I use Desmos in class on an almost daily basis. For our midterm, I decided to let my students use Desmos. As new Algebra learners, many of my students often make small mathematical errors, especially on exams. My hope was that using Desmos to verify their answers would help them see graphically when they had made an error, and be able to correct it.
How I created it:
I made a traditional exam on paper and then a Desmos Activity builder to go along with it. I created a “Welcome to the exam” slide with instructions. I created two slides for each question, one introduction slide and one working slide (usually a graph slide). I also added “STOP” slides in-between each question to help the students. Most of the questions were on paper, then students verified their answers with Desmos. However, I did have two slides where the graphs were on Desmos, and they had to write the equations of the graphs. Here is a sample of the slides.
How I implemented it:
If you have iPads, Desmos has a test mode app you can use. We are 1-1 so my students did the Desmos part on their computers. I did not want students having the exam on their computers, or accidentally sharing the exam, so I made sure that they were not signed in to Desmos. Since we use Desmos frequently, I had to instruct my students to sign out of Desmos after they went student.desmos.com. I sat behind the students, so I could see all of their screens at the same time to ensure they only were on this screen. I had them close the window when they were finished. When they put in the code without signing in, they have to hit, “Join without signing in.”
- Go to student.desmos.com
- Sign out of Desmos
- Instruct your students to enter the code, and to click on “Continue without signing in.” I had them enter their first and last names.
- I went around to each computer once they started to verify they were not signed in. **To do this, at the top right hand side of the page, you should see their name, and then an option to sign in or create an account. Then you know they aren’t signed in.
- You can “pause” the activity at the end of the exam so students could not go back to individual screens after the exam. I did not do this, but will in the future. (Thanks John Rowe!)
How I graded it:
I had them put all of their final answers on the test paper. This way I could grade it like a traditional exam. I went to Desmos if I had a question about their answers. For a few students, I was able to give some points back if their Desmos was correct, but they messed up on their test paper. I loved being able to verify their test paper answers on Desmos. It helped me see what they were thinking and award partial credit where appropriate.
I loved it!
During the exam I kept an eye on the teacher dashboard to see how kids were doing. I loved seeing kids quietly go, “YES!” and celebrate at their desks when entered their answers in Desmos and it worked. I also liked using the teacher dashboard to watch the kids work during the exam. I saw one student enter the incorrect graph, and then see that it was wrong. They went back to their paper to think and work more, and was able to enter the correct graph the second time. It was amazing. The tough part was when students didn’t know how to do the problem, and then their wrong answer was verified on Desmos. For the future, I really want to try to incorporate Desmos into more assessments, not just midterm exams.
What they said:
Most of my students really loved being able to use Desmos. It was a great reassurance for the majority of the kids. The last question (if they had time) asked students how they felt about the exam and if they felt Desmos helped. I loved reading their replies! My favorite was, “DESMOS WAS A LIFE SAVER”
Here is the Desmos code if you want to check out the sample Desmos midterm in more detail.
Updated – Great tips from commenters!
For future, just “pause” from the teacher dashboard and that prevents them from accessing it outside of class time. – John Rowe
John Rowe had an excellent suggestion that I had not thought of before! At the end of the exam, you can hit the PAUSE button so kids will not be able to access the exam later. Brilliant idea and I can’t believe this didn’t occur to me!
I made shortlinks and printed them on the assessment paper which had the actual questions so being logged in wasn’t as much of an issue. – John Golden
John Golden had a great idea about using just a Desmos calculator link instead of an activity builder and then giving the students short links on their tests. I love this idea, especially for shorter assessments. It is what I was looking for to be able to incorporate Desmos into smaller assessments.
Like this:
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I plan on using Desmos Activity Builders that connect students to each other, like Point Collector, and especially activities that contain Gallery Slides. A Desmos Gallery is a screen at the end of an activity where students get to create their own challenge for their classmates. And then their classmates pick each others challenges to solve. I feel that doing these galleries will not only allow students to be creative, but also feel connected to other students. I plan on encouraging them to reach out to the “creator” while working on a challenge, or providing feedback after.
In Activity Builder, I can have the students work at their own pace, or I can chose teacher paced so I control how they move through the slides. The thing I love most about Desmos is that I can see the students working in real time. They have multiple choice slides so I could even give a Desmos Activity Builder quiz if I wanted to! There are already many pre-made lessons in Desmos Activity Builder, so you don’t even have to make your own! They even have bundles of lessons for each topic! Below is an preview of the Desmos Bundle for Linears.
I Speak Math 