Using Google Voice to Assess Students

I've talked recently with several colleagues about how I use google voice in my classroom to assess my students' speaking skills in German.  I remember back in German 1 when I was a student in high school, and (even though my German education was a bit unconventional - with Distance Learning), we still had to take quite a bit of time out of our scheduled class for speaking practice with the teacher (or tutor in our case).  When I started observing more and more German classrooms as an undergraduate student, I saw this more and more.  The teacher would give the class an assignment that would last the entire period, he/she would stand in the hallway (by the door), and call students one by one out to give their speaking quiz.  It was such nerve racking for the students to have to perform on the spot with the teacher towering over them with his/her clip board.  If they said "Ich bist Lucas" the teacher would start scribbling down marks that the student did not have control over the verb "sein" and could not correctly conjugate the verb. 

I've found a solution.

Google Voice is a free service offered by the fine folks of Google.  Users create a telephone number and can set up their voice mail system.  For teachers, I recommend linking the telephone number to your school's main office (so that all "prank" calls go there instead of to your email - more tracking available on that side).  Absolutely select "do not accept blocked calls" and you definitely need to link the account to your school email address. 

By linking the number to your school email address, you are able to have all voicemails (as mp3 files) and text messages come directly through the school server (therefore it is being tracked and logged to protect you and your students). 

You need to have permission from the parents (in some situations) for the student to use their phone during the school day, and most definitely need to have "approval" by your school administrators.

I generally will ask the students to spend their designated homework time planning what they are going to say during the quiz (usually it is a verbal response to a prompt).  Sometimes, it is best to assess spontaneous speaking too.  After explaining the ground rules to the students, I ask them to get out their cell phones, go find a place in the hallway that is quiet and away from other students, call my google voice number, leave a voice message with their response to the prompt.  Then my blackberry starts buzzing with all of their responses. 

Something that usually would take an entire class period (to assess 30-35 students), now can take 3 minutes to get done during the day.  This does allow for less class time to be "wasted" and keeps students engaged.  It also allows the teacher to grade the speaking skills on their own time (during planning, before or after school, or on the weekend - see previous post on weekends...), thus giving them more time to listen, and re-listen to each student's skills to more accurately assess them. 

I'm sure there are 3 million other ways to do this, but this is what works for me. Let me know if you give it a try or need help with setting it up!