Using Design Thinking in the Theological Classroom

What does a business concept have to do with teaching theology?

Tom Kelly writes that a “Hands-on, user-centric approach to problem solving can lead to innovation, and innovation can lead to differentiation and competitive advantage.”

As theological educators, our work is not inclined toward competitive advantage. Our work is to be present, embodied, and full of understanding as we teach and as students learn.

This is the motivation of the first session in our “Creative Assessments Cohort” grant from the Wabash Center: Design Thinking for Pedagogy.

The Process

Design thinking is both a concept and a process of six different phases:

  1. Empathize
  2. Define
  3. Ideate
  4. Prototype
  5. Test
  6. Implement
Empathize

As a business approach, empathy here is rooted in conducting research to understand the consumer. It attempts to place the researcher in the mind of the consumer and explore how they might do, say, think, and feel.

Define

As you define, organize all of the areas that might connect the experiences of different consumers. Where are the problems?

Ideate

This is the step where there are zero limits. At this phase, you and your team can brainstorm. Throw out ideas on how to address the problem you have defined. What would it look like to solve this problem if you had no limitations on money, personnel, materials, etc.

Prototype

Prototype your ideas. Take a moment to make them real, especially if it is an idea for a product. If it is a new product, make it. If it is something online, map out a wireframe. If it is for the classroom, try it out the approach.

Test

To test, go back to the consumer for feedback. Ask, “Does this solution meet users’ needs? . . . Does it improve how they feel, think, or do their tasks?”

Implement

Implementing is bringing your vision to life. How does your solution impact the problem you’ve encountered? The work of design thinking is never done and always returns back to having empathy and understanding the consumer.

Design Thinking is empathy-driven

Bethany Stolle writes that “Design thinking is an empathy-driven, human-centered approach to addressing complex problems.”

So, in design thinking, we see that every step returns to empathy. To empathize, educators must get into the minds of students. What are they going through? What do they need to do in their daily lives? What else is going on besides the few hours spent in your class?

EMPATHIZE: Try to map out all of the elements of your students’ experiences, both inside and outside of the classroom.

Once you’ve mapped your “student”, try to find opportunities to address their needs (see “define the problem”). What are your students saying? What aren’t they saying? How can you work to address these needs in your teaching?

Try out new assessments, new pedagogical approaches. Sit down with your students and ask questions rather than a traditional lecture. See how these ideas work for your students. Is there anything you can change?

Design Thinking requires continuous reflection

The strength of design thinking is in its reflection – always going back to identifying with the users, our students.

So: what does design thinking have to do with teaching theology?

Empathize. Empathize. Empathize.

We never know the extent of our students’ experiences outside of our classroom. As theological educators and faculty, it is our mission to shape faithful and creative leaders for the church and the world. By using this framework of empathy and reflection of our teaching, we can serve as models for our students and colleagues.

For more information on design thinking, check out Dr. Kathryn Common’s article here.

You can also connect with us at candlerdigitallearning [at] emory [dot] edu. We’d love to hear from you!

Adding VoiceThread to Canvas LMS

VoiceThread

VoiceThread LTI is a Learning Management System (LMS) integration that operates inside of Canvas.

Now, what does this mean?

As an instructor at Emory University, you are able to use VoiceThread in your classes without ever having to leave Canvas!

Adding VoiceThread to Your Canvas Course

You can add VoiceThread to your modules as an activity or as a graded assignment. All you need to do is select “External Tool” whenever you are adding anything new.

Here’s how:

Modules Section

  1. Navigate to the “Modules” area of your course.
  2. Find the module to which you’d like to add VoiceThread and click the plus sign to add new content.
  3. Select “External Tool” from the menu.
  4. Select “VoiceThread” from the list of tools.
  5. Name the link if you’d like.
  6. Save.
  7. Click on the new link in the module and proceed to the instructor support page for details of what to do next.

