Instant-Feedback Online Scratchcard (for Team Based Learning)

FREE to use – no installation required

Created by Cosma Gottardi while employed at Keele University, UK

Background information and scope of this software

Team based learning (TBL) is used in a variety of settings at Keele University and indeed throughout the world. More information on TBL can be found on the Keele Centre for Team Based Learning homepage, https://www.keele.ac.uk/tbl/ and many other references. Due to the restrictions that resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic, instructors at Keele University have needed a way to conduct and score Team Readiness Assurance Tests (tRAT) online. Normally, the scoring would be accomplished using IF-AT scratch cards during TBL sessions. The Instant-Feedback Online Scratchard, which has been programmed using PHP (PHP Hypertext Preprocessor, a programming language), replicates the experience and scoring system of this kind of scratch card. The Instant-Feedback Online Scratchard can be fully integrated into Microsoft Teams, or used stand-alone as a web-app. It is assumed that users of this software are familiar with TBL and will be using 10-question-long MCQs with 4 options (A/B/C/D) and a 4, 2, 1 (, 0) scoring system for getting a question right at the 1st, 2nd, 3rd (or last) attempt.

Student view after embedding in Microsoft Teams

Image to right: Student view after embedding in Microsoft Teams

Features include:

Create a new FREE Instant-Feedback Online Scratchard for your Module or course

We are currently (Spring/Summer 2021) trialling the use of this software worldwide, with the aim of making it publically available either for free or at a very low cost. Following the trial, there will be an automated way of creating new scratchcards.

To create a new scratchard (as part of the trial), please send an email to tbl@cgottardi.com with the subject New Scratchcard Request and give the following details:

Upon receipt of your email, we endeavour to reply within 24h giving you access.

Instructions for setting up a set of online scratchcards for your module or course

Overview

For each course or module in which you use TBL, set-up a set of scratchcards by emailing us as explained above. This will generate a set of webpages with secret links/URLs. One of these pages will be the Instructor page, which is used to personalise & control the student pages and view all teams' responses. The other pages in the set are for each of the student teams. The links are secret in the sense that they are virtually impossible to guess. The Instructor page should be shared with any other instructors on your module/course. Each student team page (all listed on the instructor page) should be shared with only that group of students who are members of the corresponding team. (One way to facilitate distribution of the student links is to create a set of "hidden channels" using Microsoft Teams (one channel for each student team), manage student access to the hidden channels using the options in Microsoft Teams, and embed each team's secret Scratchcard page as a "tab" in the corresponding hidden channel.)

Step-by-step instructions

  1. For each module that you wish to set up an Instant-Feedback Online Scratchard set, fill in the form below on this page.* Please note that you will not be able to change the number of teams after you have created the module, so feel free to add some spare teams just in case.
  2. You will be taken to your Instant-Feedback Online Scratchard Instructor's page. Carefully note the secret URL of your instructor page! For instance, you could email it to yourself. If you have lost the link to your Instructor's page, you will need to ask Cosma Gottardi to retrieve it. (Else, create a new module if you are short of time.)
  3. If needed, share the secret Instructor's page link with any colleagues who are teaching on the same module only. Anyone who has the link to the Instructor's page will have full access to your module's Instant-Feedback Online Scratchard set. The secret link cannot be reset, but you can ask for your module's scratchcard to be deleted.
  4. On your Instructor's page, set the correct answer (A–D) for each of the 10 questions (or choose from a pre-set).
  5. On your Instructor's page, you will find all the teams' secret links. If you are not using Microsoft Teams, you could email these links the members of each team and tell them to use them during the sessions. NB. Do not share one team's link with members of a different team.
  6. It is assumed hereinafter that you have a Microsoft Teams Team for your module, and that all of your students have access to it. For each TBL-Team in your module, create a "hidden channel". Name the channels something like "TBL Team 1", "TBL Team 2", etc.
  7. In each team's channel: click the "+"-symbol at the top to add a tab, choose "website" as the type of tab, and paste the secret link to the corresponding team's scratchcard page in the "URL" box, and press "Save".
  8. Use your Instructor's page to monitor students' answers in real time; and after the session, you can re-set the student pages and set new correct answers in time for your next problems class. So, do not share your instructor's page with the students! You could always embed it in a hidden channel that only the module teachers can view.

After the COVID-19 pandemic, this scratchcard can also be used in an in-situ, on-campus, physically-present setting. When you get to step 5, just send a separate email to each team with their secret link before the session, and ask one student in each team to open the link and use the online TBL scratchcard on their (mobile) device - it is designed to work in any browser.

NB. A given set of Scratchcards is subject to deletion after 18 months of last use.

Need help?

If you have forgotten/lost the link to your module's secret Instructor's page or need any other help, you may contact Cosma Gottardi.

Credit: This "Instant-Feedback Online Scratchard" was developed by Dr Cosma E A Gottardi (Teaching Fellow in Chemical Sciences, Maternity Cover) using PHP at Keele University in 2020–2021.