Clickers

• What is it?
  • Clickers are handheld devices that allow each student to respond to a multiple-choice question; the responses of the entire class are aggregated by the clicker system, so that the instructor (and students, if the instructor chooses) can see the results.
• How can it address this Instructional Challenge?
  • Begin each class with a brief quiz which is done via the clickers. For example, if you assigned a reading for that class, ask five questions that assess whether the students have read it. You might make two of the questions pertain to specific facts in the reading, and three others pertain to its overall ideas or themes.
  • For the whole course, these "clicker quizzes" should amount to no more than about 10% of the final grade. In other words, each quiz should be worth only a quarter or half a percent. Why?
  • Once the class starts to better prepare for class, and they start to do better on the clicker quizzes, you might start to show the class the aggregate results for the quiz. Why?

Question Facilitation Tools

• What is it?
  • Questions Facilitation Tools are online programs that allow students to ask questions online during a class, and to vote on the relevance or quality of each other's questions.
  • Question Facilitation Tools include Google Moderator, Hotseat, and Live Question.
• How can it address this Instructional Challenge?
  • During a class, students are required to log into, say, Google Moderator and ask two questions that are based on the pre-assigned reading. Fellow students vote on the relevance or quality of each question, and the students who asked the five best questions for that class receive a point which contributes to their final grade.

ePortfolios or Student Blogs

• What is it?
  • Blogs and ePortfolios differ from one another in many ways, but in the context of this question, they can serve the same purpose. Blogs and ePortfolios can both provide an opportunity for students to reflect upon their learning (and also for fellow students to read those reflections and make supportive or insightful comments on them).
• How can it address this Instructional Challenge?
  • Throughout a course, students are required to reflect upon and write about the readings that are assigned before each class. In particular, they are required to reflect upon and write about connections among the various readings. The ePortfolio or Blog program indicates when they have written each reflection, so that an instructor can ensure that it was written before the assigned time and date. The instructor reviews each student's ePortfolio or Blog three-weeks into the course, six weeks into the course, and at the end of the course. Why?

Concept Maps

• What is it?
  • Concept Maps visually depict the relationships among ideas, events, or things. Concept Map programs facilitate the creation of sophisticated maps, and have features such as these: the ability to collaborate on a map with someone else at a distance; the ability to embed web links into the nodes of a concept map; the ability to "publish" these maps online. Some Concept Map programs create "static" maps (ones where the arms and nodes of the map are fixed in place); other Concept Map programs create "dynamic" maps, whose arms and nodes can be repositioned or hidden or zoomed in on by a user.
• How can it address this Instructional Challenge?
  • Throughout a course, students are required to continually build a concept map that is based upon the readings that are assigned before each class. In particular, they are required to show connections among the various readings. The instructor reviews each student's concept map at the end of every week. Why?

Online Quizzes

• What is it?
  • An online quiz is simply a quiz that is given in an Online Course Environment, such as BlackBoard. Depending on the nature of the questions, an online quiz can be automatically graded by the Online Course Environment System. As well, quizzes can be created in advance as a batch, and then automatically released one by one at the appropriate date and time.
• How can it address this Instructional Challenge?
  • Students are required to complete an online quiz before coming to class. Typically, the quiz might be made available one day before the class, and is "locked" five minutes before the class actually begins. An online quiz might ask five questions that assess whether the students have read an assigned reading. You might make two of the questions pertain to specific facts in the reading, and three others pertain to its overall ideas or themes.
  • For the whole course, these online quizzes should amount to no more than about 10% of the final grade. In other words, each quiz should be worth only a quarter or half a percent. Why?

Clickers

• What is it?
  • Clickers are handheld devices that allow each student to respond to a multiple-choice question; the responses of the entire class are aggregated by the clicker system, so that the instructor (and students, if the instructor chooses) can see the results.
• How can it address this Instructional Challenge?
  • Studies have shown that Clickers can help to "scaffold" students who are reluctant to ask questions; that is, the device can help make them more comfortable and confident in asking questions.