Graded Activities

  1. Navigate to the “Assignments” area of your course.
  2. Create a new assignment.
  3. Name the assignment and write a description if you choose.
  4. Under Submission Type, select “External Tool”.
  5. Click on the “Find” button.
  6. Select “VoiceThread” from the list.
  7. Save.
  8. Click on the new link you’ve just created, and proceed to the instructor support page.

Some practical uses…

Basically, VoiceThread is an Audio/Visual Discussion Board. In a previous post, we discussed how to use it as an alternative to traditional discussion boards.

After posting your message, students are invited to engage one another on it. Then, they can ask questions, make comments, and interact with your material through text, voice, images, or video!

Often, it is difficult to fill the social gap in online learning. VoiceThread provides an opportunity for students to engage online learning content in a seminar-style format. As an instructor, you can use it for asynchronous presentations, class discussion, or engagement on any supplemental material.

Want to learn more? We’d love to help you. Email us at candlerdigitallearning [at] emory [dot] edu.

Getting Started with Miro

By Christian Foster

Miro is an online whiteboard/canvas that is frequently used in the corporate sphere. It is provided in both free and paid versions, and has many different features and uses. Miro, being so versatile, provides a vast array of features that cannot all be discussed here. However, this blog is provided as an introduction to Miro and can be used as a starting place for further research.

Getting Started

The first step to using Miro is finding it online at miro.com and creating an account. As previously mentioned, Miro offers both a free and a paid service with different features and limitations. The home page for signing up for Miro should look like the image below.

Miro Sign up page

After selecting “Sign up free” in the top right hand corner, you will be taken to a page that looks like the image below. One can sign up manually or using Google and other options displayed at the bottom of the page. Notice that this option is for the free version of Miro. One has the option to upgrade to the paid version after creating a free account.

Navigating the Miro Dashboard

Miro home dashboard

After making an account, the Miro dashboard (shown above) should appear. As you can see, there are many options and functions available for use on the dashboard. One can give their “team” a name (in this example, my team is named “Candler Tech Tutor”, which can be seen under the Miro logo), invite members to your team, see boards being worked on by this team, and much more. However, the most important function that is provided is the creation of a new board, the first step in utilizing Miro.

Creating a New Board

Templates

Before creating a new board, it will be helpful to look at the templates provided. To view the templates, one can click Show all templates in the upper right hand corner of the dashboard screen, under “Create a board.”

Miro Template Options

After selecting Show all templates, the screen shown in the image above will appear, showing you different template options. To use, preview, or find out more about the template, hover your mouse over the template of interest to view and select what action you wish to take. Each template offers different functions and is suited for particular tasks and activities. For this example, Mind Map will be the template used.

Mind Map New Board Screen

After selecting which template you will be using, a page similar to the one in the above image should appear on your screen. Since an instructional video about Visual Notes is provided at the start screen of a new board, how to use Visual Notes will not be covered in this blog, and the following example images will be shown having exited out of the Visual Notes function bar.

Using a New Miro Board

Having selected a template for your new board and exiting out of Visual Notes, you are now ready to start adding content to your new board. A blank Mind Map board will look like the image below:

Blank Mind Map Board

Each template will provide moveable cells and text blocks for inputting content. One can add text, images, or links into these cell blocks and draw arrows or other connections between them. The left-hand column shows a multitude of different actions and tools one can utilize when designing and editing a board. Another important feature in Miro is the ability to zoom out in order to connect multiple charts and pages of information.

Final Thoughts on Miro

Miro offers users a multitude of resources for collaboration and organization. While new users may be overwhelmed at first glance by the breadth of options provided by this online whiteboard, many will find it to be one of the most versatile applications in their organizational tool box upon learning how to use its basic functions. Overall, can be utilized in a time saving and efficient manner for any user.

