LEARNING ACTIVITIES
Pedagogical scenarios supported by our tools
STUDENTS GIVE FEEDBACK ON THEIR PEERS’ COLLABORATION SKILLS
This learning activity complements collective projects, such as written group reports or presentations. To cultivate 21st century skills such as providing professional feedback to colleagues, this activity forces students to reflect on the collaborating and contributing process within groups. Teachers get insights into the feedback process.
PERSONALIZE GROUP GRADES BASED ON INDIVIDUAL CONTRIBUTIONS TO GROUP WORK
In this learning activity, students rate fellow group members’ contribution in the collaborative process. The ratings each student receives are compared with the average rating of their group. Based on this ratio a grade is calculated that reflects an individual students’ contribution relative to the group contribution. In so doing, this learning activity rewards overachievers and penalizes free-riders.
STUDENTS UPLOAD VIDEOS OF THEIR LABORATORY WORK FOR PEERS TO REVIEW AND GRADE
Students make recordings of how they carry out a practical group assignment in the laboratory. The laboratory activity is fully face-to-face, however, the peer-evaluation exercise is completed online.
Student groups upload a video recording of how they have conducted the experiment and upload their written report.
STUDENTS PEER ASSESS EACH OTHERS’ DRAFT GROUP REPORTS BEFORE THE FINAL HAND-IN TO TEACHER
Students from one group review the draft report of another group. After feedback has been received, reports can be improved and are handed in to be reviewed by the teacher. Main benefit is that the quality of the deliverable increases, while revision time of teachers reduces.
STUDENTS CAN BETTER PROCESS STUDY MATERIAL / SCIENTIFIC ARTICLES BY PRIMING ON SPECIFIC TOPICS
The “Comprehension of Study Material” module helps students to better process study material by priming them on specific topics combined with a annotation technique to foster the development of critical thinking skills.
STUDENTS ANNOTATE A MOCKUP ESSAY TO DEVELOP WRITING SKILLS
Students use assessment criteria to review and annotate a mockup essay to better understand a typical essay structure and to identify strengths and areas for their own essay improvement.
Once students are finished with their individual assignment they are able to ‘filter out’ and review how peers partook in the essay assignment. This creates an opportunity to foster collaborative learning and can be monitored by the teacher.
STUDENTS RECAP PREVIOUS LECTURE IN A Q&A/DISCUSSION SESSION
After a lecture, the teacher shares the presentation online with students. Students actively engage in online discussion on the lecture slides that are unclear to them with fellow students. This enables students to formulate the most important questions for the teacher to address in the following lecture.
ASKING STUDENTS TO CREATE EXAM QUESTIONS
In this learning activity, students discuss the study material in the form of raised exam questions.
It is only in the exam that the students find out which questions are asked, and whether any of their questions are included. So while there is the possibility that all students share and know in advance some of the questions that might be asked, the students still need to prepare to answer other questions.
STUDENTS MAKE CONNECTIONS BETWEEN A SHARED IMAGE AND PRIOR LEARNING
In this activity, the teacher shares an image with students to help them to make connections between new ideas and prior knowledge. The whole class engages in discussion through annotating the share image.
STUDENTS ADD DISCUSSION TOPICS TO A VIDEO
In this learning activity, students add comments/discussion topics to a video. By holding online discussions about the study material, students can point out certain elements to their peers that others might not have noticed. Additionally, the online discussion allows the teacher to gauge students’ understanding, which helps guide the in-class program.
STUDENTS REFLECT ON THE IMPACT OF A VIDEO ON THEIR OPINIONS
Students watch a video presenting a topic from a particular perspective. They comment on the video individually to share their perspectives on the video and share how the video impacted on their view on the topic.
STUDENTS ANONYMOUSLY ANSWER CONTROVERSIAL QUESTIONS AND DISCUSS THEM TOGETHER
Discussing sensitive topics can be a valuable, but a challenging activity for the classroom. Anonymously answering questions about these topics creates a safe environment for students to express their opinions. It can also be a relief to see that others in the class feel the same way.
STUDENTS ANSWER PRE AND POST LECTURE MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS
This activity involves the introduction of identical pre and post lecture MCQs (multiple choice questions) in lectures. The questions focus on specific learning objectives and highlight key aspects covered in the lecture.
Organise open-ended assessment at scale and leverage class interaction for enhanced online learning
This learning activity is designed to organise open-ended assessment at scale. The goal of the activity is to enhance learning through both the forming of knowledge and the assessing of student’s understanding.
This goal is achieved by leveraging classroom interactions. In a physical classroom, there is often more ‘robust’ interaction compared to an online learning environment. In physical classrooms, students will often sharpen their argumentation (peer pressure) to not waste time and at the same time receive guidance from an instructor.
To replicate this in the online activity, students will first peer-review. Next they engage in a more open discussion in which everybody can see all submissions & reviews. Finally teachers intervene by pointing out relevant comments to students (guidance).