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Touchpoint<\/a> is a short survey that can be offered to students part way through the delivery of a topic, to try and gauge their thoughts around their learning experiences to date.\u00a0 Although this can be incredibly useful, to avoid some common pitfalls it is really important to get some key design and analysis considerations sorted from the start. Although not exhaustive, here are some important considerations…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1.Be aware of the technology and use it well<\/strong><\/p>\n Within FLO, you can use the Feedback tool to create surveys you want your students to complete.\u00a0 You can include many different types of questions, with multiple choice, short response and long response questions being commonly used. The best way to become familiar with what options are available is to create a Feedback activity and investigate its functions. You may have come across some really sophisticated survey questions, such as matrix tables and visual analogue scales previously. Even though these more complex options are not available within FLO, you can still get good outcomes with the tools available.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 2. Use sound survey design principles<\/strong><\/p>\n To develop an effective Touchpoint survey, apply sound survey development principles. Some examples include:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 3. Think about time<\/strong><\/p>\n One of the great things about the Feedback tool in FLO is that you can generate automatic reports on your data. To do this, click on the \u2018Analysis\u2019 tab.\u00a0 However, this function is only available for questions where students select responses from pre-populated options. In other words, you can\u2019t use it for open-ended questions such as long and short responses.\u00a0 Where possible, it\u2019s best to aim for closed-type questions in your Touchpoint surveys. In addition to the efficiency factor around analysis, think about buy-in from the students. Many students love having the opportunity to say what they want, so it is a good idea to have at least one open-ended question that allows this (e.g. \u2018Do you have any other comments?\u2019<\/em> as a final question). However, many students also do not provide any comments for these types of questions, so having lots of open-ended questions might mean that it will take you a large amount of time to analyse a small amount of data.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 4. Don\u2019t promise the world<\/strong><\/p>\n On your FLO site, you will need to introduce the Touchpoint survey, invite students to participate, and explain its purpose. Ideally the information that you gain part way through delivery of a topic will enable you to make minor adjustments to teaching for the rest of the semester. Sometimes, you won\u2019t be able to make these in real time, so make sure that you manage expectations by using wording that leaves students informed about possibilities but not disappointed by unkept declarations.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 5. De-identify your participants<\/strong><\/p>\n When you look at your survey data, it\u2019s possible you may come across responses represented by a small sample size. For example, in asking students in a lecture to complete a survey that includes asking them to identify their age range, you might find something like what is shown in Table 1:<\/p>\n\n