Are you curious about which learning technologies can be implemented to support assessment activities in your course? Check out this blog post to explore the various assessment-related technologies available to the McGill community.
At Teaching and Learning Services (TLS), our mission is to support instructors, teaching assistants, and staff to effectively use learning technologies in their teaching practices. However, which technologies are available to support and enhance assessment-related activities? Below, we’ve categorized the available technologies by assessment activity and provided brief descriptions along with links to additional resources to help you get started. Keep in mind that some technologies can be versatile and used for various assessment activities. The categorization below is based on the most common use cases.
Manage digital quizzes and exams
ANSÂ
ANS is a web-based assessment platform. With ANS, you can create digital, handwritten, or hybrid assessments. ANS allows you to build a question bank to generate formative and summative assessments. The real power of ANS is the ability to create language-coding questions. Students can enter code into the platform and run it. Another great feature of ANS is the ability to create questions with variables which allows for each student to get a unique question.
To access ANS, it must be enabled in your course. Fill out this consultation form; specify that you want to add ANS to your course and include your course name and code.
Getting started with ANS (YouTube playlist)
Bongo Video Assignment
Bongo Video Assignment streamlines video-based assessment types. By allowing students to respond to questions with recorded or uploaded videos, Bongo enables them to demonstrate their understanding, engage with course content, and showcase their skills in a unique way. Bongo is integrated with myCourses, allowing instructors to create, manage, and assess video assignments directly within the platform.
To add Bongo to your course, follow these instructions.
Create video assignments with Bongo Video Assignment
Getting started with Bongo – Instructors
Crowdmark
Crowdmark is an online grading platform that simplifies the assessment and feedback process for instructors and graders. Assessments in Crowdmark may be designed to be completed either in-person or online. Crowdmark is integrated with myCourses, allowing instructors to import their class lists and export grades directly to myCourses.
To add Crowdmark to your course, follow these instructions.
Collaborate on grading with Crowdmark
Ed Lessons
Ed Lessons (by Ed STEM) allows instructors to customize a student learning experience (or a lesson) with slides, quizzes, surveys, code challenges, and runnable code snippets. Students can engage in an interactive lesson that includes automated feedback. Ed Lessons is integrated with myCourses.
To access Ed Lessons, it must be enabled in your course. Fill out this consultation form; specify that you want to add Ed to your course and include your course name and code.
myCourses Quizzes
MyCourses Quizzes is an assessment tool within myCourses. It allows instructors to create and manage quizzes, assessments, and exams for their courses. Instructors can create quizzes with various question types, including multiple-choice, true/false, short answer, and more. Quizzes can be designed to randomly select questions from a question pool, randomize answer choices, and/or shuffle the order of questions. Additionally, quizzes can be auto-graded or manually graded, and instructors can provide customized feedback (text or audio) to students based on their performance.
Organize peer assessment activities
FeedbackFruits
FeedbackFruits offers sophisticated Peer Review and Group Member Evaluation tools that simplify and streamline the peer assessment process within myCourses. Instructors can create peer feedback activities, specifying instructions, deadlines, and assessment criteria (including questions or prompts that students use to give each other feedback). Students then submit their work, provide feedback on their peers’ submissions, and reflect on the received comments to improve their final output. FeedbackFruits offers both individual peer assessment and peer assessment of teamwork activities. FeedbackFruits is integrated with myCourses.
To access FeedbackFruits, it must be enabled in your course. Fill out this consultation form; specify that you want to add FeedbackFruits to your course and include your course name and code.
Create peer assessment activities with FeedbackFruits
Poll student comprehension
Polling@McGill (Slido)
Slido is an audience polling platform that enhances live lectures by promoting engagement and interaction. It can be used for quick formative assessment activities, including knowledge checks and collecting feedback from students. Slido allows instructors to create interactive and dynamic learning experiences during their lectures, making it a valuable tool for assessment and engagement in both in-person and online classrooms.
Create polls with Polling@McGill
Support social learning
Perusall
Perusall is a social annotation tool that enables students to interact with course content and peers. Perusall provides a collaborative environment that allows students to explore content, make comments, ask questions, and engage with peers to support a deeper understanding of course materials (like readings). It works with various types of course materials, including articles, websites, videos, and images. Perusall is integrated with myCourses.
To add Perusall to your course, follow these instructions.
Group collaboration in Perusall
VoiceThread
VoiceThread is a dynamic presentation tool that facilitates conversations around media files. It allows instructors and students the ability to create digital presentations – by uploading various types of media, including images, videos, audio, and documents. Students and instructors can then comment on or “annotate” and engage with the shared media by including in-line text, audio, or video comments. VoiceThread is integrated with myCourses.
To access VoiceThread, it must be enabled in your course. Fill out this consultation form; specify that you want to add VoiceThread to your course and include your course name and code.
Next steps…
In this post we’ve explored various McGill-supported technologies, categorized them by activity type, and provided brief descriptions and resources, to get you started with your assessment-related activities! Remember, if you need help with a technology or want to chat about which technology is right for you, you can always book a one-on-one consultation with a Learning Technology Consultant at TLS. We look forward to meeting with you!
