Using Zipgrade in Your Classroom

I hate paying for software. I pride myself on always finding a better, free version of everything. I made an exception this past year. I definitely do not regret it! Zipgrade is an app you can download on your iPhone or Android phone. Your students will complete a multiple choice exam on scantrons provided by their website. As students are finishing, you can walk around with your phone and scan their tests to give them instant feedback on their test. Here is a video demonstrating the app.

Zip Grade Demo from Joseph Bue on Vimeo.

One thing I love about this app is I can look for patterns immediately. When you scan a student's answer sheet, you will get instant feedback that looks like this:

If I notice that a student did well on the first 2/3 of the test but bombed the last third, I can ask them to go back and fix that problem without telling them exactly which questions he or she missed. Many students will stop trying near the end of the test and this app helps me to stop that from happening.

Also, I like to tell the students which questions they missed so they can go back and correct them. I know this inflates the grade and skews the data but I'm more concerned about them learning the material than having accurate grades.

I did have a few minor problems. Sometimes I couldn't get an accurate scan. I wasn't sure if the lighting was too bright or too dark. I also had some students bubble E when they meant to bubble D. So be very mindful at the beginning of the year.

Overall, I love this app and the price ($6 per year). Now, I don't have to beg for thousands of dollars to replace my aging clickers. It's data-driven; it's very easy to use.