Introducing Padlet: An Online Bulletin Board

by Christian Foster

Introduction

Padlet is an online virtual bulletin board offered in a software-as-service format. This virtual bulletin board has many uses, as its allowance of multimedia uploads provides a massive amount of functional dexterity. This blog explores Padlet by giving a general overview of what the service is, how to use its basic functions, the pros and cons of the service, and what its possible applications might be.

A) How to use Padlet basic functions

1) Creating an Account/Signing in

In order to get started, one can simply Google search “Padlet” or go to padlet.com in a browser. At this point, one should sign in with an account. It should be noted that any email may be used to create an account, and that post attribution only functions for those who are signed in. Being a software-as-service, it has a free or “Neon” option (allowing for three boards) and a paid $10/month “Platinum” option (allowing for unlimited boards).

2) Navigating the Dashboard
padlet
My Padlet Dashboard

In the upper right hand corner of the dashboard, one will see two options: “Join a padlet” and “Make a padlet.” On the left side of the screen, one will see different options for accessing different padlets that may have been shared or recently worked on. In order to make a new board, click “Make a padlet.”

3) Creating Padlets
padlet
Options for styles of boards to create.

After clicking “Make a padlet”, this screen with options for the type of padlet you would like to create. Each format allows for organizing posted content in different ways, allowing one to tailor their board to their specific needs. The “Preview” option can be used if a person wishes to see what each format looks like before committing to a particular style. For this example, the “Wall” format will be used.

Wall Set-Up

After selecting a format for your padlet, you will be given options under “Modify” for customizing and naming your board (see above image for example). Scrolling down on the “Modify” column, one can find options to change background color, font, post attribution, and other options worth experimenting with. Once you are done, click on “Next” to finish your set up.

4) Making Posts on Padlets
To create a post, click the “+” icon in the bottom right hand corner.
After pressing the “+” icon, this screen will pop up.

Once the above screen appears, one can choose to insert an image, link, or other media, to title the post, and write post content. Once one writes their post, click on the “publish” button to publish a post.

B) Best Practices

Padlet can be utilized in many ways by educators and students. Some examples are:

  • Brainstorming
  • Student Portfolio
  • As a question bank
  • As a research bank
  • Click here for more examples.

In conclusion, Padlet has many different uses, and is a software-as-service virtual bulletin board. The tool allows for multiple forms of media to be utilized in posts, and is operable using any form of email. Educators and students alike can benefit from its intuitive and streamline nature.

6 Benefits to Peer Review in Theological Education

peer review

Simply put, peer review assignments enable students to provide feedback to each other. They are another tool to put in your pedagogical tool belt.

There is a lot of research on peer review in the classroom. We will cover some best practices later in this article.

The following Benefits to Peer Review we present here are adapted and cited from research conducted by the writing center at Southwestern University:

1) Build student investment in writing

Peer review builds student investment in writing and helps students understand the relationship between their writing and their coursework.

It forces them to engage with writing and cultivates better critical thinking skills. Instead of simply reacting to a prompt, writing well means that students are able to question their own work, values, and commitments.

2) Encourage students to collaborate

Encouraging students to collaborate throughout the full process gives them opportunities to “learn from one another and to think critically about the role of writing in the course at hand.”

Collaboration in the classroom translates to collaboration in the world. Whether it’s in industry, non-profit sector, or the congregation.

3) Clarify the goals of the assignment

Students can assess the requirements themselves and clarify the goals of the assignment. Instead of focusing on how they as individuals can meet the requirements, students are forced to focus on the learning outcomes. This prevents distractions of simple grammar and cohesion. It also reduces anxiety!

4) Provide field-specific insight into writing

“Peer Review provides students with contemporary models of disciplinary writing.” Students know how to write from their bachelor’s degrees, but for many it is their first time studying religion or theology.

Even in a Master of Divinity program we see differences in writing styles for the different subfields. An essay for History of American Christianity is going to be different than a paper on Psychology of Religion.

5) Empower self-editing through peer review discussion

This process allows students to clarify their own ideas. Having the opportunity to workshop their writing with classmates allows the student to explain their work out loud.