Backchannel Tools

• What is it?
  • The term "Backchannel" refers to communication that goes on at the same time, and in the background of, a lecture, presentation, or class discussion. When it's not managed, the Backchannel can become mere chatter: students whispering, passing notes, or (nowadays) communicating about non-course content via MSN or Facebook. However, the backchannel can also be used to good effect.
  • Backchannel tools include online platforms such as Twitter, Yammer, Plurk, and Yonkly. Essentially, these tools allow students to share short messages (up to 140 characters) with the rest of the class.
• How can it address this Instructional Challenge?
  • Some students are not comfortable putting up their hand and verbally asking questions in class. They are too shy, lack confidence, or simply prefer writing to speaking. These students may be more willing to ask questions by means of a Backchannel tool. As they are submitted, these online questions can be monitored by the instructor or, better, by a teaching assistant or a designated student. He or she can then bring to the instructor's attention especially good questions; the instructor can also review the other questions after the class.

Question Facilitation Tools

• What is it?
  • Questions Facilitation Tools are online programs that allow students to ask questions online during a class. One of the ways that they differ from Backchannel tools is that they provide students with the ability to vote on the relevance or quality of each other's questions.
  • Question Facilitation Tools include Google Moderator, Hotseat, and Live Question.
• How can it address this Instructional Challenge?
  • Some students are not comfortable putting up their hand and verbally asking questions in class. They are too shy, lack confidence, or simply prefer writing to speaking. These students may be more willing to ask questions by means of a Question Facilitation Tool. As they are submitted, these online questions can be monitored by the instructor or, better, by a teaching assistant or a designated student; however, the "voting" feature also allows an instructor to assess, at the end of a lecture or presentation, which questions are of greatest interest to the class as a whole. He or she can then take time to respond to those questions.
  • Students who lack confidence will also become more comfortable asking questions when they see that someone else has voted for their question.

Online Discussion Groups

• What is it?
  • Online Discussion Groups are a convenient way for instructors to communicate with students (for example, in order to share a link to a web resource). More important, though, is that Online Discussion Groups allow students to share ideas with one another, to critique and build upon one another's ideas and perspectives. The process of articulating one's ideas, defending one's ideas, and responding to someone else's ideas, is central to deep learning. Online Discussion Groups are an integral feature of all course management systems, such as Blackboard.
• How can it address this Instructional Challenge?
  • Some students like to think on their feet, but others prefer to reflect on an idea or issue before sharing their perspective on it. Such students might never be comfortable asking a question or sharing an idea in class, either verbally or even by means of a Backchannel or a Question Facilitation Tool. Accordingly, an instructor might permit such students to pose questions and share ideas in an Online Discussion Group (perhaps the day after the class), rather than insisting that they do so during class.
  • A further option is to allow students who have difficulty devising their own questions bring to the attention of the class a question that another student posed in the Online Discussion Group. In other words, such a student would closely monitor the ideas and questions being raised in the Online Discussion Group, and select one that seems especially important. He or she could then be given the opportunity to ask it in class on behalf of the person who posed it in the Online Discussion Group.

Self & Peer Evaluation

• What is it?
  • Self and Peer Evaluation requires a student to assess himself or herself in the context of his or her peers.
• How can it address this Instructional Challenge?
  • Each student is required to keep an online record of his or her contributions to class discussion, including the questions that he or she asked in each class. Additionally, each student is also required to record two contributions or questions that were made by classmates in each class, focusing in particular on contributions that he or she found especially interesting, helpful, or insightful. Students are required to update their online record within twenty-four hours of each class. Why?
  • At the end of a course, each student reviews the questions or contributions that he or she made, as well as the ones from classmates that he or she recorded. Each student selects his or her top five questions, as well as the top five questions by classmates, and writes a brief paper explaining why those questions were chosen.
  • This activity could be done without any special technology -- that is, it could be done with pen and paper. However, having students do it online -- for example, as part of their Student Blog or ePortfolio -- means that the instructor can check on each student's online record from time to time, to make sure it is up-to-date.

