How I Use It
I have used Socrative with students as an introduction to topics as well as a review of the lesson in all of the content areas: math, writing, literacy, social studies, and science. That's what's so great about Socrative: it can be used in any subject area where you would ask a question to a student, but is so much more engaging than a piece of paper. Usually, each student has an iPod touch with the Socrative app loaded on it, and are able to type in the "room" name with ease, as I made it my last name. The most recent way I used Socrative was to review rhyming skills in a first grade classroom. I split my class up into two teams, and assigned team colors to each side. Then, I used the multiple choice questions and the Space Race feature to do a whole-class game. My students were literally jumping up and down with excitement.
The only struggle I had was with my school's internet connection. Because Socrative is web-based, it runs kind of slow and doesn't connect as well if the internet is down or running slow. Sometimes I have had to go to Plan B when I thought I was going to use the app.
My Take
As an instructional technology resource teacher, I am constantly looking for different ways to use the iPod Touches rather than just handing them to students to 'play games.' Socrative definitely brings new purpose to those tools. The students were super engaged (especially when you project the results of the quiz on the board a la the Space Race section of the app!). The app is easy to use, and I think it is fantastic that the log in can be controlled by the teacher. I love that you can rename your "Room" to make it easier for your students to log in to your quizzes, and that you can make quizzes ahead of time so they are ready to go during class. I also like that you can give questions on the fly, for taking quick polls and for exit slips at the end of the learning block. Socrative updates their product frequently as well, so new features show up all the time.
Another fantastic feature of Socrative is the reporting function, which analyzes the collected data and puts it into a nice and neat spreadsheet for you. Flipping through pages and pages of quizzes to score them is a thing of the past! It is fantastic that Socrative can be accessed through any device, as well, from iPod touches to laptops to tablets.
Because I work with elementary students, it was important to me that there were visuals involved (which Socrative has added as a feature). A feature I wish Socrative had is the ability to have pictures as possible answers for the questions. Another thing I would change about the app is to add more types of questions. My students range from age 5 to age 10, so it would be great to have questions that involve matching, drop down menus, and fill in the blank.