Often, this improves their writing by being more concise or having the chance to elaborate using different words than their original draft.

6) Create opportunity for professional development

Peer review provides professional experience for students. While the Master of Divinity is a professional program, peer review makes room for more academically-oriented students. Students planning for doctoral work need this exposure to improve their writing for journals and publishing.

This process also mimics the main collaborative model of the real world. Simply, students need to know how to give and receive feedback. Period.

peer review icon, peer review, review-2888794.jpg

What are students saying about peer review?

So, let’s do a review of peer review.

Our office interviewed current masters students about their thoughts on the topic. Here are the top 3:

  • “Having a rubric from the professor on what students are looking for in the assignment is crucial for classroom accountability. Using a rubric on top of the editing features allows both parties to have several ways of understanding the assessment they’ve been given back from their classmates.”
  • “Often it seems the goal with discussion boards is for classmates to review and critique each other’s work alongside creating conversation. Utilizing the peer review for critique rather than using Discussion Boards allows the student to understand the expectation a bit more clearly.”
  • “In my experience, the best style of critiquing and reviewing classmates’ work is the consistency that comes with being assigned a partner or group to work with throughout the entire semester.”

Quick Answer: Rubrics, Clear Expectations, and Consistent Pairings

Concluding thoughts on peer review

Traditionally, peer review involves exchanging papers in class, in person. It involves finding several sessions of class time in order for this process to occur. At Candler, we use the Canvas Learning Management System. In the next post, we provide some best practices for using Canvas LMS to facilitate the peer review process.

GET IN TOUCH WITH US! WE’D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU.

Twitter for Academics: An Invitation to Public Theology

I recently spoke with a colleague who was curious about academic twitter (#AcademicTwitter). She mentioned how it has become a repository of resources. Everything from book launches to news articles – it’s so valuable. Our conversation shifted, however, once we began talking about Twitter best practices and how to use it. 

For many academics, Twitter is home to a wide range of audiences. You’ve got colleagues and peers, casual interests and associations, even family and friends. Navigating this mix can be quite a challenge – especially considering the additional concerns of your role in the public eye.  

Now: 

This becomes trickier when academics are in the fields of theological and religious studies. It seems once all eyes are on you, there are certain standards and expectations placed on you that would not ordinarily be on a casual social media account. 

Put simply, Twitter is a tool. And in this post, I hope to give concrete examples of how to interact and use the app and how it can be an invitation for you to do public theology. 

Navigating the Tool 

As academics, we can talk about our projects and fields of study all day long. That is what brings us joy and research is why we do what we do. I have no issues promoting pieces that I have written or sharing online things that excite me. 

So, why would an academic twitter account be any different? 

The hesitancy surrounding Twitter for many academics are the practices that Social Media Managers use daily. Questions like: 

  • How do I write posts? 
  • When do I share them? 
  • Should I link to something or post a picture? 
  • Why use a hashtag? 

Like any tool, it may take time for you and Twitter to become acquainted. But once you do, you will be able to use it easily and often. 

Simon Fraser University Library posted an article that listed the following reasons why academics should use Twitter: 

  • Make your research more accessible, across disciplines, sectors, and to the public 
  • Contribute to dispelling mis/disinformation 
  • Network 
  • Build awareness about issues, needs, concerns, and opportunities 
  • Inspire action 
  • Learn 
  • Recruit (students, staff, and study participants) 

Here’s how: 

1) Provide sources for your content

As academics, we know that citing our sources is the most important aspect of our work. The internet is no different. Just because it is online does not mean it is not someone’s intellectual property. A great example of this is when you are tweeting about what excites you around your research, provide a link to an article you have read recently if it is open source. Try letting your followers know what and who you are reading, and how they too can access these resources. 

2) Engage with your peers on academic twitter 

Engaging with your peers is crucial. It is about networking! Through social media, you can easily connect with so many in your field that would otherwise be very difficult. You can do this by responding to tweets, congratulating your peers on recent publications or awards, and retweeting! 

