Using Technology for Instant Feedback in a Math Class

By -

 

In many of my more traditional math classes in the past, I have received feedback on my homework way too late. I would do all the homework problems on paper, turn them in, and then a few days later receive feedback. However, I often made the same mistake on every problem because I had no way of knowing I was doing it wrong. This means incorrect habits were being reinforced. Using technology in our classrooms can help eliminate this problem by providing students with instant feedback, helping to stop them from reinforcing incorrect habits.

There are many different ways to offer instant feedback to students. One is using tools like Kahoot or Quizziz at the end of a class. You can make two or three problems, and the students can solve them after the lesson. These not only provide feedback to the students, but also to the teachers. It offers statistics saying which answers students got wrong, what they put instead, what percentage of the class got it right, and more. This means that as teachers, if a high percentage of students got a question wrong, we know that we need to go back over that material and clarify a few things.

Another resource to use would be online homework. Platforms like WebAssign, Delta Math, and Hawkes are just a few of the options available. These allow students to do homework on their own time and still receive instant feedback. Giving them multiple attempts per question allows them to go back and correct their mistakes before moving on, keeping them from reinforcing bad habits. Some online platforms also offer options to teach, practice similar problems, or go step by step. This can allow the student to break down each problem and grow their understanding before moving on. It also gives students the opportunity to practice more problems if there is a type of question they aren’t quite grasping.

Besides not reinforcing mistakes, instant feedback allows students to practice growth mindset. Because they are offered the chance to correct themselves, they see mistakes as a learning moment rather than as failure. I know many times in my past, I would get bad grades on homework, and I would see mistakes as a bad thing, causing me to stress over every single problem and try my best to never mess up. But this is not sustainable, and it is good to teach students that making mistakes is okay and is an important part of the learning process.

However, we have to be careful about how technology is being used. As teachers it is our job to ask the right questions that allow students to show their understanding of the material rather than just guessing. It is important to ask open-ended questions so that we can accurately gauge how well they know the material rather than just how well they can deduce the answer.

Overall, technology can change the way a math class is run, and how students view the subject. It allows them to learn from their mistakes, and it gives teachers an insight into how well students are following the lesson. Instant feedback can help to create an intentional, interactive classroom that supports student growth.

 

 

 

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How Twitter Became My PLN

By -
Image
Greetings students of Math 371! I'm very excited to once again add to this blog.  Dr. Vestal asked me two years ago to post as a guest blogger.  I skimmed through my previous post  and am happy that it's still relevant.  The revolution is as strong as ever. I want to talk briefly about how Twitter has helped me become a better teacher.  I first joined Twitter back in September of 2011.  It wasn't until the spring of 2014 that I started being active on Twitter and using it professionally.  Over the past four years, my use of Twitter has evolved into what I now consider my Personal Learning Network (PLN).   I first started following some of the all-stars of mathematics education -- Dan Meyer, Andrew Stadel, and Dr. Vestal to name a few.  Over time, I've followed more and more people who I've either met, read about, or heard of via re-tweets and likes. Each day, I spend between 5-10 minutes skimming through my Twitter f...
Read more

Are You Not Entertained?

By -
From the teachers that brought you, "Stand in front and lecture," and "Here's the answer now figure it out," comes "Everyone quiet whilst you work, I don't wanna hear any talking." Starring Generic Math Teacher, and a special guest by the Social Studies Department. One of the largest perceived problems of math classes in high school, and, frankly, in college is that the lecture lifestyle is the life for the common teacher or professor. The variability in day to day teaching life is somewhat limited and the lifestyle becomes a staple in the everyday life of both students and teachers. Most movies purvey math classes as boring, and there's a large social stigma behind math because of the fact that it doesn't hold the interest in people who don't receive structure well.  Something that I love to emphasize is a combination of fun activities, gamification, and lecture-style teaching in a course to help progress the students not just ...
Read more

What Is So Scary About Math?

By -
Are you scared to continue being a math major? This is a question I was recently asked by one of my professors as an end-of-semester reflection. On the one hand, absolutely. I knew the material after that point was only going to exponentially get harder. On the other hand, I was (and am) so excited to continue learning more about math, despite the challenges that I know are ahead of me. Why should I be scared? There is this perception that math is this difficult subject that only the smartest students are going to succeed in. It’s nothing more than a subject schools force them to learn to progress in school and graduate. It’s something to be feared. There is some truth to this. Math is an increasingly difficult subject that some students are going to excel in more easily than others, just like every other subject taught in school. And schools do require students to take it, but for many beneficial reasons such as the real-world applications of math and the problem-solving skills that m...
Read more