Backchannel Tools

• What is it?
  • The term "Backchannel" refers to communication that goes on at the same time, and in the background of, a lecture, presentation, or class discussion. When it's not managed, the Backchannel can just become mere chatter: students whispering, passing notes, or (nowadays) communication about non-course content via MSN or Facebook. However, the backchannel can also be used to good effect.
  • Backchannel tools include online platforms such as Twitter, Yammer, Plurk, and Yonkly. Essentially, these tools allow students to share short messages (up to 140 characters) with the rest of the class.
• How can it address this Instructional Challenge?
  • Often a student might have a sense of the question that he or she would like to ask, but isn't quite sure how to put it, or lacks a bit of information or context to make that question meaningful. In such situations, the student might share a "draft" of the question via the Backchannel, and ask other students to help clarify the question -- that is, the other students are not answering the question, but are simply helping to put it into clear words or to a meaningful context. Once that has been done, the original student will probably be more confident in asking the question directly to the instructor.

ePortfolios or Student Blogs

• What is it?
  • Blogs and ePortfolios differ from one another in many ways, but in the context of this question, they can serve the same purpose. Blogs and ePortfolios can both provide an opportunity for students to reflect upon their learning (and also for fellow students to read those reflections and make supportive or insightful comments on them).
• How can it address this Instructional Challenge?
  • Some students may feel overwhelmed when new ideas and information are presented to them. They need time to reflect and synthesize those ideas. Having students reflect on their course content in an ePortfolio or Student Blog can provide them with the opportunity to sort through their thoughts, so that they can identify the key questions that they have.

Question Facilitation Tools

• What is it?
  • Questions Facilitation Tools are online programs that allow students to ask questions online during a class. One of the ways that they differ from Backchannel tools is that they provide students with the ability to vote on the relevance or quality of each other's questions.
  • Question Facilitation Tools include Google Moderator, Hotseat, and Live Question.
• How can it address this Instructional Challenge?
  • In some cases an instructor has some limited time to devote to class questions, but is reluctant to do so because a student with a hand in the air might have a very good question or might have an irrelevant question, or one whose answer can be found in the course syllabus or in the Online Discussion Group for the course. In other words, a hand in the air does not indicate the quality of the question. A Question Faciltiation Tool, however, can allow students to ask questions as they occur to them during a lecture or class presentation; other students can also vote on the questions that are asked by this means. At the end of the lecture, the instructor can then scan the questions that have been asked, in order to note the excellent ones as well as any others that the class as a whole have deemed to be important.

Online Discussion Groups

• What is it?
  • Online Discussion Groups are simply a place to have discussions online. They are an integral feature of all course management systems, such as Blackboard. In large classes, several Online Discussion Groups can be set up, so that the number of people in any one group is manageable.
• How can it address this Instructional Challenge?
  • If an instructor has absolutely no time to take questions in class, then he or she can have students pose their question in an Online Discussion Group, where they can be answered later by the instructor, by a Teaching Assistant, or by other students. However, if an instructor consistently has no time for in-class questions, he or she may want to consider decreasing the course content, or delivering some of the course content by other means (such as by screencasts).

Wikis

• What is it?
  • A Wiki allows many people to write and edit a document collaboratively. Some wikis are asynchronous, meaning that when one user is working on a given document, other users are temporarily locked out of it. Other wikis strive to be synchronous, meaning that several users can be working on the document at the same time. Wikis can be an effective way of bringing together the knowledge and skills of many people, separated by distance.
• How can it address this Instructional Challenge?
  • If an instructor does not have time to answer questions in class -- or at least doesn't have time to answer all of them -- then he or she might set up a class wiki where students can pose questions and then collaborate on answering those questions for themselves. A Wiki, used this way, resembles the Online Discussion Group (described above), but with this difference: rather than having various students respond to a question in separate messages (which might result in a good answer that is broken up into pieces), the students work together to craft and edit a unified answer, one that draws upon their collective knowledge. An instructor would, of course, want to review the final version of the answer in the Wiki.