Another way of engaging with your peers is through hashtags. Hashtags are one or more words without spaces that following a number or pound sign, such as #AcademicTwitter. Using hashtags categorizes your tweet among everyone else who has tweeted using the same tag. For example, “I’m working on a project that I cannot wait to show you! #ReligiousHistory #Writing”. This tweet would be now grouped with both #ReligiousHistory and #Writing tags. 

3. Tag, Tag, Tag 

A third important aspect of academic twitter is interacting with other accounts. In order to engage with your peers, a reply tweet automatically begins with the account’s handle. For example, “@TwitterAcademic congratulations on your recent publication! Can’t wait to read it!” 

Tagging is essential as it provides an opportunity for you to promote your own content while citing, acknowledging, and “pitching” it to others. A perfect example is to always tag your publisher, editor, etc. If they have a Twitter account. This lets them know how much you appreciate their work on your project and that you know how to be actively engaged on social media – a requirement now for publshing! 

4) Recognize your social location 

It is important to remember our social locations in relation to rank, tenure-track, race, gender, sexuality, and socio-economic status. Tenured positions are hard to come by, and many active Twitter academics are in adjunct or lecture positions. Simply put, think about the impact of what you’re tweeting, to whom, and why – all before you tweet. 

Public Theology on Academic Twitter

An Invitation to Public Theology 

Quick Answer: What is Public Theology? 

Public theology is a term often associated with those who publicly do theology. They explore concepts, engage new ideas, and critique harmful theologies in real time, in the public sphere. 

Public theologians are pastors, preachers, academics, and oftentimes your students. More and more, Twitter is becoming a hub for seminarians to process what they are encountering in class and where many learn to find their public voice. 

As a School of Theology, by default we are given a platform to speak on events happening in the world around us. The steps in this post encourage you to build a community of followers that allows you to speak about what is in your heart to wide audiences – who now have a proven track record of engaging and sharing your content. By citing your work, engaging your peers, tagging all the relevant accounts, and crafting your message considering your status and influence, you can maximize your reach to the public.

Twitter provides scholars in the fields of religious studies and theology an accessible and open invitation to Public Theology. 

For more information on digital scholarship and pedagogy in theological education, visit scholarblogs.emory.edu/candlerdigitallearning. 

More Discussion, Less Bored: Alternatives to Discussion Boards

For many classes, Discussion Boards serve as the primary means of assessing a student’s participation and preparation for class. Did they do the reading? Are they paying attention in class? Many faculty who teach online use discussion boards as a way to continue the conversations of the class outside of the classroom. This article is titled “More Discussion, Less Bored” as a play on the disconnect we’ve found between student and faculty perceptions of discussion boards and to provide creative alternatives to discussion boards.

Discussion Boards Memes

What are students saying about Discussion Boards?

Our office surveyed several students and wanted to share some important takeaways. Now, it is important to remember the comments are directed to discussion boards, not the the assignment.

“I feel like [discussion boards] offer no incentive to participate in a meaningful manner, and quickly become arbitrary when a student is falling behind or struggling to manage the stresses and challenges of coursework.”

“It often times feels like discussions that could be had in the classroom are substituted with discussion boards in order to allocate more time for lecture and lift the burden of mediating conversation from the professor.”

“If a student is being graded for word count minimum, but not for content; if a student is contributing to a discussion, but is not graded for responding to others; and if a student is writing a thoughtful response, but the professor is not responding back in the same forum—where should the student’s priorities truly lie?”

Effective Conversations

The Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion published a collection of resources for online learning, “Effective and Inclusive Online Discussions: A Focus on Preparation, Presence, Preferences, and Privacy.” 

1) Preparation

Preparation is all about determining what are your learning goals and why is discussion the best way to meet them?

