SRS Tools and My Experiences

 

SRS Tools: What Works and What Doesn't

    In a recent class assignment we had the opportunity to work with different SRS (Student Response Systems) tools that can benefit our future classrooms. We had different options given to us to play around with and get familiar with. Using these types of SRS tools can benefit your future/present students as well as yourself. A majority of the SRS tools given were well organized and straight forward. Of course, not all SRS tools are the same and some can provide different formats that teachers or students may not be accustomed to. I had two SRS tools and was fortunate enough to experience both an easy SRS tool to navigate and use, and one that was all over the place and busy. 

    Class Responder was a very easy and fun SRS to use. In the teacher point of view everything was straight forward and simple. I enjoyed using it because everything was in one place and I never had to stray far to create an activity or a quick poll. Class Responder even has premade activities as a back up or if you need some inspiration. On the other hand, there were a few hiccups I experienced during my class presentation of the SRS tool. When attempting to delete an assignment the whole SRS tool seemed to crash. I was stuck on an endless loop of the system trying to delete the assignment. Refreshing the page didn't help and trying to log in and out seemed to freeze everything up. To give the SRS tool the benefit of the doubt, I am assuming this was just a small hiccup that will be fixed or has been fixed already. The second SRS tool I had to work with was The Answer Pad. This SRS tool was something I was not a huge fan of. There was a decent amount of things you can do with the free version; however, upgrading to the different packages seemed to add more features that would benefit students in class. You would be better off using google classroom or any other free teaching tool. The Answer Pad was very difficult to get the hang of. It felt like all the different tabs and tools I wanted to use were all over the place and it was constantly busy with things on the screen. It got to the point where I wasn't sure what I was doing and kept getting distracted while trying to explore the SRS tool. 

SOCRATIVE    

    I enjoyed using Class Responder; however, there were a few other SRS tools that some of my classmates had that I enjoyed. Socrative was a really great SRS tool because, much like Kahoot, it provided a real time quiz and response feature that I see myself using for my future classes. This SRS tool was very easy to use and didn't feel cluttered or busy when I needed to find certain features. I enjoyed playing around with Socrative and finding different features that can benefit students. I see myself using this in the future. 

QUIZALIZE    

    Another SRS tool that I found myself interested in was Quizalize. This SRS tool was very organized and had the feature to spotlight certain subjects. Creating quizzes with this tool was very easy and simple. They gave you the option to create your own quizzes or borrow an already made quiz. The option to edit premade quizzes was also very surprising and useful. I was able to take out or add questions to quizzes that were already made. Making my own quizzes was also very fast and simple. I enjoyed playing around with Quizalize and can see myself using this in the future. 

POLL EVERYWHERE    

    The last SRS tool that I reviewed was Poll Everywhere. This SRS tool was a little much at first. It felt like there was a lot on my screen all at once. After a while of playing around with it I found that it was easy to navigate and wasn't as busy as I originally thought. This SRS tool is unique because it provides the educator or presenter to receive data in real time. I can ask a question and have students respond in an instant. This can help educators get the lesson out to their students as well as see if it is effective or not. Students will love it because they can respond fast and stay active in class and teachers will love it because students love it. I see myself using this in future classrooms. 

    Overall, SRS tools are very effective in a classroom setting. As a student, I enjoy using these tools in class because I feel as if my input can be received and processed by the teacher, and then I can get a response almost immediately. It's a great way to have questions answered and to really use as a hands on learning tool. I am a very hands on learner and having to go to school that is all online is extremely hard and challenging. Using more SRS tools in class would help all students struggling in this online setting. It feels more hands on and responsive and will help students stay more involved in class.