Anyone watch the GOP debates recently? Or the state of the union address? Chances are you did. And if you happened to be following it on twitter you may have also seen how several news stations were using the new Microsoft Pulse to get real time data on how the country was reacting to what was being said. By real time I mean actual real time- not from polling done after the debate or speech but hundreds of thousands of people every second responding and being able to see those results in a graph live on the news. It was incredible! they even broke it up into demographics such as male/female, age groups and political affiliation. Imagine the data they were able to break down just from that night alone?
Now imagine transferring that to a classroom or an auditorium full of teachers or students? During a lecture you could know in real time how well students are understanding what you are trying to teach them. During professional development you could watch how teachers feel about the usefulness of a new application or technique? Not only that but you can even add in polling questions to send out when you see interest or understanding drop to find out why. You can send out quiz questions at the end to see how much information was actually retained and how much you need to expand next time around. The possibilities are endless in both the classroom and the professional development sides of education.
Microsoft Pulse can be adjusted with varying levels and scales, thumbs up/down, smiley faces and even the meanings can be changed to best suit the feedback you are most looking for. When someone pushes the button for "this is the most useless thing I could be hearing" its pretty clear what they mean. Even young students can respond to a question with a simple smiley face or sad face.
Oh, and its anonymous. So be careful. You may get more honest feedback than expected. It's what you do with it though that can really make the difference.
Microsoft.com/pulse
