How often do you get asked to complete a survey, have the results returned to you, but really, they haven't asked the kinds of questions you'd want to ask? For me, that happens quite a bit.
So I was a pretty happy gal when, thanks to the ever-wonderful Tom Kuhlman's Rapid eLearning blog, I came across Urtak this morning. It touts itself as 'a tool for collecting opinions', and is made of up 'yes/no' questions, with a 'don't care' option as well. The creator sets up to 10 questions which are asked in random order. This means you can't choose which questions to answer, and this urked me at first - I wanted to skip over some questions and see what all others were. But I soon caught on that if I wasn't interested in a question, I just responded 'don't care'. The more 'don't care' responses there are to a question, the less likely it is that it will be asked again - so the better questions get asked more often.
But the bit I like is that the participants are able to ask their own questions. It immediately engaged me - what do I want to find out from my peers? Are the issues that are critical to me the same as they are for you? Are the assumptions we're making about what are the critical issues to our staff really warranted? And what questions are others asking?
As soon as you answer a question, you get to see a pie chart of how others have responded. And asking is as quick as type and click, once you've signed up (email address and password), which I admit is a bit of a draw back, even though it only took a second or two.
I tried it out with a few simple questions, but I'm more interested in the kinds of questions you are asking about blended and flexible learning at CSU. Have a go, and add some questions of your own!
Blended and flexible learning
The value for blended and flexible learning?
As Tom says in his post, the value is in its simplicity and the potential in using the questions to engage people. He suggests asking questions that elicit strong opinions and prompt some thought, then following this up by offering on- or offline facilitated discussion where students can qualify and strengthen these opinions after more in-depth discussion (something that's not possible, of course, with a yes/no response). In essence, this is using it to engage students and prime them for further conversation. He offers a good example, which you'll see when you read his post.
I'd like to suggest another use for this tool though. When designing to assist students in transitioning into the university environment, it's important to consider the development of community, and the sense of belonging that comes from knowing what the cohort that one is studying with is all about. With our distance students, this has traditionally been much harder, though new technologies such as our ePortfolio system and online meeting tools, supplementing the discussion forums, have added to that greatly. I'd really like to see, though, how a tool like this might work at the start of first semester. What kinds of questions do students want to know about each other? How can it be used, in conjunction with forums and orientation camps etc, to help students gain a stronger sense of who they are as a group?
I also imagine using this as a tool during work placements, asking some of those controversial questions that they will undoubtedly be drawing opinions on as they see how their profession works in the real world, looking at the kinds of questions they are posing themselves, and using these as prompts for follow-up discussions.
Lots of food for thought. If anyone tries it out with their classes, I'd love to hear how it went! Here's a link to Tom's quick overview tour.
Photo: cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo by [F]oxymoron: http://flickr.com/photos/f-oxymoron/5005146417/
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