Assessment doesn’t need to be hard, and it doesn’t need to take a lot of time. I find the best assessments are the ones that happen naturally, through conversations and observations.

Let’s look at easy ways to check in with students using Edwin.

• First, how does the Edwin Dashboard work?

• Second, what are some ways you can use the Self-Checks Dashboard to get quick formative assessment snapshots of student progress, without adding an entirely separate task?

Using the Edwin Dashboard

To make best use of the Dashboard, we need to start in the Library. For most things you can find in the Library, whether it be a video, article, or interactive quiz, there will be an option for students to respond via “self-check” statements.

These are great ways to:

• review learning goals or guiding questions

• encourage metacognitive reflection

• check to see if students are awake!

If you ask students to complete these self-checks, you’ll open up a wealth of information that you can use for formative assessment at a glance. And whether or not students are using these self-check questions, you’ll have lots of data available through the dashboard once you set it up.

I won’t go into the details of how to set up the Dashboard. If you haven’t already set yours up, check out this quick walkthrough here. It should take you all of 2 minutes.

Once you have your class or groups set up the way you’d like them, you can invite students. This is a great opportunity to talk to students about why this is useful for them—it’s not just a tool for you.

Students will be able to see their own time spent and self check responses for every single thing they’ve looked at in the Edwin Library,* and at a glance they can see, in their own words, their strengths and areas for improvement. They can also update their responses as they progress, and watch the screen fill with green… so satisfying!

*Ok, not quite every single thing: to avoid those aspiring hackers who try to subvert the system, there is a special formula so only the items you’ve truly engaged with will appear in your dashboard. What is it? Nice try, kids… we will tell your teachers in person.

Tips for Easy Formative Assessment

Everyone will use the Dashboard in different ways, and some students just won’t buy in. That’s ok… don’t forget: a blank section is actually helpful information too. Some students need that personal connection to get thinking happening. And sometimes your classes won’t be comfortable or confident with self-assessment and reflection as you start—but the learning curve happens quickly!

I’ve seen many a class loving this tool and using it every day to reinforce goals, encourage reflection, and for teachers most of all, to plan next steps.

Here are some ways you can make that happen:

1. Students complete the self check for an article or video.

2. When completed, meet with the student or a group (virtual or face-to-face) for a 5-minute appointment

3. Ask probing questions of the student to get to the root of how the student came to their self-assessment response, for example, “How do you know?” or “Can you give an example?” This encourages both deeper reflection and accountability.

4. Ask students how the self-check statements relate to the big idea, essential question, success criteria, or learning goal the students are working through

5. Ask questions to get quickly to the heart of the concept. Simple follow up questions such as:

• What makes you say that?

• What evidence would you choose to support your response?

• What other learning is connected to this self-check statement?

• How is X related to Y? Explain.

• Where would you see the application of X in the real world? What is a current example of this?

• What do you think now… Would you change / add / enhance your responses?

You don’t need to do this many times before student expectations are set. From just one of these sessions, you can imagine the wealth of information you can garner, which you can use to plan more support, enhancements, create project groups, etc.

And maybe my favourite way to use the Dashboard? Parent interview time!

Try it!

If you haven’t set up your Dashboard yet, try it out now! 

Getting students into the habit of self reflection may take some time and encouragement, but it pays dividends. And when you are collecting this much information regularly on student progress, it can save a lot of time and headache when report cards roll around.

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Kathleen Barter, BA.

Kathleen is a retired educator: Secondary Teacher, School Based Administrator, District Principal, and Instructional Leader with over 35 years of experience. Kathleen brings extensive experience in professional learning, instructional transformation, curriculum development, inquiry-based instruction, innovative assessment practices and the International Baccalaureate Programmes. Kathleen is passionate about collaborating with other educators to redesign teaching and learning to engage students in deeper thinking and learning.