Creating a matching assessment with SMART Response

My first experience using a clicker system was about 7 years ago when I was given a demo unit to try out in my classroom. I knew of the system and how it worked but as I set it up I found it clunky and frustrating at best. The software simply wouldn't do what I wanted it to do but, as with all things technology, the first version of a product is often a proof of concept and simply a way to get feedback. As I look at systems like the SMART Response (formerly Senteo), there has been great growth from my first experience and it's clear that we've moved far beyond that initial proof of concept. In my work, one of the features that is often requested from the SMART Response system is the ability to create matching questions. While it's not one of the question types, it can be done. Here's how:

1. Create the items that you want to be matched. In the example that I'm going to use throughout this post, I have created a simple quiz where students will identify the continents. To do this, I grabbed a world map from the SMART Notebook Gallery and placed numbers on each of the continents.

 

1. On the next slide, create a multiple choice question that has the names of each item (continent) to be identified and matched on the map.

 

1. Copy all of the choices from that multiple choice question and paste them back on that first page where the items to be identified are labeled (in my case it's the map). Depending on the graphic or layout of that first page, you may have to resize your matching options so that they don't take up the entire page.

 

1. Go back to the question that you made (probably the second slide) and clone this page (ctrl-D). After the first time you clone it, you will be asked if you want to create a title page. For a matching assessment like this, you do. Type in the title of the assessment and a new page will be created and put at the beginning of your slides.

 

1. Go back to the question page and clone it again for as many matching options as you have. In my case I will have seven slides all with the same question. One thing to remember, using the regular SMART Response clickers, you are limited to only 10 choices before having to start over again. In other words, there are 10 buttons (A-J). Once you reach 10, you will need to create a new set of questions.

 

1. Once you have created the right number of questions, you will need to set the correct answers by clicking on the "Response" dropdown menu and selecting "Set all answers". Select the correct answers for each question and click done.

 

1. Now it's time to start your quiz. Have your students log on and sign in (if you've already set up your classes) and go to your second slide. What's nice about this technique is that your entire assessment can be given from slide number 2 and students will do their matching from the SMART Response handsets.

 

1. When all students are finished, end the assessment and you have just completed using the SMART Response system to do a matching assessment with your students.

  If you'd like to see it in action, you can download the example SMART Notebook file from the link below and you can watch the following video as it will walk you through the steps involved. Download the Continent Matching example SMART Notebook File