Introduction
Teacher Clicker by Socrative is an education app meant to help teachers engage the entire body of the class while also capturing results. If you’re a teacher and you’ve been looking for an app to help you with several different tasks, then read on.
School is in session
You’ll be able to ask short answer questions, design and run quizzes, run “races,” and see the results collect in real-time.
If you’re a teacher and you want to test out this app, it’s easy. Just download the app, create a login, and then launch the website (m.socrative.com) from any device: a laptop, desktop computer, smartphone, or tablet. The second device does not have to have the app installed so does not have to be an Apple product. The “student” device will enter the Room Number as shown on your “teacher” device’s Teacher Dashboard. As the teacher, you have one of several ways to test: but the easiest is to ask a question and hit the Multiple Choice button. The student will see options A, B, C, D, or E appear. Make the choice, and the teacher device will show the results in real time.
It’s as easy as that, and that’s how it works for real.
How It Works
I did the test to see how it worked. It took me just a minute or two to register. Beyond setting up my account with my email and a password, it also asked me a few basic questions like my first and last names, what I was teaching, and where.
I also learned at that point that teachers can visit t.socrative.com. It would be a lot faster and easier to create a quiz from a computer, so that’s what I tried first.
The main page of the website makes it easy to navigate the site. I scrolled down to Manage Quizzes and clicked on it, clicked on Create a Quiz, and started. It took me about five minutes to create a five-question multiple choice quiz.
I then launched the app on my iPhone. It was very clear what my Room Number was and how many students were in my room. Activities to choose from were directly below that, set up to look just like the web version.
Next I became the “student” and went to m.socrative.com. I entered in the room number and clicked Join Room. My teacher device immediately showed that one person had entered my room. I clicked on Start Quiz to run the quiz I had just designed.
The student side of the program tried to work but the teacher side didn’t move past the selection screen. I had to go back and try again with the teacher device. The second time, it worked.
After I entered in the first answer as the student, I got a “Good job, you got the right answer” prompt and continued on. The teacher device showed a chart showing how many of the students had picked which answer.
After the quiz is done, you can then email the results to yourself.
I also tested out the other features of this app. Other than the hitch setting up the multiple choice quiz with the first test, everything worked smoothly.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- It’s totally free
- Works really well to get students involved
- Students can participate from any device with an Internet connection
- Send reports by email
- See results in real time
Cons
- Had a minor glitch but that might have been a one-off problem
Final Verdict
I think this app will really work to help teachers and students connect better in the classroom. I love the idea of seeing real-time results and I think that students will love the option of being able to input answers using their smartphones, tablets, or other devices. I give it two thumbs up!