Using the Confusometer

Hello Everyone,

A few weeks ago, I was reading the Toronto Star online during one of my planning times.  Yes, I can admit that reading the paper is a guilty pleasure when my students have left the class for music.  Aside from all of the usual headlines of despair and horror, I came across an article regarding a new technology being used in a classroom at the University of Toronto.  The "Confusometer" is an app developed by a professor at the University.  Basically, it allows students to relay their understanding of the material being covered in a lecture in a discreet and anonymous way.  Instead of students being intimidated and worried about raising their hands, they can quietly indicate their level of comfort with the topic being explained.  What I found really interesting was that as the professor goes back and explains the topic again, the students have an option to click an "Understood" button. 

Obviously, the implications are far-reaching.  As an elementary teacher, I admit that sometimes rely on questions from students while I am teaching a lesson.  Being able to have this sort of real-time information would be very beneficial when I teach my lessons; I could change the way I explain concepts or even re-teach the material if required.  Some students just are not comfortable to ask a question, for fear of being labelled "stupid" or "dumb".  Of course a drawback is that if a particular student continues to have difficulty, I would have to work with them one-on-one to assist them further.  Yet, on the whole I think that this app would be a very worthy online technology tool that could be used in the classroom (and also in a variety of other educational settings).

The new app already seems to be getting some interest, with professors at Harvard and Stanford (along with a host of others) asking for more information.  Apparently the app will be released to the public sometime later this year, and I can only imagine that the demand and interest for it will be high. 

I mean, if I am interested, I can only imagine how the professors at other universities feel!

For more information, you can read The Toronto Star article here:
http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1173277--don-t-get-what-the-prof-s-talking-about-there-s-an-app-for-that

And of course, here is the website for the app itself:
http://understoodit.com/