This year, I had the chance to attend the Crowdmark Community Conference 2025—and it was my first time! I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect, but it turned out to be such a thoughtful and inspiring experience.
One of the things I found most exciting was hearing directly from educators who use Crowdmark in all kinds of creative and practical ways. It was interesting to see how the platform is being used to support different teaching styles and innovative assessment approaches.
How to use Crowdmark for collaborative in-class activities at scale | Professor Diana Skrzydlo (Recording|Slides)
One session that stood out to me was from Professor Diana Skrzydlo, who shared how to use Crowdmark for collaborative in-class activities at scale. I’m used to only seeing Crowdmark used for large assignments or exams, so it was eye-opening to see it being used to support group work during class time.
Here’s how she does it in her smaller to medium-sized classes: She prints out the group activity sheets ahead of time, hands them out during class, and then scans the students’ answers after class using Crowdmark. The groups are pre-set and rotate throughout the term, so everyone gets a chance to work with different people.
Another thing I found noteworthy is how flexible she is with this approach. For example, for larger classes, students can pick their own groups and work with whoever they want. And for online classes, she uses Crowdmark’s assigned assessment (which will be answered and submited online instead of using the paper answer sheet) and gives students 24 hours after class to submit their group work.
She also highlights that she values that these activities help build a sense of connection in the class. They also make it easier for instructors to get timely feedback on where students are struggling.
Since students are working together, there’s no real worry about the use of AI tools. This reminded me of the CTSI GenAI Reading Group discussion I joined recently, where the first reading session discussed how structural changes to assessment are needed in the age of AI (If you’re curious, the reading is Talk is cheap: why structural assessment changes are needed for a time of GenAI by Corbin, Dawson, and Liu (2025)). I thought Professor Skrzydlo’s example was a great illustration of how process-based assessment can work well in this context.
However, it’s not all smooth sailing. One challenge Professor Skrzydlo mentioned is that after a group submits their answer sheet, she still needs to manually match group members in Crowdmark—since Crowdmark doesn’t automatically match students for Administered assessments. This can be especially tricky in large classes, and it made me wonder if there might be a better tool for supporting this kind of group collaboration at U of T.
One possible solution (suggested in a discussion about this session with the ETO team), is to use the group assigned assessment option in Crowdmark. In this setup, students can still work offline on paper during class, but when it’s time to submit, one group member can scan the completed activity and upload it to the assigned assessment on behalf of the group.
(Want to learn more? check out Crowdmark’s guide on Administered assessments and Assigned assessments)
My takeaways
Overall, my key takeaways from the session were:
- Collaboration makes learning more fun. As Professor Skrzydlo highlighted, when students feel connected in class, it creates a positive vibe that helps everyone engage more deeply with the material.
- Structural changes to assessment are needed. With the increasing presence of GenAI, some educators are beginning to explore new approaches to assessment design. A shift from product-based to process-based assessments is one direction to explore.
- Technology supports pedagogy, as always. There are many tools available to support teaching and learning, but it’s all about picking the ones that align with the instructor’s pedagogical approach and course design. When technology is used thoughtfully, it makes the whole learning experience smoother.