It is essential that you are open with your students about how these online discussions work and why they matter. This includes the grading criteria and the medium too! Leaving out this aspect has led to many students’ experiences having never participated in a meaningful and productive online discussion.

A final component of your preparation should include establishing community norms with your students. What’s the temperature of your classroom community? What are your expectations? For example, how do you plan to respond to microaggressions? What does it look like to reach out to a student who has been open and transparent about their traumas and hardships with the class?

2) Presence

Your presence in online discussion is vitally important. Wabash encourages your presence as one that is both sustainable and supportive.

A sustainable presence means that you do not over promise engagement, but meet the standards you set for yourself in the syllabus. You could say:

  • “You will hear back from me x times per discussion board”
  • “I will respond to your comments with a video recording response.”

Your presence should also be supportive, as you show genuine interest in what students say, learn, and offer to the conversation.

3) Preferences

Preferences mean that you provide students choices for how to demonstrate their learning in an online format. This could be through Zoom conversations. You could even have “selective participation” where students can choose where to participate in discussion.

4) Privacy

Privacy in not always obvious. Let your students know when and how they will be recorded. Tell them where the recording be shared? You can also allow students to opt out of video discussions if it is uncomfortable.

More Discussion, Less Bored: Alternatives to Discussion Boards

Discussion Boards Alternative - VoiceThread

VoiceThread

VoiceThread is a tool that supports audio, visual, and textual conversations simultaneously, with the potential to replace discussion boards, serve for asynchronous lectures, and support universal design principles. VoiceThread can fill the social presence gap often found in online learning engagement, all without the pressure of synchronous timing.

Examples

1) Language-based classes – recording vocabulary, practicing short reading out loud

2) Alternative to Canvas Studio – put in an asynchronous lecture and have all students respond with a question they have about the material

3) Resource sharing – ask students to link to other things, engage in a mode that works for them!

Discussion Boards Alternative - OneNote

OneNote

OneNote is an application within the Office 365 suite that all Emory faculty, staff, and students have access to.  It is an app that allows you to organize with three different levels, tag, write/draw, add multimedia, clip articles to save, and share with others.

Examples

1) Weekly reflections – have students create their own notebooks and share them directly with you so that you can see their reflections on class discussions, readings, and content.

2) Group Discussion – have students curate culturally relevant resources and collaborate together by providing comments, thoughts, reflections, audio/visual or multimedia responses to the resource

3) Language courses – a tool to do shared annotations of texts and parsing sentences together

Discussion Boards Alternative - Blogging

ScholarBlogs

ScholarBlogs is an Emory instance of WordPress and is now available for those who intend to use the technology for teaching and research. It offers a platform for public and private blogs and web pages capable of displaying text, images and video. Users can also apply themes to customize their blogs and utilize select plugins that provide additional functionality. It’s a great way for your students to get some basic web design/editing under their belts and to encourage them to consider their role as public voices in the conversations around religion, faith, theology, race, historical analysis, etc. 

Digital Learning Workshop: Conversations beyond the Classroom

Check out our workshop on Asynchronous Discussions below. Have a thought? Leave us a comment!

Interested in Becoming a Tech Producer?

tech producer

Job Description

The role of a tech producer is to be the facilitator of the online classroom on behalf of the faculty member. Under the supervision of the Instruction Content Developer in the Office of Digital Learning, Tech Producers will assist in a range of technical and pedagogical tasks including Zoom support for teaching faculty and other IT service support such as Canvas. 

Tech Producer Responsibilities

  • Ensure recording of every class session 
  • As needed classroom facilitation duties such as breakout rooms, screen-sharing, and student polling 
  • Live troubleshooting for Zoom connectivity issues 
  • Posting class recordings to Canvas modules 
  • Contacting Candler IT as necessary for larger issues with faculty hardware, or referring students to Student Digital Life  

Tech Producer Spotlights

tech producer

Karina Aragon-Buchanan

“This semester I have the honor of tech producing for a DMin course! I have love getting to hear from pastors located all over the U.S. and learn alongside the incredible Donghyun Jeong and Chantel Heister. It truly has been a wonderful experience so far. It’s made me realize just how important a quality, online learning experience is.”

