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Thanks! Great suggestion, producing a report is a great idea. I could even use the confusion data to predict exam test scores. If students are going to be eva

by liamk 14y ago

Thanks! Great suggestion, producing a report is a great idea. I could even use the confusion data to predict exam test scores. If students are going to be evaluating their teachers (providing richer feedback than confused/understood), then you're correct there will have to be authentication for students.

mbreese 14y ago
Be careful with cumulative evaluations - how confused students are may not correlate with how good a teacher is. And, if professors are going to be evaluated with the results, they are less likely to use the tool well... For authentication, I'd make it so that when the professor each session, the class is given a random 4-5 digit code. That way the students would have to be in class to get the code and participate. You may also want to think about adding the ability for the instructor to add different buttons, not just "understood / confused". You could then have class polls, or group questions to see how many people are paying attention. This should all be able to be controlled from the instructor dashboard.
- liamk 14y ago
  Good thoughts! The 4-5 digit code would be a good way of differentiating between sessions/lecture. When adding class polls etc, it my be advantageous to give each student their own account. That could conflict with the current anonymous aspect of understoodit.com though.
  - mbreese 14y ago
    I'd keep it anonymous... you want people answering honestly and not worrying what the instructor might think. I'm thinking polls like: okay class, we just went over big-O. here is an algorithm... what do you think the big-O of this is: O(n), O(n^2), etc... Nothing that you'd have to keep track of the answers for longer than the length of the class. Plus, if you added logins, that would just make it that much more of a setup / hassle to get classes going.
    - Bromero 14y ago
      I agree about anonymity. I'm a high school teacher and there are a bunch of smartphone apps that let students send in answers to multiple choice questions that the teacher puts on the board (I think it's called SmartResponse). The problem is, all responses have the students' phone numbers attached. So privacy concerns make it so that an otherwise useful product is basically unusable. Obviously the level of concern would be different in College/University, but I think students might be less inclined to use the app if it is not anonymous. That said, this is a great idea. This is the kind of real-time feedback that I would love to have access to. Many of my students would rather fail than put their hand up and ask for help. Something like this would really help them out.
dreadsword 14y ago
Some bonus thoughts in this comment: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3921258 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3921258 I like the idea of the code to authenticate students. I guess you'd have to watch out for selection effects in all of this too... an interesting challenge!

by liamk 14y ago

mbreese 14y ago

Be careful with cumulative evaluations - how confused students are may not correlate with how good a teacher is. And, if professors are going to be evaluated with the results, they are less likely to use the tool well... For authentication, I'd make it so that when the professor each session, the class is given a random 4-5 digit code. That way the students would have to be in class to get the code and participate. You may also want to think about adding the ability for the instructor to add different buttons, not just "understood / confused". You could then have class polls, or group questions to see how many people are paying attention. This should all be able to be controlled from the instructor dashboard.

liamk 14y ago
Good thoughts! The 4-5 digit code would be a good way of differentiating between sessions/lecture. When adding class polls etc, it my be advantageous to give each student their own account. That could conflict with the current anonymous aspect of understoodit.com though.
- mbreese 14y ago
  I'd keep it anonymous... you want people answering honestly and not worrying what the instructor might think. I'm thinking polls like: okay class, we just went over big-O. here is an algorithm... what do you think the big-O of this is: O(n), O(n^2), etc... Nothing that you'd have to keep track of the answers for longer than the length of the class. Plus, if you added logins, that would just make it that much more of a setup / hassle to get classes going.
  - Bromero 14y ago
    I agree about anonymity. I'm a high school teacher and there are a bunch of smartphone apps that let students send in answers to multiple choice questions that the teacher puts on the board (I think it's called SmartResponse). The problem is, all responses have the students' phone numbers attached. So privacy concerns make it so that an otherwise useful product is basically unusable. Obviously the level of concern would be different in College/University, but I think students might be less inclined to use the app if it is not anonymous. That said, this is a great idea. This is the kind of real-time feedback that I would love to have access to. Many of my students would rather fail than put their hand up and ask for help. Something like this would really help them out.

dreadsword 14y ago

Some bonus thoughts in this comment: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3921258 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3921258 I like the idea of the code to authenticate students. I guess you'd have to watch out for selection effects in all of this too... an interesting challenge!