This morning I answered an email from a reader named Eric who was looking for an alternative to GradeCam. His school district is possibly not renewing their subscription to GradeCam, but based on his message (copied below), it sounds like he likes the technology of GradeCam.

Here’s the message I received:

I teach an AP class and when it comes down to it my students will sit for a traditional bubble sheet test during the AP Exam. So, I would like to prepare them as much as possible for this. I do implement best practice and conduct other assessment types, but for my unit assessments I think it is important that they get use to this. Do you know have any other platform that will allow us to print off a bubble sheet that use technology to score it for free? We traditionally ask up to 20-25 multiple choice questions per test.

My suggestion was to try the Quick Key service offered by Validated Learning. Quick Key has free and paid plans. The free plan provides thirty question bubble sheets and a license to score up to one hundred quizzes per month. You can use the free Quick Key iOS or Android app to scan the bubble sheets and have the scores automatically added into a spreadsheet.

My Thoughts About Bubble Sheet Scoring Apps
I’ve written about Quick Key and similar apps in the past. Whenever I do that I receive comments (on Facebook or Twitter) or emails from folks who think that I shouldn’t promote these types of apps because they promote giving multiple choice tests. The reality is that there are lots of good teachers who, like in the case of the teacher who emailed me today, have to administer multiple choice bubble sheet tests whether they want to or not. A tool like Quick Key can make the scoring process quicker which in turn gives teachers more time for other things like developing new and interesting teaching strategies to use in their classrooms.