Socrative

I was reading a blog done by Richard Byrne, his blog is called "Free Technology for Teachers."  On his recent blog he was discussing his favourite tool on which he used to survey an audience.  The tool is called Socrative.  It's a tool teachers can use in their classroom as long as each student has some kind of device such as a cell phone, tablet or laptop.  With technology these days and almost every student in a secondary school having a cell phone it should be a feasible tool to use.  Basically what happens is a teacher poses some sort of question, whether it being a multiple choice or true or false question.  The students can then respond and give their answer just by hitting a button on their phone.  The teacher is then able to see the responses of each student.  It is some what similar to the clicker system used at the University of Saskatchewan.  I don't know how many people had a class that used the clicker system but I had a class in my first year that used this clicker system.  It is definitely a better system for larger audiences but it could work in the classroom for one specific reason.  I find a tendency that some students are afraid to raise their hand in class and answer questions because of the fact they are afraid to give a wrong response in front of their peers.  By using Socrative they can give their answer without the fear of their peers knowing whether they chose the right response or not.  Their answer is confidential except to the teacher.  This way the teacher knows who is understand and who isn't.  I recommend everyone to check out this new tool.