Module 6: Blog Post 5 - Digital Platforms Case Study

 Case Study: myshortanswer.com 

Overview

Short Answer allows teachers to use their own writing prompts with clear criteria, or prompts previously created to have students writing short responses. In real time students write their responses, then provide peer feedback in a variety of gamified activities. Teachers discuss class results and students reflect on and revise their writing. 

1. Create or choose the writing prompt

2. Pick the activity type

3. Adjust the settings 

4. Launch the game and monitor students’ responses in real time

5. 

User Engagement 

Teachers and students use myshortanswer.com to improve writing skills and build communication, creativity, critical thinking and collaboration. Teachers can easily monitor student responses from their own computer and lead discussions to create shared understanding. Short answer engineers effective classroom discussions and debates of peer constructed responses and give immediate, actionable feedback through direct comments and class discussion. It also activates students as instructional resources for one another as they are both receiving and responding to feedback. There is a self-rating confidence score before and after Short Answer activities that allows students to reflect on their own comprehension and calibrate their learning. 

Influence on Communication 

Short Answer motivates and engages students in peer driven activities that improve students learning at four stages: creating responses, giving feedback, receiving feedback, and discussing feedback. When students are engaged in all four of these stages, they are more likely to work harder, feel motivated to talk about evaluations of peer work because they find it enjoyable and make more revisions to their own written responses, all of which in turn leads to improvement on assessments. 

Information Consumption 

Students are actively learning while participating in Short Answer. Every student has access to the same writing prompt. Each student is writing their own response, and in turn each student completes peer feedback for other students in the class, in real time. Students are able to revise their responses based on feedback from peers and the teacher. 

Impact on Learning 

A large component of Short Answer is the comparative judgement students must use as they compare and contrast two students' written responses and choose which one does a better job of meeting the writing criteria. This is a “powerful tool for improving formative assessment pedagogical practices”(Bartholomew, Strimel, & Yoshikawa, 2018). Using comparative judgement drives students to take an active role in their learning. Short Answer also activates peers as instructional resources for each other.

Privacy and Safety 

In New York State a large component of digital privacy and safety is Ed Law 2D. Districts must ensure that students' information is kept private. Students do not have to log into Short Answer, once the teacher has the writing prompt and activity ready to go, they simply share the code or link for the students to join the activity, ensuring no student information is shared on the web. Because teachers have created and invited the students to the activity, they have full access, in real time, to their students' writing, and then have access afterwards to fully assess the data as well. Short Answer is Ed Law 2D compliant. 

Required Literacies 

Some required literacies for using Short Answer are technological, informational, new media, critical, and reading literacies. In order to participate in the Short Answer activities students need to be able to use a computer, know how a QR code works, follow links, follow directions and write a paragraph. Then use critical thinking skills to compare and contrast peers' writing. There are many literacies that are being activated and cultivated by using Short Answer. 

Implications Reflect on the Implications: One of the ways to use Short Answer is to prepare students for state testing. The majority of state tests are online, so students need to be able to use computers and type effectively. Teachers can receive feedback on students writing instantly. As well as the direct impact on student achievement, see below. 

Case study: The New York Times "What's going on in this picture?" 

Overview: 

Each week the New York Times Learning Network posts an intriguing photograph without its caption and asks students three simple questions to encourage critical thinking: “What’s going on in this picture? Why do you say that? What more can you find?”. Students/classes can post their answers and ideas in the online chat. On Thursday afternoons NYT reveals the back story behind the photo and what it depicts. 

User Engagement: 

Every Monday, I use “What’s going on in this picture” for our bell ringer log. Students write down the prompt questions: What’s going on in this picture? What do you see that makes you say that? What more can you find? I put the picture up on the BenQ board, and students are given a few silent moments to look at the picture. Then discussion is opened, we discuss the people, the dress, the possible time period, the setting, all the possible clues we see. Students then write down their observations. As a class we formulate our answer to share on the website with other classrooms around the world. On Fridays, we go back to the NYT site to see the reveal and note what we observed correctly, what we couldn’t have known from the picture alone and what new information we have learned. Students love to find small details and make inferences. Each week the pictures vary, and the students are learning so much about the world and life from this simple activity. 

Influence on Communication: 

Students get to communicate in three ways through this activity. First, as an in class discussion, then writing down their own critical analysis, and finally we share our thoughts on the website with other classes and students across the United States. Students are given a voice, written and oral in the classroom, as well as a platform in the world as we hone in our whole class observations into one concise answer to share with the world on the NYT website. 

Information Consumption: 

Students get their news and information largely from social media. They hear a sound bite, watch a short video, and make quick decisions and inferences based upon very little information. “What is going on in this picture” gives them the crucial thinking tools and inferences to help navigate the world they are living in. “What’s going on in this picture” also exposes them to new and different cultures and ideas. 

For example, this was last week’s picture. Students thought it could be a memorial, or a celebration of Dia de los Muertos. They inferred that it could take place in another country based on the skin tone of the people, and the unique face on the structure in the back of the picture. 

The reveal:

First, students did not know where Nepal was, so we looked up the location. Second, we talked about the Nepal government, government power and control, and taking away freedoms such as social media. Students remembered all too well the one day Tiktok was down, and their feelings surrounding that. Then we talked about students in uniforms, and how old they would be. Lastly we talked about movements and protests and the hopeful outcomes and the terrible outcomes of this revolution. It was a sobering reveal, but a powerful discussion. 

Impact on Learning: 

“What’s going on in this picture?” has positive effects on students' learning. It allows students to think critically, to use their inferencing skills and learn about the world and culture. Students interact personally as they write their own evaluations down, as a whole class as we discuss, and then again as we post our communal thoughts on the website. 

Privacy and Safety: 

Using “What’s going on in this picture?” is a free resource for teachers. I have a NYT account that allows me to access the weekly pictures. Students do not have accounts or personal access. When we respond to the prompt in the chat, we do so under my account. No student information is given out. Students under the age of 13 aren’t allowed to comment on the site. Due to teaching 7th grade, with many students being under 13, this is a way that we can all participate without excluding anyone, by responding as a whole class. 

Required Literacies

Students need critical literacy, visual and reading literacy skills in order to participate in “What is going on in this picture?”. Students need to use critical thinking skills to look closely at the details of the picture, to draw on previous knowledge and inference what the picture is about. 

Implications Reflect on the Implications:

"Children and young people can gain digital empowerment through playing with technologies. They can learn to live the good life with technology through play, research, imagination, storytelling, digital fabrications, design, experiments, and problem solving in school” (Zacho, 2021). “What’s going on in this picture?” is a building block for skills necessary for students' success. Inferencing, communicating with others online in a controlled environment, are all building blocks that are key for middle school students. High school students could do this activity individually and add their own thoughts in the chat. Students could pull up the NYT website at home and discuss with their parents the picture and the reveal. 

References

Bartholomew, S. R., Strimel, G. J., & Yoshikawa, E. (2018). Using adaptive comparative judgment for student formative feedback and learning during a middle school design project. International Journal of Technology and Design Education, 29(2), 363–385. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10798-018-9442-7

Sparks , A., & Sparks , A. (2023). Short Answer - Short Answer. Short Answer - Build Better K12 Writers through Gamified Writing Activities for Any Subject. https://myshortanswer.com/

The Learning Network. (2019). What’s Going On in This Picture? The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/column/learning-whats-going-on-in-this-picture 

Lis Zacho. “How Playing Gives Children Digital Empowerment.” Ted.com, TED Talks, 2021, www.ted.com/talks/lis_zacho_how_playing_gives_children_digital_empowerment.