Using Technology for Classroom Feedback

Students learn best when they receive timely and targeted feedback. But it can be hard for postsecondary instructors to provide frequent, individualized assessments--especially in large lecture halls. The fourth recommendation from the What Works Clearinghouse practice guide, Using Technology to Support Postsecondary Student Learning, is to "Use technology to provide timely and targeted feedback on student performance."

Choosing a response system
Postsecondary instructors can use technology strategically to provide students with immediate feedback on key concepts. The practice guide's Recommendation 4 suggests using in-class response systems to give students targeted support on tricky topics and spark class discussion--without requiring time-consuming assessments or check-ins. When students answer, instructors get a quick read on student understanding that can help identify if students are ready to move forward to other topics or have lingering misconceptions. Which student response system will work best for your class?

• Hardware-based tools (e.g., clickers): Students use a remote control-like device to select answers to questions. Instructors can then display a visual summary of the data, address gaps in understanding, and assign follow-up work. Introduced in the 90s, clickers are a well-known tool but have limited response options and sometimes hefty price tags for students.

What types of questions can you use with in-class response systems?



This helpful one-page infographic from the Using Technology to Support Postsecondary Student Learning practice guide outlines eight types of questions that instructors can design for classroom response systems.

• Web-based applications: Students use smartphones or laptops to respond to questions through web-based applications like Poll Everywhere. Instructors have more flexibility than with clickers, and students use personal devices instead of additional (costly) tools. But finding the right app might be challenging, and not all students have access to this technology.
• Analog-digital hybrid tools: Students respond to questions by holding up paper cards--aka paper clickers, or "Plickers"--that instructors scan in real time using the Plickers app. Because Plickers are physical cards that function without internet access, instructors avoid the need for student devices or accounts.

Designing questions
Instructors can pair well-crafted questions with student response systems to provide immediate, targeted feedback that encourages classroom participation and builds student understanding. How can the following recommended question types steer your students' thinking and conversation with different kinds of questions?

• Draw attention to themes: Encourage students to consider key topics with simple questions that encourage students to compare scenarios. Simple questions about big ideas could lead to quick and positive reinforcement for students. These might function as the first, "easy" question in the easy-hard-hard question sequence suggested by the WWC.
• Encourage problem-solving: Motivate students to think critically by asking them to rank options based on one quality, to avoid specific problem-solving approaches in their answers, or to separate essential information from extra details.
• Reveal common errors: Address possible learning challenges by designing answer choices that include common mistakes and misunderstandings. When students select common errors through in-class response systems, they receive immediate feedback that allows them to locate gaps in understanding and then self-correct.
• Promote discussion: Spark conversation about course material by posing questions that require analysis and reasoning, are intentionally ambiguous, or have multiple defensible answers. The WWC suggests using "why," "how," and "in your opinion" questions, which can lead to more discussion from feedback than memory-based questions.

Incorporating in-class technology
After selecting an in-class response system and crafting questions, postsecondary instructors still need to decide how to incorporate feedback into their classes. How will you apply these practice guide considerations to use technology and targeted feedback to fit the goals of your lesson?

• Individual vs group responses: Consider whether students will respond to questions--and receive feedback--as individuals or groups. This might alternate between lessons depending on whether you want responses to encourage self-correction and problem-solving in students or to spark discussion among peers.
• Graded vs ungraded answers: When students submit answers via response systems, should their answers count for class credit or act as anonymous knowledge checks? And should students receive credit for participating, or only if they select the correct answer? Assigning credit to response system feedback might motivate students to engage with the material, but ungraded feedback lets students demonstrate their knowledge without worrying about consequences.
• Corrective vs explanatory feedback: Based on the response system and question design, feedback can provide the correct answer, or it can go further to explain incorrect answers too. Corrective feedback can highlight key ideas, while explanatory feedback might be helpful for discussing common errors--but will take more time.

Finding resources
When creating questions, you don't have to start from scratch--consider the following practice guide suggestions from Recommendation 4. What resources are available?

• Students and staff: Ask students to submit their own questions for an in-class discussion--this lets students do the work of creating questions while exposing any gaps in their learning. Alternatively, team up with instructors teaching similar courses to discuss ideas and share questions relevant to your students.
• Large language models: Generate content and skill-based questions with the help of artificial intelligence (AI) tools like Bard and ChatGPT. These tools are able to generate many kinds of questions and can be used to make scenarios relevant to different audiences. When using these tools, be mindful of bias and other issues inherent to using AI.
• Study materials: Look through textbooks for assessment questions and supplementary materials that you can easily adapt for in-class use. You can also find hundreds of free question banks online, or subject-specific online libraries, to create diverse questions.

Additional RESOURCES

• Download the Using Technology to Support Postsecondary Student Learning practice guide, and read more about Recommendation 4 on pages 38-46. 
• Read previous REL Northwest blogs about Recommendation 1: Using communication and collaboration tools effectively, Recommendation 2: Selecting digital resources, and Recommendation 3: Using technology to support self-regulated learning
• Download the Leveraging Technology for Student Success framework to learn more about classroom technology
• Read more about large language models' classroom use in "Better Feedback with AI?" from the Harvard Graduate School of Education
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