TechQuest Research

Overview: During my research I tried to look for three things; 1) support for my project objective, 2) examples of how other teachers are making this work, 3) great sites I might be able to use to collect data as I launch my project. I found a great deal of support for progress monitoring. I was already aware how great it can be within the RTI model. However, it was difficult to find teachers who were doing exactly what I want to do—set up an independent center designed to collect this data weekly. Many of my searches were cluttered with professional sites offering expensive programs that can be purchased by school buildings. These were not reasonable for me on my limited budget. However, I tried to at least see what they had to offer so I could know why types of features might be important to me when making my final selection. In order to narrow my search, I used the resource: Top 5 to help me locate great resources that accomodate my limited budget.

These are the sites I found most influential in my decision-making:

Resource: Data Collection Basics for Teachers
LINK
What I learned: It will be important for students to have individual log-in information. In addition to wanting to know exactly WHO could use additional support, this site brought to my attention that some students in my room may have IEPs. My weekly data collection station might be a great way for me to collect extra information on those students. It feels good coming to IEP meetings with an abundance of hard data. Individual log-ins would be key in this case.

Resource: Data Collection
LINK
NOTE: This a Powerpoint presentation that must be downloaded in order to view the images.
What I learned: This teacher had some great recommendations for ways students can track their own progress. It helped expand my ideas of what I can do with my quiz center. Students could each have a ‘data folder’ in the room. They could practice recording their results on a weekly basis. This would alleviate some of the burden from me while giving students great practice with graphing. Of course I would want to keep my own records of the data. But allowing students to monitor their progress could be really motivating. This site offered several examples of charts and bulletin boards that this teacher has used and found successful.

Resource: Exam Builder
LINK
What I learned: This site had some great features. It has an elaborate set up, much more than Survey Monkey etc. I can organize my pretests, give complete instructions through the program, establish a ‘passing score,’ set time limits, etc. I like the fact that students have the ability go back and view what questions they missed and I can set up feedback information that will be viewable based on that student’s performance. This helps the program teeter on a teaching tool. I can do a lot with randomization here. That way if two students are sitting at the center beside each other, they’ll be less likely to skew the data. One thing I REALLY like is my ability to manage students right in the software. This would be a nice luxury for me. It would keep me from having to transfer data out each week. Unfortunately, this site is NOT free. It advertises itself as such until you get hooked. Then it reveals that you are only getting a 30 day trial and even then you can only add 5 students. After that the lowest possible cost is $650. This is not a reasonable option for me. But it has helped me zone in on some features that I’d like to look for as I continue to research.

Resource: Quiz Center
LINK
What I learned: This site also had some great things to offer. Password protection makes sure only my kids are getting in. Quizzes are stored in my account which is nice for me management-wise. The quiz-taking layout is very basic. It looks more like a Survey Money set up. They do not offer very elaborate question set-up—it is mostly multiple choice. You can do short answer, but based on the feedback it sounds like a lot of people have problems getting this to work for them the right way. I like that I can create student groups and manage those online. Obviously I am getting a lot less than Exam Builder since this is a truly free site. But for the money, I like what is available to me.

Resource: Easy Test Maker
LINK
What I learned: My first move was to check the pricing. I was really bummed with Exam Builder when it had such great stuff and then way WAY out of my budget. Easy Test Maker offers a free subscription with the option to upgrade to ‘Plus’ status for $15/year. Very reasonable! I like the way this site allows me to create several different types of questions; multiple choice, fill in the blank, matching, short answer, etc. The appearance is very basic, but has an elementary-school feel. I can download results into a Word document, which would be nice for keeping hard records. On the downside, this site does not offer the nice student-management features I am looking for. I believe that is essential to my data collection success.

Resource: Charles Kelly Online Quiz Generator
LINK
What I learned: This site was VERY basic. It looks like it was produced by an individual for their own use and then opened up to the public. It does not allow students to log in and take the quiz. It is a resource where teachers can generate a quiz and print/save it for hard-copy use. This will not work for me.

Resource: JavaScript QuizMaker
LINK
What I learned: This site allows you to jump right in. However, it requires the test maker to use some code, which I believe would get very tedious as I was trying to fit this task into my busy schedule every week. There appears no way for students to log-in, which is essential for me. This will not work.

Resource: ClassTools
LINK
What I learned: This site was lacking in some of my required areas and it also gave me much more than I needed in others. ClassTools allows teachers to make very cool, engaging quizzes. Students can even play little game-like sequences. However, the directions for some of these were a bit confusing. Also, some of the cute question formats were really rigid. They would not work for all subject matter. Therefore, it would create an additional task for me—figuring out what I want to ask, and then figuring out which elaborate way I want to use to deliver the question. Although this has some very cute features, I want something a little more direct.

Resource: QuizStar
LINK
What I learned: I decided to check this one out after it was recommended to me. I am very impressed! QuizStar offers all the things I want: required log-in, class management, different question styles and data management tools. Apparently this site recently became free to use once again (they were charging for a short time) so I was happy about that! I have created my account to play with and I believe I will keep going with this one. Thanks for the great suggestion!