Sanja Leben Jazbec, OŠ Solkan
GoFormative.com is an online tool/environment which enables the teacher to function as a formative teacher; that is, to regulate the learning process in cooperation with the learners. The process is guided by three key questions (Ramaprasad, 1983; Thomson, William, 2007): “Where are we”, “Where to go”, and “How to get there”. When I first tried out Goformative, I found it a simple, very useful, and free tool, which aids the learning process considerably when it comes to the “Where are we” and “How to get there” phases. First, the teacher creates an account, and next, they open a group, within which they then prepare exercises. There is a choice between closed-ended questions (e.g. true/false exercises, multiple-choice questions, etc.) and open-ended questions (e.g. “Write down the answer”, “Draw”, “Show what you have done” – this option enables the learner to upload his/her photos or draw a picture.) Pre-existing work sheets in Microsoft Word format, photos, and videos can also be uploaded by the teacher, and then he/she can design exercises regarding individual segments of the materials. When the learners have logged in, the teacher forwards them a quick code and follows their progress. Again, there are two options: observing all the learners and their answers at once or to concentrate on a particular learner and follow his/her learning process in a separate window. The teacher can react to the learners’ work instantly. One option is to design the exercise in such a way that it can be graded by ticking the number of points scored. Another possibility is to write feedback, and the teacher can also choose to both grade an exercise AND write feedback. For me as a formative teacher, the most considerable advantage of Goformative is that I can immediately react to a learner’s work with feedback and then observe his/her reaction, since the program notifies me should any changes be made. I can then make out from the learner’s correction in what way he/she reacted. At the same time, I analyse my feedback: was I clear enough? Was I concrete enough? Did my feedback help the learner to develop? Learners’ work, as well as feedback are the starting point for further learning. Sometimes I show my learners all the answers and we discuss them together, but in most cases I point out one particular answer or picture, and I also decide whether I will mention the learner’s name or not. So, why Goformative? Because it presents an opportunity to make everyone involved in the learning process aware of the fact that its focus must be the process itself and not the content. Last but not least, we offer the learner the chance to remain or to become a responsible architect of his/her own knowledge, and I find this feature of crucial importance.