Justala Simpson

“My role, as a tech producer, is really cool! I am afforded the opportunity of assisting professors in maintaining the flow of the classroom environment. This includes uploading class recordings, creating breakout rooms, and troubleshooting technological needs of students and faculty. 

One of my favorite parts of being a tech producer has been working with the Doctor of Ministry program. As I, actively discern next steps in my theological journey, it is truly a blessing to glean from their experiences and the work that they are engaging. 

Online learning can be challenging, but I am so grateful that I can play a small role in making it more manageable.”

Cerise Barton

“My name is Cerise Barton and I am a rising 3rd year MDiv student. I’ve had the pleasure of serving our digital community as a zoom tech producer this year. 

The zoom space has so many possibilities to make learning exciting, engaging, and limit fatigue. It’s been an honor to partner with our professors and help with innovative delivery of curriculum.

It has also been an honor to help fellow colleagues learn their own systems and get the most out of our personal zoom accounts. Simply tips like saving the chat, maneuvering full screen & gallery views, hiding self-view, and a few others help to personalize and maximize the zoom learning experience. 

Most of what I get to do is assist entrance & exit to the zoom space, breakout rooms, polls, and trouble shoot when audio/video issues occur. But the best part is being exposed to curriculum, professors, and other colleagues in classes I would not otherwise get to participate in.“

Interested in Being a Tech Producer?

Here’s the Interest Form!

Go to Form

4 Creative Uses for Polling in the Classroom

If the pandemic has shown us anything about education, it is that learning can often become a passive experience. This is true for both face-to-face and online instruction. Students will get into a “TV watching” mode and not actively engage in discussion.

Now, this is not intentional and it is not something to assign blame. It is just how things are.

Polling tools in the classroom offer brief moments of interaction that require students to think and respond. Not in a high stakes way, but inviting students to a level of engagement that you typically do not see in the Zoom classroom.

This post will cover two tools: Poll Everywhere and Mentimeter and recommend some best practices for using them in the classroom!

Scroll down to watch a Digital Learning Workshop on these tools.

Poll Everywhere

Poll Everywhere is an interactive polling tool with a huge variety of visualized responses. Students respond by clicking on a shared link or by texting in a code.

It is a web-based app that allows for live polls in real-time. Participants can view it online in a web-browser or embedded into powerpoint.

Poll Everywhere is best used synchronously, live in a Zoom room or live during a face-to-face lecture. Anyone with the shared link can participate anonymously and provide answers to questions, input in voting, or just tell you how they are doing!

Best of all, Emory University has an Enterprise-Level Account to Poll Everywhere. Unlimited polls, premium templates, etc. All you need to do is sign in using your Emory email account!

Mentimeter

Mentimeter is an interactive polling tool with multiple question types and visualization options. Students can respond by entering in a unique code at menti.com or using a shared link.

It can be used asynchronously to poll students before or after a class meeting, or synchronously during a live Zoom session.

Anyone with the unique code or shared link can respond to mentimeter polls – no purchase or account creation needed.

Creative Uses for Polling

1. Getting to Know You Games

These are great to use for ice-breakers, first day of class, etc. Ask students their favorite foods, movies. Ask for Netflix recommendations. Ask “what are you reading right now outside of class?”

Students will know that you care about them as people, not just absorbers of knowledge AND you just might get some great recommendations along the way!

2. Knowledge Checks

Knowledge checks can be a great asset to your class as you can ask students to write down one or two elements they gleaned from your lecture or the class discussion.

You can use polling tools for open-ended responses. Giving students time in class to reflect on what they have learned or to potentially ask further questions is so important for checking in with students and making sure what you want them to know is getting through.

