Socrative vs. Infuselearning

Socrative vs. Infuselearning

Formative assessment is a powerful tool for teachers. Quality and timely formative assessment helps teachers make informed instructional decisions. These instructional decisions make all the difference for students. In some classrooms, teachers are utilizing proprietary clickers for these formative assessments. If you have these devices, then clickers are a great tool for formative assessment. But if you don't have clickers and do not want to invest in these devices, there are two quality free, web-based options to choose. Socrative and Infuselearning perform all the same tasks as clickers and then some but which is the better choice?

Question Types
Socrative - Multiple Choice, True/False, Short Answer
Infuselearning - True/False, Multiple Choice, Sort and Order, Text Response, Numeric Response, Likert Scale, draw response(only available in quick assessment mode)

    

Socrative Question Types

Infuse Learning Question Types

As you can see, Infuselearning has more available question types. Unfortunately, draw response cannot be used when using a teacher-created quiz. The draw response is a great informal tool that is utilized in the quick assessment mode. Depending on the question or concept, a drawing is a great alternative way to show understanding.

Although Socrative has less question types, it does come with some premade assessments. These pre-made quizzes are nice but I usually want to create exactly what I want instead of using a pre-made quiz. I do not think I would use this feature very much at all.

Both programs allow you to ask questions on the fly without having to make a pre-made quiz. This gives the user greater flexibility in how they want to use the programs.

Socrative allows the teacher to run the assessment from the web or through their teacher app. Infuselearning is run exclusively through the website. Even though it lacks its own app, Infuselearning looks great on a tablet or phone.

Question Type Winner: Infuselearning

User Experience
Socrative - Internet Connected Devices, Student and Teacher App for IOS and Andriod
InfuseLearning - Internet Connected Devices

Students only need a room number for Socrative

Students using Socrative can connect from the student website or they can connect through the student app. Upon entering the student login interface, students needs to enter the room number. In Socrative, the room number will be the same for all quizzes. Once signed in, students will then be in a waiting screen until the assessment is ready to begin. Students using Socrative can also use any web browser.

A room number and name is needed in each enrollment setup

For Infuselearning, students will go to the student login page and enter their room number and name. A difference with Infuselearing is that each created assessment will have a different room number. On the fly assessments will use the same room number. Using the different room numbers could create some confusion for students. Another big minus is the lack of Internet Explorer support. As much I love Google Chrome, I think not supporting Internet Explorer alienates a large chunk of potential users.

Both programs offer users a similar experience when taking an assessment. There are no noticeable differences when taking an assessment. Depending on teacher settings, students may know if they got the question correct instantly.

User Experience Winner: Socrative

Teacher Experience
When a teacher logs into Socrative, all of their options are divided into easy to use sections. I like how teachers can see how many students are in the room ready to use Socrative. From the main screen it is easy to do a single question or go in and prepare a quiz. When starting a previously created quiz, teachers can choose from student paced or teacher led mode. As students are taking a quiz, the teacher can track progress for each student. Quizzes can also be shared with other users which is a nice feature. Another great feature is that you can download reports from past quizzes. So if you forget to download the report after the assessment, you can go get it later! Editing your profile is a breeze too. Finally a small feature like "Clear Room" is an added bonus. When using the teacher app, the user experience is exactly the same. That is useful so teachers do not need to learn two separate interfaces.

Infuselearning provides an equally great user experience. After logging into Infuselearning, teachers have the options to perform many tasks. Single question items are a click away and it is also easy to create a quiz. When choosing to start a previously created quiz, the only option is student paced. There is no teacher led mode for these types of quizzes. Another difference with Infuselearning is the enrollment option. When starting a session or taking attendance, you can set enrollment to "open" or you can pick a particular class. When creating classes, teachers need to add their students into the class. This can be done manually or with a student import. When starting a session with a particular class, students will need to enter their names (as they appear in the class list) and the room number. Of course all this can be skipped with the open enrollment option. This class feature might be great for some and others will never use it. I like that there is an option. Teachers also have options to change profile preferences just like Socrative. Also like Socrative, teachers can share quizzes and download past quiz data as an Excel spreadsheet. Infuse Learning does not have an app but the web interface is easy to use on your phone.

Teacher Experience: Draw - Both interfaces are great. Each has their own little differences that make them unique and will appeal to different users.

Overall: You cannot go wrong with either Infuselearning or Socrative for formative assessment in your classroom. The differences between each contender are small. I would choose Infuselearning as my winner if it supported Internet Explorer. That is a major drawback but the draw response is awesome and cannot be duplicated in Socrative. So if Internet Explorer is not an issue for you, I would probably recommend Infuselearning. For those districts using Internet Explorer or have a large portion of their school using personal devices, I would recommend Socrative because of the free app for teachers and students and the ability to use Internet Explorer.

For those using these resources in your classroom, what do you think?