Muddiest Point - Online Engagement and Teaching Hub

What is it?

The muddiest point activity is a classroom strategy that allows teachers to gain insights into student misconceptions. It is a simple technique which requires students to jot down the most difficult or confusing part of a lecture, reading, discussion or class activity.

Why use it?

Promotes higher order thinking skills as it requires the students to identify, understand and articulate the key ‘muddy’ or difficult points.
Promotes metacognitive skills as students reflect on their own learning.

How do I do it?

No specific preparation is required other than engagement in the session.
If this activity is run after concepts have been covered, ensure that students are aware that this activity will be run.

	Synchronous online	Asynchronous	Tools
Student preparation	No specific preparation is required other than engagement in the session.	No specific preparation is required other than engagement in the activity.	LMS
Your preparation	Set aside 5-10 minutes to facilitate, as well as time after the activity to discuss the results. You might want to consider setting up small groups (3-4) in breakout rooms to provide students with opportunities to provide feedback to their peers. Prepare prompt questions – these can also be associated with groups.	You might want to consider setting up small groups (3-4) to provide students with opportunities to provide feedback to their peers. Prepare prompting questions – questions can be associated with groups.	LMS (to set up groups)
During activity	Students present their ideas or record them in dot points. Students provide feedback – this could be in the form or a quiz or poll or orally.	Students present their ideas or record them in dot points and record them in Zoom. Presentations are uploaded in discussion board. Students provide peer feedback in the discussion board.	LMS Zoom Discussion board Shared documents
Artefact	Presentation – most likely this will be a text-based presentation but it could be recorded in Zoom.	Presentation recorded in Zoom.	Zoom recording Powerpoint Shared document

Determine the feedback you would like your students to receive – this could be related to an entire learning activity or a self-contained component.

Design the questions to gain insights into areas that students value or find relevant and areas that represent ‘troublesome knowledge’.
Ensure that you leave enough time at the end of the class to allow the students to reflect and respond (synchronous).
Collect the responses and follow up as soon as possible to feedback from students (both modes).
Ensure the students are aware of the process and answer the questions in the timeframe provided (both modes).

Considerations

You may use muddiest point session both in face-to -face and online learning environments.

For face-to-face sessions:

Answer the questions on a slip of paper, index card or post-it note.
Collect them as the students leave or ask them to place their notes in a box.

For online sessions:

Either provide their feedback or answers via a shared document for a synchronous session OR
Post their feedback or answers through the discussion board for asynchronous sessions.

There are various tools to use when implementing the muddiest point strategy in an online environment synchronously and asynchronously.

Synchronous tools – Zoom, Skype, Collaborate.
Asynchronous tools – online Discussion forum, Wikis, Google Docs, Blogs and Twitter.
You may also use clickers or voting tools to identify the key muddiest points.
You may also consider using two column approach – one column details the muddiest point and the other column contains points that are well understood. Use this as a way to generate ongoing discussion.

Resources

Northern Arizona University – Classroom assessment technique