The Impact of the Muddiest-Point Technique on Teaching

SAUDI SADIQ

PREPARING FUTURE ACADEMICS SYMPOSIUM

12 MARCH 2015

Outline• What is the muddiest-point technique?

• “Do you have any question?” vs. “What was the muddiest point?”

• How can the muddiest point be run: manual or electronic?

• Individual or group feedback?

• Advantages for teachers and students

• Disadvantages for teachers and students

• How did I benefit from this technique in teaching?

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What is the muddiest-point technique?• The “Muddiest Point” is a classroom assessment technique (CAT) developed by Prof. Mosteller of Harvard in 1989.

• The teacher asks students, at the end of the teaching session, to write down (on a card/online) the answer to the question “What was the muddiest point/most confusing point addressed today?” or any similar question (Angelo and Cross, 1993).

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What is the muddiest-point technique?• Students’ feedback checked tohandle the problem (in a handoutnext session, an e-mail to clarifythe confusing point, or recappingthe confusing points at the startof next session, repeating thewhole session– if there are manyconfusing points– or even revisecourse content) (Mosteller, 1989)

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“Do you have any question?” vs. “What was the muddiest point?”

• Most teachers ask students “Do you have any question?”

• The answer is usually silence.

• “What was the muddiest point?” is more motivating to get students involved and comment on teaching, the course content, etc.

“When nobody has any

questions and the room

becomes still, I assume that

no one is following”

(Mosteller, 1989)

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How can the muddiest point be run: manual or electronic?

Manual

• Asking students to write their answers/comments on cards like this one here.

• Better in teaching small groups.

• Timely

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How can it be run: manual or electronic?Electronic

• Students send their answers/comments in emails or via feedback questionnaires

• Better in teaching large groups

• Good for ease of analysis (chart)

• But students may be late or lacking interest to take part at home or just forget

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0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Dialect maps difficult Chart colors (black andwhite)

Verb conjugationcomplicated

The muddiest point in March 6th Seminar by %

Individual or group feedback?Individual feedback

• Suitable for small groups

• Less motivation

• May be dull

• Many individual comments contain the same muddy/confusing point

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Individual or group feedback?Group feedback

• Suitable for big groups

• More motivating

• It is “a learning experience —particularly when feedback is the result of group discussion” (Race, 2006, p. 240)

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Advantages of the muddiest-point technique (for teachers) • Attractive, inexpensive (Mosteller, 1989).

• Simple and quick (Phye, 1996)

• Helps in planning revisions for futurecourses (Clarson, 2015).

• Provides useful information about studentin a short time compared to traditionalassessment tools (Teaching ResourcesCenter, 2002 as cited in Bruce, 2005).

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Advantages of the muddiest-point technique (for students)

• Students pay greater attention if expected to identify a muddiest point (Angelo & Cross, 1993)

• Suitable for hesitant/shy/embarrassed students

• Students retain and analyze information (Clarson, 2015)

• Students feel that their teacher is interested in their feedback

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Disadvantages of the muddiest-point technique (for teachers and students) • Discouraging: only focuses on the bad sides of teaching/delivery

• It is not always easy for students to explain what they do not understand (Angelo & Cross, 1993).

• Too much emphasis on what students don’t understand may weaken both the students’ and the teacher’s motivation (Angelo & Cross, 1993).

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How did I benefit from this technique in teaching?• I used post-it notes with my students• Asked them “What was the muddiest/most confusing point in today’s seminar?”• First time, disappointed: only weak points stressed• next seminar, greatly motivated• Benefits for me: easy to apply, quick, engaging students, making them feel they have a say, motivate me to do more research to answer/handle the muddy points, etc.• Built a small store of muddy points to consider in future seminars

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Examples from my muddy store: 2 comments on the introduction time

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Reflection: Past and futurePast

1. 3 minutes to given students to write down the answers: short time

2. Individual comments: nearly same answers, especially I taught a small number of students

3. Manually done and collected (small groups)

4. Small store of ‘mud’

Future1. Extend it to 5 minutes

2. Group comments, especially if there are large numbers (build student participation)

3. Manually with small groups and online with large ones: easy to analyze electronic responses with large groups (Brown, 2001)

4. Enrich my muddy store with more ‘mud’

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SummaryThe muddiest-point technique is:

• Easy to apply

• Does not take a long time

• Its advantages are bigger than its disadvantages

• Both teachers and students benefit from it

• Done manually or electronically, with small or large groups, individually or within student groups

• SO, it has an immediate positive impact on improving teaching

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ReferencesAngelo, T. A. & Cross, K. P. (1993). Classroom assessment techniques: A handbook for college teachers.

2nd edn. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass

Brown, D.G. (2001). The muddiest point. [Online]. [Accessed 10 March 2015]. Available from: http://campustechnology.com/articles/2001/11/the-muddiest-point.aspx

Bruce, M. (2005). Selected styles in web-based educational research. Hershey: IGI Global.

Carlson, A. 2015. Classroom assessment technique: Muddiest point. [Online]. [Accessed 10 March 2015]. Available from: http://pandora.cii.wwu.edu/cii/resources/modules/muddiestpoint/

Mosteller, F. (1989). The “muddiest point in the lecture” as a feedback device. On Teaching and Learning: The Journal of the Harvard-Danforth Center, 3, pp. 10-21.

Phye, G.D.(1996). Handbook of classroom assessment: Learning, achievement, and adjustment. Massachusetts: Elsevier.

Race, P. (2006). The lecturer’s toolkit: A practical guide to assessment, learning and teaching. 4th edn. London: Routledge.

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ThanksThanks are due to Jonathan Brockbank (PFA supervisor), Paul Kerswill and SamHellmuth (PhD supervisors), Karen Clegg, Helen Boyler and other York RDT members, EllaJeffrries (peer observer), Khalid Ibrahim Alahmed and Rusha Hasan (my wife)

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Questions?

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