Creating an "icebreaker" activity for each biology topic

Creating an "icebreaker" activity for each biology topic

by Adrienne Williams -
Number of replies: 16

Hi all,

I'm creating an introductory biology course with about 25 topics like photosynthesis and transcription. For many of these I know of a common misconception. In a face-to-face course I'll post a clicker question for students that will expose the misconception to the student before we talk about the material.

I'd like to do something similar in Moodle - before the student starts the content video, I want them to commit to answering a question that gets them thinking about what they know or don't know. I set up the course with Feedback activities for each topic, but unfortunately the short answer responses look like this:

Feedback results

I'd love to keep the ability to require activity completion and keep the responses anonymous, but still show all 70 responses instead of requiring clicks.

I'm considering using Google Forms, which will provide easy access to responses and can be anonymous, but will be less awesome for activity completion. 

We are running Moodle 2.4.  Any good ideas?

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In reply to Adrienne Williams

Re: Creating an "icebreaker" activity for each biology topic

by Itamar Tzadok -

I have a good idea but it's for 2.6 so not good enough if you're using 2.4. Mary might have something for 2.4. smile

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In reply to Itamar Tzadok

Re: Creating an "icebreaker" activity for each biology topic

by Steve Ambro v3.8 -

IT) Tell me, Tell me, Tell me! 
We are switching to 2.7 and this looks like what I have been wanting to have for quite some time.

I would like the students to answer a question from their computers in the classroom and to have their response show upon the main screen of in the room.  It should be anonymous to help the more silent and reserve students to have an easy  say in the conversation.

Are you suggesting that this may be available?




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In reply to Steve Ambro v3.8

Re: Creating an "icebreaker" activity for each biology topic

by AL Rachels -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers

Have you ever checked out the Realtime Quiz activity? https://moodle.org/plugins/view.php?plugin=mod_realtimequiz

I've been using it for years. Students love it because they can participate when they are stuck at home sick by using this and the chat room. Results to the students are anonymous but the teacher can dig in and see who needs "help" if they need to.

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In reply to AL Rachels

Re: Creating an "icebreaker" activity for each biology topic

by Adrienne Williams -

@AL Rachels,

That's a tremendous plugin! I might have organized the class differently if I had known about it.

I need something a bit more asynchronous and short-answer for this purpose, however.

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In reply to Adrienne Williams

Re: Creating an "icebreaker" activity for each biology topic

by Itamar Tzadok -

Can you post some mockups of how you envision the activity? smile

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In reply to Itamar Tzadok

Re: Creating an "icebreaker" activity for each biology topic

by Adrienne Williams -

This is from our main campus LMS, a home-brewed concoction. This is their survey tool, which allows a listing of student answers plus flexibility in questions. 

sample survey

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In reply to Adrienne Williams

Re: Creating an "icebreaker" activity for each biology topic

by AL Rachels -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers

Hi Adrienne,

The Questionnaire plugin can duplicate what you have shown in your last entry. My example picture has responses from only two people, me and my testing student account, but you can see it its very similar to what you have. I only included the sample student answer view but the student question view is essentially the same as yours.

AL


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In reply to Adrienne Williams

Re: Creating an "icebreaker" activity for each biology topic

by Matt Bury -
Picture of Plugin developers

Hi Adrienne,

It sounds to me like you want something like the Choice module: http://docs.moodle.org/24/en/mod/choice/view

It has some appropriate options for taking straw polls before learning activities.

I hope this helps! smile

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In reply to Matt Bury

Re: Creating an "icebreaker" activity for each biology topic

by Steve Ambro v3.8 -

Is there a program that allows the student to answer the question and not rely on my supplying the answer(s)?  My students tell me that they have just too many "select from the following" assessments and want to vent their own ideas.  I want them to do so but I want it to be anonymous.  No one should be able to know who submitted what.

I have found anonymous chat rooms but they are a but too loose and I would prefer something within Moodle.

There was a time when I handed out small pads and everyone placed an answer.  After they were all collected, my assistant placed the responses on the whiteboard.  Tedious but it allowed everyone to place an answer, not just the loudest or the first few.  This was an excellent first day activity.

Everyone was invited to participate.  A few more classes started this way made way for much more class participation earlier in the term.

It is time to do this electronically.





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In reply to Steve Ambro v3.8

Re: Creating an "icebreaker" activity for each biology topic

by Matt Bury -
Picture of Plugin developers

The Hot Question plugin has lots of possibiliies: https://moodle.org/plugins/view.php?plugin=mod_hotquestion

Learners can publicly post comments, questions, suggestions, answers, etc. and then their classmates can vote on them, moving them up and down the list.

Looking at the Github repo, it doesn't look like it's maintained anymore: https://github.com/hit-moodle/moodle-mod_hotquestion but I've got it working in Moodle 2.6 and 2.7 without any problems. If you get an installation error, you can just update version.php to match your Moodle version.

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In reply to Matt Bury

Re: Creating an "icebreaker" activity for each biology topic

by Steve Ambro v3.8 -

I don't see how to grab a copy of this.
Suggestions?

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In reply to Matt Bury

Re: Creating an "icebreaker" activity for each biology topic

by Adrienne Williams -

You've hit on a good "clicker" replacement, but I would also love something that allowed short answer responses.

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In reply to Adrienne Williams

Re: Creating an "icebreaker" activity for each biology topic

by Adrienne Williams -

Hey people!

Turns out that clicking the "Analysis" tab in the Feedback window is good enough! I had only tried the "View Responses" tab.

Woot!


analysis

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In reply to Adrienne Williams

Re: Creating an "icebreaker" activity for each biology topic

by Dave Emsley -

Maybe a different type of approach but what about a Q&A forum?

Pose the question and let them answer it before the video becomes available.


Hope this helps,


Dave

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