When thinking about the best ways to check for students understanding this product makes me want to go formative!

Formative is an educational app which works to transform the dynamics of how educators and students approach assessments. Formative includes all the typical trappings of assessments; multiple choice, fill in the blank, and short answers. However, formative also includes drawings (show your work and whiteboard), audio and video responses, and tools which support the academic needs of various subjects and grade levels. For example, formative includes graphing, table grids, and matching options for students. While these options are great, they can either be done on paper, in person, or over different educational tools. What makes formative so important in changing how assessments are used in the classroom is real-time data. Students can be taking their assessment all at the same time and educators can watch on their own screen what their students are doing and how they are processing information. Educators can then see what their students are doing, step in if they feel the need to, and inform their teaching based on what they see on formative. This final portion of technology that formative provides not only substitutes traditional assessments but, redefines how students and teachers understand and engage with assessments.

I think Formative is a useful teaching tool and has the potential to do more. The free version allows for a lot of variability in questions and problems, but has its limitations. It would be nice to have the mathematical input available for the free version. It's useful to have the premium paid version so you are able to combine a the whiteboard and answer box into one question, without the paid version you need to make them a separate question, which can make it confusing for some students, but can still work if you are unable to pay the price. I've been using the Free version and it has been okay so far, but definitely an extra step for the students and, like I said, is confusing for some of the students.

This app is better suited to older students who are already familiar with using similar apps to this. For 4th graders who’ve never used something like this it’s an absolute disaster. Without a parent at home to help with it this app is extremely challenging to use and it’s menu controls don’t work properly and are glitchy. There has to be some better apps out there than this one. It feels like something from 1995.