A smartphone based "thumbs-check" system for a lecturer to gauge how well the class understood newly introduced material, and a random student selector for the user to pick a student to interact with. Includes time-stamp analytics for the lecturer to trouble-shoot the lecture according to what was most confusing, and the ability to issue instant micro-quizzes, equivalent to "arms this way" polling.
- The visual thumbs-check system is very informal, and is not set up for post-lecture analytics.
- Certain students are very vocal during lecture, and attempts to pick random students to speak are not very random, and often settle on the same students.
- Polling the class on how well they think they understand something is subject to inaccurate self-reporting.
- Question queue management is yet another burden on the lecturer
- Each thumbs-check is time-stamped; this can be used to revise the portion of the lectures that are unclear.
- Random student selection precludes selection biases so that more students will interact during lecture.
- Micro-quizzes are more accurate than self-reporting; students can mistakenly think they understand something, but not with quizzes.
- The question queue takes this burden off the lecturer
We took the pain-points of our lectures and turned it into an opportunity.
- Students and Lecturers both log in with Github
- Prepare and store sets of instant quizes.
- Start a lecture from the lecturer's interface.
- Issue a thumbs check at will. The dashboard shows live data updates as data comes in.
- Issue pre-written instant quizzes at will.
Instant quizzes and thumbs-check analytics let us do test-driven-development of our lectures. Rapid iteration of our teaching has never been easier.
Sign up for Thumbs Check and prepare a lecture today!