‘I Felt Not So Alone’: the Impact of Muddiest Point Activities on Student Learning Outcomes Through Top Hat Technology

Abstract

Formative assessments (FAs) are pivotal in gauging real-time progress in learning and making timely instructional adaptions to address the gaps in learning. However, collecting the evidence of learning through FA can be challenging when administered through traditional or non-digital approaches especially in large introductory science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses, such as General Chemistry courses. Digital platforms such as Top Hat Technology can be employed to ease the administration of FAs and collection of evidence for learning, particularly on classroom assessment techniques (CATs). Some CATs that involve soliciting student-generated responses to address the learning gaps are time-consuming to manually administer and analyze the students’ responses. In this chapter, we describe the implementation of the muddiest point activities through the Top Hat Technology, and assessment of the impact of the activities on students’ performance and learning gains in a General Chemistry I course. Data include scores for three midterm exams and a cumulative final exam, and open-ended survey responses. Findings provide insights into the future implementation of CATs in large STEM classrooms to support learning for all students.