Case study: Using Mentimeter for Learning and Feedback in Languages

Department of Language and Linguistic Science
Elia Lorena López

Elia Lorena López describes how she uses Mentimeter to gather and share student contributions during language learning sessions. She then highlights and corrects common grammatical and syntactical errors in the responses. She also describes how she uses it within film and culture sessions, providing an opportunity to students to see contributions from across the group and compare their experiences and ideas related to key topics.

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Using Mentimeter for Learning and Feedback in Languages (Panopto viewer) (5 mins 04 secs, UoY log-in required)

Transcript

So the way I use Mentimeter. It's normally, in my case, normally two types of questions I use two types of questions. The first one is where I want to collect knowledge and content. So the question is about content. So I use the paragraph the long paragraph question where we can all appreciate students contributions on the screen. And this is to gather what they remember in terms of a concept. For example, if they had to read some information before the class to complete some preliminary activity. So I ask them a few questions to check whether they really know what they do, see whether they actually engaged with the preliminary activities or what they remember. And it's also helpful for those students who didn't have time to engage, because they are also learning as they see the answers on the board. Um, yeah. So anyway, so yeah, the content and then I can, I can see the information they put and everyone sees what other students have added. And you can see sometimes very brief answers and some other questions, some other answers which include examples, uh, some other answers which even include an author. And this is good because students can see, oh, this is another good way of answering, you know what if I add and I this is also a way for me to explain to them how an answer can be more complete. If you include examples, review, um, and also will look at obviously grammar, um, errors in the case of language studies, in the sense of modern language learning, it's important to identify common errors. And that's how I use it. I mean, I don't use it in a way to say, well, this is what you're doing wrong, but in the in the sense of guys, this is this is what happens every year. These are common grammatical errors, syntactical errors. And then we identify them. And then next, obviously I go on the board and we write down correct options, etc. and we are reflecting on that and And then after the class I download the PDF version of the answers. So this is from the perspective of modern language studies. And then on the PDF I edit - I use the editing tools of the PDF. And I again, I do it again. I mean, I know it's a little bit of double work. So I do it again and I correct all the. The common errors. You know any grammatical errors, syntactical errors and I just type it type the right option. And if there is an issue with content or some other advice, as you know it would be good to include an author, include examples, etc. I add it there. So all the information and they know and I add it to the. To the VLE. And I say, you know, students Mentimeter results, students contributions and they know that will find the PDF with corrections, etc. And so that's one of the types of questions I use - to test content, but also to for students to appreciate different types of answer and to reflect on common language errors. Because this is more than, you know, Spanish or some other language. And the other most common use of Mentimeter I use is the correct answer, you know, seen as, um, you know, the graphs. So I gave it so, you know, which one is the right answer about this question. So it's also in terms of content identifying the right content. And then and then we see how many people responded Correct. And then the third most common. Type of Mentimeter question I use is the rating. You know, when you rate, for example, what type of - this is for another module I teach for the School of Arts and Creative Technologies. So I teach, uh, a module and we work, you know, for example, asking them if - well I was asking them if they had tried certain types of food from Spain or from Latin America, and if they had to rate them, how much they liked it, for example. And it's good to see, because I think the idea of seeing results on the screen is for students to appreciate what other people think. You know a fact, and also how their views compare to others and to see basically facts visually in a visual way. Uh, but mainly, you know, going back to my first type of question, that's how I use it more often. In the sense of, um, you know, working with content, but also grammatical, syntactical, language errors.