Formative Feedback Beyond Predefined Options: Eliciting Student-Generated Concepts in Large Classes by Adding Very Short Answers to an Audience Response System
Feasibility study demonstrates that adding very short answers to an audience response system elicits diverse concepts in medical students, suggesting broadened formative feedback.
Key Points
To evaluate whether integrating open-ended, very short answers into an audience response system can reliably aggregate free-text responses in real time, elicit student-generated concepts beyond standard multiple-choice options, and improve student perceptions.
Conducted a feasibility study with first-semester medical students (n = 326) who answered 26 questions alternating between multiple-choice (MC) and very short answer (VSA) formats, producing 11,561 analyzed responses.
Implemented automated real-time aggregation during large lectures, displaying the top ten response aggregates per question to guide instructional discussion and feedback.
Top ten aggregates captured 74.6% of all responses and 40.3% of VSA responses, with students submitting more responses per question in MC compared to VSA format (mean difference = 0.35, 95% CI [0.31, 0.38], p < 0.001).
Post hoc consolidation of conceptually identical expressions revealed 7.6 distinct concepts per question within top aggregates, successfully introducing novel student concepts absent from predefined MC options.
Surveyed students reported that the VSA format enhanced their understanding and reduced participation anxiety during lectures.