Bringing formative assessment to the classroom with Mouse Mischief
May 27, 2010
Here at Instructify, there are a few terms that make us sit up and pay attention. One of them is formative assessment. Just saying those two words can send Dr. Hobgood into an hour-long session on the importance and practical applications of formative assessment with an ear-to-ear smile the whole time. Recently, the advent of wireless clickers has provided a new tool for teachers to plan formative assessment strategies in the classroom. But like all new technologies, this equipment is somewhat expensive, and not practical to put in every classroom (especially with students’ propensity to walk out of classrooms with items).
Enter Microsoft’s rather oddly named application Mouse Mischief. Mouse Mischief is a program that takes an ordinary wired or wireless mouse and a PowerPoint presentation and turns it into an interactive teaching environment where teachers can engage in…wait for it…formative assessment of their students’ understanding and comprehension of the lesson plan or subject they are studying, allowing for the all important on-the-fly reevaluation of learning goals. (more…)
