Have you ever asked yourself:
- I'm teaching, but are my students getting it?
- Why is it the same handful of kids that asks all the questions?
- Are others not asking because they don't have questions, or are they afraid or embarassed?
- Where should I focus my class discussion - which topics are most important to the most students?
- There's a side-discussion going on - it's class-related, but distracting - should I make them stop?
If you've had these questions, maybe you should try...
What is GoSoapBox?
- GoSoapBox is designed to break down participation barriers, keep students engaged, and give teachers insight into student comprehension.
- GoSoapBox is a browser-based student response system that works both in and out of class. It’s compatible with just about any device with a browser, so you can leverage technology students probably already have.
- On GoSoapBox, students join a digital space where they can ask questions, contribute opinions, take quizzes, and more. It offers a lot of capabilities, but is easy for both teachers and students to use.
This tutorial has five parts:
- Getting Started: The Basic Setup
- The Main Event: The 5 Features of GoSoapBox
- Day-in-the-Life: A Hypothetical Class Day with GoSoapBox
- Pros and Cons
- Alternatives
There are 5 main features in GoSoapBox:
- Confusion Barometer
- Quizzes
- Polls
- Discussions
- Social Q&A
The following video tutorials give an overview of each feature:
Confusion Barometer
Quizzes
Polling
Discussions
Social Q & A
...of a GoSoapBox-enabled class
The day before:
- Students are assigned some reading and a short video as homework.
- The teacher has created a GoSoapBox event for the class the following day, and unlocks a short comprehension quiz as part of the homework.
- The Social Q & A is also open, and students are encouraged to post questions and to upvote the questions of others.
In the morning, before class:
- The teacher checks quiz results that GoSoapBox has automatically summarized for him, then reviews the prioritized list of student questions, and adapts his lesson plan based on the feedback.
- He creates an additional short quiz that addresses the more challenging topics indicated by the results of yesterday's quiz.
During class:
- The teacher covers the planned material, devoting more time to the areas highlighted by the student questions and quiz results.
- During the class discussion, he sees in the Confusion Barometer that there are one or two students who still are having trouble with one of the concepts. Rather than spend class minutes on this topic, he encourages anyone who still feels uncomfortable with the topic to come by during office hours.
- At one point, a classroom debate becomes quite contentious, and the teacher administers an Instant Poll to see how the class divides on the issue. After further discussion, he administers the poll again, and finds that the class is getting closer to a common view.
- To close the class, the students take the non-graded quiz the teacher created that morning, and the teacher encourages anyone who missed questions to follow up with other classmates who got them correct.
After class:
- The teacher reviews the quiz results, and sees that nearly half the class missed one of the questions. He decides to begin class the next morning with a brief review of that concept.
GoSoapBox supports multiple aspects of ISTE Standards for Students #1: Empowered Learner, and #7: Global Collaborator
- #1b: Students build networks and customize their learning environments in ways that support the learning process.
- #1c: Students use technology to seek feedback that informs and improves their practice and to demonstrate their learning in a variety of ways.
- #1d: Students understand the fundamental concepts of technology operations, demonstrate the ability to choose, use and troubleshoot current technologies and are able to transfer their knowledge to explore emerging technologies.
- #7a: Students use digital tools to connect with learners from a variety of backgrounds and cultures, engaging with them in ways that broaden mutual understanding and learning.
- #7b: Students use collaborative technologies to work with others, including peers, experts or community members, to examine issues and problems from multiple viewpoints.
GoSoapBox also supports ISTE Standards for Educators #5: Designer, #6: Facilitator, and #7: Analyst
- #5c: Explore and apply instructional design principles to create innovative digital learning environments that engage and support learning.
- #6b: Manage the use of technology and student learning strategies in digital platforms, virtual environments, hands-on makerspaces or in the field.
- #7b: Use technology to design and implement a variety of formative and summative assessments that accommodate learner needs, provide timely feedback to students and inform instruction.
- #7c: Use assessment data to guide progress and communicate with students, parents and education stakeholders to build student self-direction.
Pros:
- Real-time feedback on student comprehension
- Prioritization of questions lets the teacher make better use of class minutes
- Encourages student participation
- Enables students to help each other without disrupting the class discussion
- GoSoapBox can help deter students’ “zoning out” during class
- Efficient tool for administering and grading formative assessments
- Combines several features into one platform, so students and teachers have only one tool to learn
Cons:
- Interacting with GoSoapBox may divert attention from the class activity
- BYOD devices that are powered on and online can be a source of distraction/temptation (texts, emails, etc.)
- Monitoring the barometer and the Q & A scroll could be distracting for the teacher
- May become a crutch for shy students, such that they avoid practicing assertiveness and group participation skills
- The multifunction swiss-army-knife approach means that other, more specialized, tools have a richer feature set in a particular function
- Although the tool is simple, potentially significant teacher preparation is necessary to get the benefits
There are numerous tools that replicate the five features of GoSoapBox. Some strong examples are:
- Today'sMeet [backchannel discussions]
- Quizlet [quizzes]
- Kahoot [game-based quizzzes]
- Google Forms [highly flexible student response tool]
- Socrative [engaging formative assessments and polls]
- Mentimeter [polling]
- PollEverywhere [live polling]
GoSoapBox offers a wide array of features that collectively help engage students, inform teachers, and enhance the learning experience, in and out of the classroom. Give it a try!
Created by Alan Lui for MD400: Introduction to Educational Technology (Summer 2018), Fairfield University Graduate School of Education and Allied Professions
Credits:
Created with images by TeroVesalainen - "question mark hand drawn solution think chalk" • Jorge Vasconez - "Chasing Sun" • qimono - "scale justice weight" • Antranias - "home crossroads junction road decision choice alternative" • PhotoMIX-Company - "firewood wood stacked stack the background tree"