Three Ways to Ask a Question

Great teachers understand the importance of feedback as part of effective teaching and learning. Feedback allows teachers to check understanding, get a sense of student opinions on a topic and encourages decision making. Feedback contributes to stimulating, lively learning. One way to get feedback is with a great question and in this post we look at three different ways to do just that - ask a question.

Hands Up

The tried and true approach since Grandma was a preschooler, hands up is great for all sorts of reasons, but may not give the most accurate responses. Students are inclined to vote with the majority, or at least with the first responders, and quieter students may not want to vote against the majority even though they are confident in their own answer.  If the question is based on a sensitive issue or involves students publicly identifying their personal beliefs, some may not feel comfortable displaying these in a public setting.

Clickers 

Clickers, which were all the rage a few years ago, and more recently polling software such as Poll Everywhere, can be feature filled and flexible, especially if class sizes are large (100+). The one major downside of clickers and polling software is that they rely on every student having either a clicker or mobile device. "My clicker's battery is flat", "I can't connect to the internet", What's the web address again?"..... you get the picture.

Plickers - Better than Clickers? 

Enter a really cool tool called Plickers,  the 2106 iteration of tech based mass questioning solutions. Yes, it has its limitations, but it certainly ticks many boxes for ease of use and practical features. Put simply, it's a polling tool that uses hand held QR codes and the teachers mobile device.

Why do we like it? Several reasons...

It's a low tech, high tech solution. Students do not need a device. Simply hand each student a printed QR Card from the free downloadable PDF on Plickers website.

Its flexible - Set up classes and questions prior to your lesson, or create them on the fly. Responses can be anonymous or tagged to individual students. Questions can be one-off or part of a running record. Results can be graphed, tabled and exported.

It's fun - Use it for assessment or just to add some competition to your class. You can display the results instantly, letting your class see how individuals answered, either anonymously, or if appropriate, by name.

It's Free!

How do you use it?
Hand out a QR card (they come as set in PDF form) with four response options on it to each student in class - get the students to hold the card up oriented on what answer they choose - scan the class with your mobile device using the free Plickers app - watch the responses get recorded on the screen as you go.

If you want to know more about this great tool, come over to The Qube and ask for a quick demo from one of the TEEL's or keep an eye out for upcoming workshops later this month.

Strategies for Engaging Youth Videos

Kylee New, Phil Grimmer and Mariana Tapsell from the Hospitality, Trades Training and Foundation Studies programmes spoke at the recent Teaching and Learning Seminar that focused on strategies for engaging youth. Each tutor spoke of the challenges they faced, how there was a need to be flexible in their approach, and their strong desire to see the young people on their courses succeed.

Some common themes emerged including the importance of building a community of learners, the need to develop trusting relationships with students and the long term benefits of making the effort to spend time with each student to check on their progress both as a student and young person.

Take a look at their talks below. They were filmed on a self tracking camera called a Swivl. If you would like to have a go using this device in your classroom, get in touch with the Teel Team.

Unpacking a TEEL - What's in the box?

One of the things we often get asked is, "What's a TEEL?"
To start with, lets look at what we're not. We are not an essay writing model, nor are we a glamour aid from the pre-war era.

What we are is a team that’s here to help provide direction and build staff capability to use technology enabled and enhanced learning (TEEL) strategies. In essence we are here to help you in any way we can to use technology to help enhance the learning process with your students. Yes, we are the Moodle People, but we're more than that too.
The TEEL team consists of Ruth Boal, Linda Shaw and Josh Burrell. On Windermere Campus we are located in C11 and at The Bongard Centre room 213a. We love to have staff drop in and discuss their needs with us at any time or feel free to get in touch via email.