What is it? The jigsaw activity is a co-operative learning activity where students “divide and conquer” to learn about different aspects of a topic. First, they are assigned to a small group focusing on a specific subtopic. All students who are assigned that subtopic do some reading and discuss it, asking for clarification if needed. […]
The Lightboard Studio on Langley campus. What is it? The lightboard is a tool to make videos where you can face the audience and interact with your writing/drawings in real time. The instructor faces the camera and stands behind a glass board which they write on normally. The video is then flipped so that the […]
What is it? Kahoot! is a service which allows people to make online quizzes which learners can join from their mobile devices or computers. It’s quite popular in secondary education. You can play a demo game to learn about Kahoot. It could be used for an in-class pre-quiz or review activity. Students could also make […]
What is it? Exam wrappers are exam-adjacent activities that are intended to promote student reflection on their learning processes and improve their metacognition. Exam wrappers can be administered before and/or after a test. Typical questions on an exam wrapper might be: What strategies did you use to prepare for the test? How effective were those […]
What is it? Multiple-choice tests using CBM (confidence-based marking) require two inputs from students for each question: Their answer choice Their level of confidence in their answer choice A student earns maximum points for a correct answer they are fully confident in. They are penalized for wrong answers that they are strongly confident in. Acknowledged […]
What is it? Two-phase testing splits an exam into two parts. The first part is the typical individual exam, where students work on problems on their own. They then turn in these papers, and receive a second exam, which they work on in groups. The questions on the second exam test the same concepts as […]
What is it? Concept inventories can be used as a pre-test, to assess prior student knowledge, and as a post-test, to measure learning in a course. They are typically research-based, multiple-choice assessments which have been developed in fields such as physics and astronomy, biology, chemistry, and mathematics. What are the benefits? When used as pre-tests, […]
What is it? Instructors whose subjects include long, multi-step calculations often hear students ask: “How did you know to do that?” While they’re usually able to solve the individual steps, the twists and turns of the journey often elude them, especially when they need to draw on concepts from different parts of the course to […]