Screencasts and Podcasts

• What is it?
  • Screencasting is the process of capturing whatever appears on your computer monitor, with the intention of turning it into a shareable video. Typically, a screencasting program also records accompanying audio (such as explanatory narration), and can also capture and incorporate video from a device such as a webcam. Podcasting is similar to Screencasting, except that it is audio only. Obviously, Screencasting is better suited to some kinds of content (such as a Chemistry lecture), while Podcasting might work very well for other kinds of content (such as in a history course).
• How can it address this Instructional Challenge?
• Screencasting can help create time during class when an instructor can take student questions. An instructor would identify components of course content that can be effectively delivered via a screencast; these components would tend to be information that is merely factual, or information that the instructor delivers in the same manner each time the course is offered. Students would then be directed to watch these screencasts before a given class (and the instructor can ensure that they do watch the screencasts by means on a pre-clas quiz, as described in the preceding item entitled "My students come to class unprepared"). The time that was formerly spent on those components of course content can now be devoted to addressing student questions.

Wikis

• What is it?
  • A Wiki allows many people to write and edit a document collaboratively. Some wikis are asynchronous, meaning that when one user is working on a given document, other users are temporarily locked out of it. Other wikis strive to be synchronous, meaning that several users can be working on the document at the same time. Wikis can be an effective way of bringing together the knowledge and skills of many people, separated by distance.
• How can it address this Instructional Challenge?
  • With a large number of students, group work is often challenging because of the resulting noise and the inability of students to comfortably gather into groups (for example, because of immovable tables or desks). However, students could stay in their seats and work as a group by means of a synchronous wiki: that is, one that allows them to be working in the same document at the same time, such as EtherPad. An instructor could, for example, make a presentation for 20 minutes, and then have students work in small groups (via EtherPad) for 20 mintues, and then have a member of each group report back to the class as a whole on their work. The group work would essentially be silent (apart from tapping on keyboards) and students would be sitting comfortably in their seats.

Backchannel Tools

• What is it?
  • The term "Backchannel" refers to communication that goes on at the same time, and in the background of, a lecture, presentation, or class discussion. When it's not managed, the Backchannel can just become mere chatter: students whispering, passing notes, or (nowadays) communication about non-course content via MSN or Facebook. However, the backchannel can also be used to good effect.
  • Backchannel tools include online platforms such as Twitter, Yammer, Plurk, and Yonkly. Essentially, these tools allow students to share short messages (up to 140 characters) with the rest of the class.
• How can it address this Instructional Challenge?
  • One of the limitations of the traditional classroom is that only one person can be talking at a time. A Backchannel Tool such as Twitter, however, allow many students to be sharing their ideas at the same time. For example, an instructor might begin a class by presenting or lecturing for 30 minutes. He or she would then tell students that they had ten minutes to discuss the content of the presentation by means of Twitter (or some other Backchannel Tool). The instructor could follow the discussion on Twitter, and could choose to participate or to simply observe. After the ten minutes of Twitter discussion are over, the instructor or a student could verbally summarize what was discussed before moving on to the next unit.

Online Discussion Groups

• What is it?
  • Online Discussion Groups are simply a place to have discussions online. They are an integral feature of all course management systems, such as Blackboard. In large classes, several Online Discussion Groups can be set up, so that the number of people in any one group is manageable.
• How can it address this Instructional Challenge?
  • Designate five students who will be the sole “class contributors” for that week. The other students listen silently to the designated class contributers, take notes on what they say, and later critique and build upon those verbal contributions in an online discussion group. The following week, the instructor creates a new group of designated class contributors, so that every student has the opportunity to have this role at least once per term.

ePortfolios or Student Blogs

• What is it?
  • Blogs and ePortfolios differ from one another in many ways, but in the context of this question, they can serve the same purpose. Blogs and ePortfolios can both provide an opportunity for students to reflect upon their learning (and also for fellow students to read those reflections and make supportive or insightful comments on them).
• How can it address this Instructional Challenge?
  • An instructor would use an ePortfolio or Student Blog to have every student to reflect on how he or she used the instructor's feedback on a previous assignment when developing a subsequent assignment. In other words, the ePortfolio or blog forces the student to engage in (and demonstrate) the process of integrating the instructor's advice (or, if the student does not integrate that feedback, then he or she explains the thought process underlying that decision).

