Real-time Assessments and Check-ins

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Great teachers understand that learning is a conversation, not a monologue.

Sir Ken Robinson

Real-time assessments and check-ins spark conversation with your students, preventing your class from being a one-way transmission of information and holding student attention. Check-ins that show interest in and concern for students heightens emotional engagement (Fanshawe et al, 2020). Checking for comprehension helps you know if students need further instruction on a topic, and helps them gauge their own learning for better metacognition (Lang, 2012). In short, real-time assessments and check-ins are a great technique to energize your course!

Interactive tools make real-time assessments and check-ins possible in both face-to-face and synchronous online classrooms, as well as in asynchronous courses. Read on to learn more!

Getting Started

Determine your goal(s) for adding real-time assessments and/or check-ins to your course.

What kinds of questions do you want to ask? Some of the most common categories of questions include:

  • “What do you know?“ questions, which help you to measure student learning, stay agile and adjust to students’ needs, and/or help students become aware of their own mastery of a topic and seek help if needed.
  • “How are you?” questions, which can help humanize your teaching, increase a sense of community in the classroom, and let you know when to adjust expectations because stress levels are high or students are struggling due to some outside circumstances.
  • “What do you think?” questions, which can get students thinking, solicit questions, and invite students perspectives to enrich the conversation around a topic.

Consider the delivery of your course.

Different tools are appropriate for synchronous in-person classes, synchronous online classes, and asynchronous use. Vary the types of questions you ask to keep interest up, but try to limit the tools you use to one or two so as not to overwhelm. In synchronous courses, invite interactions every 10 minutes or so to break up lectures or presentations and re-engage students.

Click the name of the tool for information about it.

Synchronous in-person classes

  • Top Hat – lots of question types, built for use in in-person classes
  • Wooclap – polling tool for live sessions
  • Google Slides Q&A – allows students to ask questions during a Google Slides presentation
  • Google forms – Can be used to gather informaton or as a quiz

Synchronous online classes

  • Zoom – offers many interactive tools to use during a live session
  • Wooclap – polling tool for live sessions
  • Google Slides Q&A – allows students to ask questions during a Google Slides presentation
  • Google forms – Can be used to gather informaton or as a quiz

Asynchronous use

Additional Polling & Quizzing Tools are available online from many different sources. These are not enterprise/NC State-supported tools. They can be used at conferences, during workshops, or other situations in which an NC State tool (above) doesn’t serve your purpose. Included are game-based quizzing tools like Kahoot, Quizizz, and Gimkit.

Consider accessibility

It is critical to consider accessibility when selecting a tool. NC State supported tools have been vetted for accessible use, but some types of activities within them are less accessible than others. For example, a student who has low vision or who is blind may not be able to participate in an annotation activity in Zoom, and students who cannot use a mouse to navigate can have difficulty with drag-and-drop activities. If you have any questions about accessible use of a given tool, please contact learntech@ncsu.edu.

Best Practices and Examples

“What do you know?” questions (comprehension checks)

Examples

  • In a synchronous course, use Top Hat questions, Zoom polls or “reactions”, or Wooclap to
    • pose questions during a live class to check understanding. Be ready to adjust your plans for the class session based on student responses. Recommended tools:
    • pose questions as an “exit ticket” from class, which may help highlight the most important concepts.
  • Use Moodle Quiz auto-graded questions to allow students to check understanding and get real-time feedback at any time.
  • Use a Google Form to pose comprehension questions, and set it up as a quiz.

Keep in mind…

  • You don’t have to grade every response / quiz. Low- or no-stakes questions are effective without putting a lot of pressure on students.
  • Students may benefit from an opportunity to practice with a tool before using it for grading purposes

Resources/Learn more

“What do you think?” questions (student voices about content)

Examples

  • In a synchronous course, use Top Hat questions, Zoom polls or “reactions”, or Wooclap to ask about perspectives or assumptions before diving into a topic, then poll again later in the class to see if there was a change.
  • Use Top Hat to ask sensitive or potentially controversial questions, as students are more likely to respond if they can remain anonymous.
  • Collect student questions about a particular presentation, to be answered later
    • Before, during or after a presentation, you might use Moodle Hot Question
    • During a presentation, you might use Top Hat discussion activity, Zoom chat, or Google Slides Q&A
  • Use Google Forms, Moodle Feedback activity, or Top Hat discussion activity to ask, “What’s the most interesting thing you learned in this lesson/class/module” or “What would you like to know more about?”
  • Use Moodle Feedback or a Google Form to allow students to suggest something that is typically decided solely by you, like an extra credit topic or key components for a rubric. This gives them a sense of agency and choice in the course.

Keep in mind…

When possible and especially for sensitive questions, keep responses anonymous to help students be more comfortable answering.

“How are you?” check-ins for well-being

Examples

  • Use Google Forms to send students a get-to-know-you survey at the start of class to learn how they feel about the class and any possible barriers to success they may face.
  • Use a Google Form or Moodle Feedback periodically (every 1-3 weeks) to check-in with student stress levels, both in general and in relation to assignments, projects or exams in your course; consider accepting anonymous responses. Questions can be as simple as how they have been feeling lately, and anything you can do to help?
  • Use Moodle Feedback activity, a Google Form, or Zoom Reactions to check in with students after any stressful current event or news item that you think might affect them.
  • Get students’ feedback by doing a Mid-semester course check-in with anonymous feedback about what works well and what doesn’t, and what has been taught that is still confusing or unclear to students. You can also ask for more feedback after you’ve made any changes.
  • Create fun questions about a current event, sports, pets, food, etc., to build community, and share results in the form of graphs and tables on the screen.

Keep in mind…

Before asking a question, plan how you’ll respond to students’ responses.

  • If you find that many students are struggling, can you offer some flexibility with due dates?
  • If you feel that a student might need extra support, provide resources such as encouragement to use campus resources (provide them with links).
  • If you are comfortable doing so, you might say, “If you were the student who answered ‘X,’ know that you are not alone. Please consider dropping by during my office hours or otherwise reaching out to me or your advisor. We can help connect you with the resources you need.”

Resources/Learn more

Further Reading