As online educators we are always on the search for another teaching strategy to improve that #1 goal of all online educators: to engage the students. Once this is accomplished assignments of better quality appear, assignments are submitted—and on time, students are more wont to pursue and peruse all components of the course, and they will end with an overall very positive and long-term learning experience. One of these teaching tools that can be overlooked or not structured/implemented correctly is the open-ended question. Used judiciously and properly it can tremendously enhance the online course for student and instructor. There are some important guidelines.
Understand What is Meant by an “Open-Ended Question”
Also known as “Socratic questions” (the Greek philosopher is credited with devising the open-ended question), these questions look to explore one’s critical thinking, feelings, ideas, and creativity. They are the opposite of “close-ended questions,” where one- or two-word answers suffice, such as, “Is it raining?” … “Did you go shopping?” … “How many weeks until your course ends?” These could be turned into open-ended questions like this: “What are your thoughts on the weather pattern?” … “What considerations need be made on what you’ll buy when shopping?” … “During your time in class how have you approached your desire to receive a final grade of A?” Open-ended questions push one’s thought processes, while close-ended questions don’t.
Open-Ended Questions are Especially Important in the Distance Learning Class
Although open-ended questions are especially helpful in any educational setting, they lend themselves especially viable in the asynchronous class environment where nearly everything is written and thus stays around for the duration of the course. Thus, if the question is “How might our course subject prove helpful in the professional employment you have as your goal?” the question can easily be referred to numerous times by the instructor, and it is a constant reminder for the students. Additionally, motivation in the distance learning class is crucial as the 24/7 format can make it easy for a student to overlook a component of the course, yet open-ended questions continually probe, push, and pierce the student’s learning so the student has a continuum of information to consider and apply.
Know When to use “Close-Ended Questions”
As a primary focus in any course is to have students understand, consider, decide, and learn, it might seem that open-ended questions are the only type that should be asked. But there are many instances when a short, to-the-point answer is also needed, such as asking a student if X or Y was completed, quantifying data (“How many times since our course began did you visit our tutoring center?”), and learning more about a student’s background (“In what city do you live?” … “When was the last time you took a college course?” … “What item or items most challenged you the last time you took a course similar to ours?”). The combination of the open-ended and close-ended questions can lead to an overall picture of the student while also helping the student to grow in the course subject.
Correctly Structuring the Content of an Open-Ended Question is Extremely Important
It is important to consider what end result is desired from an open-ended question; this allows for a better and more focused development of the open-ended question. For example, if an instructor is teaching a history class and assigns students a one page essay, then asks the question the students must answer, “How was the United States economy impacted by World War II?” this question appears to be too broad for a one-page essay. Yet a question such as “How was the fast-food industry impacted by the end of World War II?” is more narrow, and thus lends itself better to a one page essay. A suggestion: prior to a course start, go through each assignment and map out open-ended questions that would fit nicely with assignments, the text, and additional learning concepts for the students. This allows more time to accurately match open-ended questions throughout the course for optimal results.
Know Where and When to Include Open-Ended Questions
The biggest problem online instructors have with open-ended question is creating too many on the fly, thus resulting in skewed responses. Certainly, part of teaching’s beauty and effectiveness are those so called “teachable moments” when we either spontaneously react to something said (if in a live chat or seminar, for example) or written in class or a proactive thought suddenly comes to mind; open-ended questions can be the result. The more experience with open-ended questions the better their creation, of course. But always ask, “What do I want the end result to be of this question?” and “Where would my open-ended questions best fit in the class?” As an example, perhaps Week 1/ Unit 1 of a course might not have as many open-ended questions as in the middle or towards the end of the course, as students will have learned more at these stages, and thus have more to pour into a response to an open-ended question. The more we consider the “where” and “when” the more effective our open-ended questions.
Never Lead Students to Answer Open-Ended Questions
Avoid wording that would predispose students to answer positively or negatively. For example, a question like “Writing is considered an essential skill in the workplace and employers always rate it near the top of skills applicants should have, so what are your thoughts on the importance of writing in the workplace?” is biased. It predisposes the students to give you positive feedback/responses. But asking “While writing is considered an essential skill in the workplace why do you feel it is a skill that would be needed in your specific professional goal?” takes students away from any bias in the question, only leading them with a general statement, but then leaving it up to the students to offer non-biased responses to the question as the importance of writing in their professional goal is never mentioned in the question. A tip: once you have created an open-ended question ask it of yourself: if the question offers a prompt on how to answer, the question is biased and should not be used as structured.
Understand When to Avoid Open-Ended Questions
It has already been mentioned that a dearth of open-ended questions might be best in the first week of a class where students are adjusting to the course and just “getting into” the subject. At this point in the course, students might not be able to offer as much insight into an open-ended question as they can later in the course. Also, if instructors are using live chats or live seminars it is common practice to include polls. Here, the questions or answers given in the poll only require students to pick one response, rather than offer a more thoughtful answer, as open-ended questions require. Additionally, there might be questions that do not need much expansion, yet form the basis of information students give so the instructor can better develop open-ended questions, that is, knowing X and Y of the students’ knowledge can lead to that Z open-ended question that perfectly fits the overall learning direction of the students. Open-ended questions are great, but are not great for every class situation; it is important to know when they should be kept on a shelf.
Create a Bank of Open-Ended Questions
As an instructor goes through a course, more open-ended questions will be created. Some may work well, others may not; some may come to mind that are too late in the course to use, while there may be more than one that work well for a situation when only one is needed; and open– ended questions can simply come to mind anytime, anywhere! The more open-ended questions an instructor has at the ready the easier to plug these into a course where and when needed. A tip: make a little note next to the question, indicating how, when, where, and why it might be used, as well as what result is expected. Having this bank of open-ended questions available will not only save time but also allows for maximum results from the questions.
Remember: To probe, to tickle, to expand, to create: bodybuilders’ muscles need this from exercise and students’ minds find this from the open-ended question.
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