Engaging Students Using a Simple Electronic Daily Response Journal David A. Reimann Albion College Albion, Michigan Copyright 2000 ©, David A. Reimann. All rights seserved

Goals Improve student learning Simplify paperwork Encourage attendance Give students ownership of their learning Engage passive students Engage reflective students

Problems Some introverted students feel uncomfortable asking questions Some students are afraid of asking “dumb questions” Reflective students need time to digest material Students miss classes for a variety of reasons (athletics, music, special events, etc) Student attendance does not insure learning

Previous Solutions Written journals Bulletin Boards

Written Journals Activity –Summarize course material –Reflect and question course concepts Benefits –Improve student learning –Improve thinking –Improve motivation –Low stakes writing –Provides time for reflection

Written Journals Problems –Delay in providing feedback –Journals can be in only one place at a time –Time demand for reviewing journals –Time of instructor in administrative aspects –No guarantee of daily writing unless processed daily

Activity –Students send instructor an Problems –Difficult to process automatically –Can overwhelm an already busy mailbox

Bulletin Boards Activity –Students post journal to a bulletin board Advantages –No clutter Problems –Lack of anonymity –Logistics

New Solution Electronic daily response journal using a web- based form Process –A student submits a daily response containing two important points from class and one unresolved question –A related URL can be submitted for extra credit –Student name is selected from a course specific web form –No password currently required

New Solution Advantages –No clutter –No simultaneous location problems –Friendly reminder –Anonymous review for other students –Provides rapid feedback –Gives shy and reflective people a voice –The required question should foster inquiry

New Solution Behind the scenes –A CGI script on a Linux-based web server handles submissions –A check is made to ensure fields contain something other than white space –Some submitted non-questions are disallowed –Proper submissions are sent to a file –At 6 PM on class days, a reminder is automatically sent if no response has been received –Each class morning, the submission file is processed to extract the recent entries

Use in Courses Questions are reviewed at the beginning of class (5-10 minutes) Provides a review of the difficult concepts of the previous class Provides a nice transition between classes Students see peer comments and questions

Selected Responses from CS1 Important points –Decimal, base10, uses numbers from 0 through 9 –Computer programmers see Oct 31 and Dec 25 as the same –Computers are smart. Very smart. Unresolved questions –How frequently is octal used in place of hexadecimal or binary? –Why does the hexadecimal base use letters? –Do you think the robot team will be able to beat the world cup champs in 2050?

Survey A group of 29 students was polled –Five possible responses to each statement were given –Responses were coded as integers (-2 to 2) –Histograms, means, and medians were computed Includes CS1, CS2, and Graphics

The daily response has improved my writing ability.

The daily response has helped clarify course concepts.

The daily response has stimulated my thinking about this course outside the classroom.

The daily response has increased my motivation.

The daily response has improved my attendance.

The daily response has made asking questions easier.

The daily response has given me a voice in class.

The daily response has fostered an inquisitive attitude.

The daily response has facilitated classroom discussion.

The daily response has improved feedback on difficult concepts.

The daily response has made me less passive in the classroom.

The daily response has improved my note taking skills.

The daily response has made me a better learner.

The reminder has been helpful to me.

I wish the daily response was used in all my classes.

Overall, the daily response is a good thing in this course.

Student Feedback Complaints –One student “hates” journals –Some students feel peer students can get credit for not coming to class –Some students felt like they were not rewarded for coming to class if they forgot to do the response Positives –Some students liked the chance to reflect

Observations Class time is required –Similar to in-class journal writing –Similar to a simple review of previous class Grading requires roughly 30 minutes for a class of 20 students every other week Log of class is helpful in future course improvements

Future Work Ongoing Future questions –Is there a correlation with gender? –Are other student questions helpful? –Did it improve student learning? –How much time was required? Grouping similar responses

Conclusions A simple electronic daily response journal was analyzed Logistical advantages over paper journals Similar benefit to students –Quick response time –Improved clarification and feedback –Facilitated classroom discussion –Made asking questions easier Works well for students

Acknowledgements Thanks to all my students for participating in this project. Thank you!