3. Temperature Checks

Sometimes, you as a faculty need to do a check-in. See how your students are doing? See if they need anything? What is great about these polling tools is that they have the option of being completely anonymous.

Check on your students and encourage them to be truly honest in their responses. For instance, use this prompt with an open-ended template: “How are you doing, really?” Use this as an opportunity to invite persons with specific answers to contact you after class if they want to. This removes the pressure and creates an environment of care in your classroom.

4. General Engagement

For general and creative engagement, think about how to get students directly engaged in lectures. Invite them to answer questions on whether or not they agree with an argument from the author of the reading being discussed. Then, ask for a few of those on each side to explain why they agree or disagree.

Tools for Engagement Digital Learning Workshop

The following video is our workshop titled “Tools for Engagement.” In this video, we cover both Poll Everywhere and Mentimeter as well as some exciting applications of these tools!

Everyone Did the Reading: Collaborative Annotation in the Classroom

Often when students are assigned a reading, they gloss. They will see a name, a term, a concept… and skip it. Not because they aren’t engaged. Not because they don’t want to learn. But because it is one of seven articles to have read by the end of the week.

Put simply, collaborative annotation is taking notes on a document with other people. It is an opportunity for students to engage in active reading, cultivate note-taking practices, replace the repetitive discussion boards, and ground conversations in the text itself.

Pedagogically, what is its value?

What collaborative annotation adds to the classroom is an opportunity to be deeply rooted in the text. It’s collaborative so there is no longer pressure solely on one student. They can also engage with one another and ask questions, clarify thoughts and difficult quotes, etc.

Dr. Sarah Bogue, Director of Digital Learning and Professor in the Practice of the History of Christianity here at Candler suggests four ways to engage collaborative annotation:

  1. Glossing – Students are required to write a short blurb identifying authors, theories, etc. that are referenced.
  2. Asking Questions – Students can identify concepts or passages that were confusing to them, or offering opinions and making connections with the other material.
  3. Jigsaw-ing – Different students are responsible for annotating different sections of the reading, asking questions, identifying themes, etc.
  4. Deconstructing – Close reading can involve identifying arguments and evidence, looking for broader contextual clues, identifying rhetorical moves
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Hypothes.is

Hypothes.is is a browser plug-in that allows for collaborative annotation on any web-hosted content (blogs, sites, articles, ebooks). This means that it can be used within the Pitts Theology Library Course Reserves and does not violate any copyright laws because it never leaves the browser you’ve used to access the reading.

Hypothes.is lets you annotate in layers:

Hypothes.is has three different levels of annotation available to different audiences: personal, community/class, and public. You are able to be Active, Visible, and Social, respectively.

First, personal. Hypothes.is calls this the “active” participation. In this view, notes you personally make are visible only to you. Annotations can be made privately, viewable only by the student who made them.

Second, class/community use. Hypothes.is calls this the “social” use. Annotations can be made in groups or with an entire class. This is made possible by adding each email address to collaborate on the document.

Third, public use. Hypothes.is calls this the “visible” use. Annotations can be made publicly. Anyone who wishes to engage in this view can participate in public conversations on any document viewed in an internet browser with the plugin.

Perusall

Perusall is a stand-alone website that allows for collaborative annotation as well as assignments, a variety of analytics, etc. Persuall acts as a sort of Learning Management System in which you as the user have to upload all of the documents for annotation yourself. This can be tricky, given copyright concerns happening right now throughout academia.

Perusall is solely for community use, meaning you cannot annotate a text that is only visible to an individual user. The system is organized by “class” where you are able to invite anyone to your class, but only members of the invited class can see the annotations.

Conclusion: Collaborative Annotation Workshop

The video below is from the Office of Digital Learning at Candler School of Theology. It was part of the 2020-2021 “Winter Workshops” series. In this session, Dr. Sarah Bogue discusses brainstorming and ideas for collaborative annotation and explores both Hypothes.is and Perusall annotation tools. Check it out!