Online FAQ

• What is it?
• An FAQ is a list of Frequently Asked Questions
• How can it address this Instructional Challenge?
  • An FAQ is a useful way of precluding routine student questions. An FAQ is especially effective if it is online, so that it can be easily updated and posted on the course website. Every course that you teach should have its own Online FAQ (rather than a generic one for all your courses). As well, some instructors have two FAQs for each course: one for routine questions pertaining to the administration of the course (for example, your policy on late assignments) and another FAQ for routine questions pertaining to course content (for example, in a Shakespeare course I used to teach, I was often asked whether Shakespeare wrote in "Old English" (he didn't -- he actually wrote in Early Modern English). An Online FAQ can be even more effective if you also have an online "Communication Policy." Such a policy can convey your office hours, but can also indicate whether you respond to questions by email (and if so, how quickly, or whether you respond on weekends), whether you prefer questions by email or phone, whether you prefer to be addressed as "Dr." or "Professor," or whether students can use your first name, and so on.
    
    

Backchannel Tools

• What is it?
  • The term "Backchannel" refers to communication that goes on at the same time, and in the background of, a lecture, presentation, or class discussion. When it's not managed, the Backchannel can just become mere chatter: students whispering, passing notes, or (nowadays) communication about non-course content via MSN or Facebook. However, the backchannel can also be used to good effect.
  • Backchannel tools include online platforms such as Twitter, Yammer, Plurk, and Yonkly. Essentially, these tools allow students to share short messages (up to 140 characters) with the rest of the class.
• How can it address this Instructional Challenge?
  • In any class there are sure to be a few (or even many) students who are glad to answer the routine questions of other students. Providing students with a Backchannel -- via, say, Twitter -- can leverage that student knowledge and goodwill. I recently attended a class where the instructor had students using Twitter as the backchannel, and witnessed three or four occasions where students used it to ask questions such as "What's the date of the mid term exam." In every case, the question was answered by another student, usually within seconds. Low-level content-related questions were also answered by students using Twitter, such as "What was the name of the author he mentioned?" All of these were questions that might otherwise have been asked of the instructor during office hours.

Online Discussion Groups

• What is it?
  • Online Discussion Groups are simply a place to have discussions online. They are an integral feature of all course management systems, such as Blackboard. In large classes, several Online Discussion Groups can be set up, so that the number of people in any one group is manageable.
• How can it address this Instructional Challenge?
  • In any class there are sure to be a few (or even many) students who are glad to answer the routine questions of other students. Providing students with the means to help each other -- via, say, an Online Discussion Group-- can leverage that student knowledge and goodwill.

Clickers

• What is it?
  • Clickers are small, handheld units that are intended to increase student participation and engagement in class by allowing students to easily (and anonymously) respond to an instructor's multiple-choice questions; these responses are instantly tabulated so that the instructor, and potentially the students, can see the results.
• How can it address this Instructional Challenge?
  • Clickers work best when they are used to ask students multiple-choice questions every, say, fifteen or twenty minutes. However, to really engage students, those clicker questions should not be ones that merely test whether students have understood the material or not. Rather, they should be questions that are at the "edges" of what you have just covered in class, in order to get them to speculate and to push themselves beyond what they already know.
  • An especially effective technique with Clickers is this: present a multiple-choice question and have students use their clickers to respond to it individually; show them the aggregate results of their responses using the Clicker system; then have them discuss the question in pairs or in groups of three; then give them the opportunity to answer the same multiple-choice question again with their clicker; and then show them the new aggregate results.
  • Studies have shown that Clickers, when used wisely, can increase student engagment, increase class attendance, and enhance learning outcomes. Not surprisingly, students report that they enjoy using Clickers in class.

