system’s reliance on multiple-choice questions.
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65 predictions about edtech trends in 2024
eSchool News
JANUARY 5, 2024
Ten years ago, when we began building equitable, offline-first education technology for the 2/3 of the world who didn’t have internet access, many people told us to just wait and the gap would close naturally. One thing that cannot be denied is the disconnect in today’s education technology between AV and IT and various domains.
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Despite Poor Performance, Virtual School Enrollment Continues to Grow
Edsurge
MAY 28, 2019
What you are essentially getting is the type of interaction and feedback that can be provided through multiple-choice questioning.” “The reality is the type of interaction occurring [between students and teachers] in these automated settings is cursory and requires a low level of student knowledge,” he says.
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