Educational Technology: Tools to gather students feedback

November, 2014
Plickers is a wonderful web tool that allows teachers to collect real-tine feedback from students without them having or using any device. All they will use are cards with numbers and alphabets on them.

As a teacher you use Plickers to gather data to use in your formative assessments. You can use polls, multiple questions, quick checks for understanding, true/false questions and many more.As you collect data from students, you can also view it together with them in the form of a group snapshot in a graph.

The great thing about this app is that students do not need to use any computer or device. You will have to open an account on Plickers, download the app and create a class. Once the class is created , add your students by typing their names. A card number will automatically be assigned to each name you type in. These cards are what your students will be using for answers in the class. Plickers is free and is available for both iOS and Android devices.

Watch the video below to earn how to use Plickers with your students.

September, 2014
In a recent post published by Edutopia entitled " 5 research-based tips for providing students with meaningful feedback", Stenger made a strong case for the importance of feedback in students learning. She backed her argument with a plethora of scientific studies and came up with some useful suggestions for teachers to consider when giving feedback to students. The article is really worth reading and you should also check the links of the studies mentioned in it especially the one that looked at delayed versus immediate feedback. In a nutshell, here are the 5 suggested tips together with an interesting sketchnote from Rebeca Zuniga that was featured in Edutopia's Facebook page.

1- Be as specific as possible
2- The sooner the better
3- Address the learner's advancement toward a goal
4- Present feedback carefully
5- Involve learners in the process