Screencasts & Podcasts

• What is it?
  • Screencasting is the process of capturing whatever appears on your computer monitor, with the intention of turning it into a shareable video. Typically, a screencasting program also records accompanying audio (such as explanatory narration), and can also capture and incorporate video from a device such as a webcam. Podcasting is similar to Screencasting, except that it is audio only. Obviously, Screencasting is better suited to some kinds of content (such as a chemistry lecture), while Podcasting might work very well for other kinds of content (such as in a history course).
• How can it address this Instructional Challenge?
  • Most students (and most people) do not enjoy being lectured to. They would rather listen to an interview, a debate, or a story, or watch a demonstration, or have a conversation, or work through a challenging puzzle. Even the most keen and self-motivated students will have difficulty staying attentive for all of an hour-long lecture. Accordingly, it's not surprising that students are bored by lectures, even when the content is interesting and the instructor is passionate about his or her discipline.
  • The solution to this Instructional Challenge is therefore not to lecture "harder" or even "better," but to lecture less, and replace some of the lecture time with opportunities for active learning. However, instructors are sometimes hesitant to lecture less, because they fear that students will not otherwise receive the course content. Some of that course content can, of course, be delivered by means of the textbook and assigned readings (and instructors can ensure that students actually do these readings on time by using some of the strategies described previously, under the title "My students come to class unprepared"). Other parts of the course content can be delivered via a screencast or podcast, which students watch outside of classtime (and, again, an instructor can ensure that students watch the screencasts or listen to the podcasts by using some of the strategies described under "My students come to class unprepared").
  • Creating an effective screencast or podcast can take a lot of work. However, you only need to make it once, and then you can use the screencast every time you teach the course, for the next few years.

Online Scheduling Programs

• What is it?
  • Online Scheduling Programs, such as Doodle, are just what they sound like: they are online programs that allow groups of people to find a time when they can all meet.
• How can it address this Instructional Challenge?
  • It allows everyone to collaborate in choosing a date and time, and prevents the need to email back and forth dozens of time.

Self & Peer Evaluation

• What is it?
  • Self and Peer Evaluation requires a student to assess himself or herself in the context of his or her peers.
• How can it address this Instructional Challenge?
  • Each student is required to keep an online record of his or her contributions to class discussion, including the questions that he or she asked in each class. Additionally, each student is also required to record two contributions or questions that were made by classmates in each class, focusing in particular on contributions that he or she found especially interesting, helpful, or insightful. Students are required to update their online record within twenty-four hours of each class. Why?
  • At the end of a course, each student reviews the questions or contributions that he or she made, as well as the ones from classmates that he or she recorded. Each student selects his or her top five questions, as well as the top five questions by classmates, and writes a brief paper explaining why those questions were chosen. The student also assigns a grade to his or her own class participation, based on their self-reflection and in comparison with that of their peers.
  • Students who are consistently cited in the blogs or ePortfolios by their peers as having contributed good questions or ideas are awarded high marks for their positive impact on their peers; students who are rarely or never cited by their peers are awarded low marks in this regard.
  • This activity could be done without any special technology -- that is, it could be done with pen and paper. However, having students do it online -- for example, as part of their Student Blog or ePortfolio -- means that the instructor can check on each student's online record from time to time, to make sure it is up-to-date.

TurnItIn

• What is it?
  • TurnItIn is a paid service that determines whether a student's essay has been plagiarized. It does so by comparing that essay with documents freely available online (as well as documents behind firewalls or in special repositories), and with other essays that have previously been submitted to the TurnItIn service.
• How can it address this Instructional Challenge?
  • TurnItIn can identify plagiarized passages in a student's essay, but it also has the effect of deterring students from plagiarizing in the first place (once they know that a professor is using it).