From Classroom Insights to SoTL Research: Leveraging FeedbackFruits for Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

1. Introduction: Bridging Educational Technology and SoTL
2. The SoTL Grand Challenges: A Framework for Meaningful Inquiry
3. FeedbackFruits: A Natural Laboratory for SoTL Research
4. Connecting FeedbackFruits to SoTL Grand Challenges
5. A Turnkey Approach: From Teaching Innovation to SoTL Publication
6. Example: A Healthcare SoTL Project Using FeedbackFruits
7. A guide to collecting and analyzing data from FeedbackFruits
   7.1 Activity Level data
   7.3 Course level data
8. Conclusion: FeedbackFruits as a SoTL Catalyst

1. Introduction: Bridging Educational Technology and SoTL

The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) is the systematic investigation of teaching practices and student learning. However, many educators find initiating SoTL projects daunting—identifying meaningful research questions, gathering appropriate evidence, and designing methodologically sound studies can seem overwhelming alongside teaching responsibilities.

What if the educational technology you're already using could provide a turnkey approach to SoTL research? FeedbackFruits, with its suite of pedagogical tools, not only enhances teaching and learning but also creates natural opportunities for systematic inquiry into educational practices. This blog post explores how FeedbackFruits can serve as both an intervention and a data collection tool for addressing the SoTL grand challenges identified by the International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (ISSoTL), while providing step-by-step guidance following the Hopscotch 4-SoTL framework to help you navigate the entire research process from identifying your research problem to ensuring ethical implementation.

2. The SoTL Grand Challenges: A Framework for Meaningful Inquiry

The ISSoTL has identified five grand challenges that represent complex, global problems in teaching and learning. These challenges provide an excellent framework for educators seeking to contribute meaningfully to the scholarship of teaching and learning

1. Developing critical and creative thinkers who can use reliable information to address complex problems
2. Encouraging student engagement in learning and fostering lifelong learning motivation
3. Understanding the complex processes of learning across cognitive, affective, social, and cultural dimensions
4. Examining how identities affect teaching and learning experiences and perceptions
5. Advancing the practice, use, and growth of SoTL to improve higher education broadly

How can we connect these broad challenges to practical teaching and learning research?

The Hopscotch 4-SoTL Model: A Systematic Approach

The Hopscotch 4-SoTL model offers a structured nine-step process for designing SoTL studies:

This model provides a clear pathway for educators to move from identifying teaching and learning challenges to designing rigorous SoTL studies. When combined with FeedbackFruits tools, this process becomes even more accessible.

3. FeedbackFruits: A Natural Laboratory for SoTL Research

FeedbackFruits offers a comprehensive suite of pedagogical tools, with the following being the primary ones utilized at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC). These tools not only enhance teaching and learning but also generate rich data that can inform SoTL research.

Feedback and Assessment Tools:

• Assignment Review
• Group Member Evaluation
• Peer Review
• Self Assessment
• Skill Review

Collaboration and Engagement Tools:

• Discussion on Work
• Interactive Document
• Interactive Video
• Interactive Audio

Competency-Based Model Integration

The integration of competency-based approaches is particularly valuable in healthcare education, where specific clinical and research competencies must be developed and assessed. This competency-based approach allows faculty to not only teach and assess these critical skills but also to systematically study how students develop these competencies over time.

FeedbackFruits tools can be aligned with specific healthcare competencies:

• Clinical reasoning competencies can be developed and assessed through Interactive Documents with embedded case studies
• Communication skills can be practiced and evaluated using Peer Review, Group Member Evaluation, Skill Review and Assignment Review.
• Interprofessional collaboration can be fostered through Group Member Evaluation
• Professional identity formation can be supported through Self Assessment
• Evidence-based practice can be reinforced through Discussion on Work with scholarly articles

4. Connecting FeedbackFruits to SoTL Grand Challenges

Challenge	SoTL Research Questions	Hopscotch Integration	Data Collection Opportunities (Steps 6-7)
1: Developing Critical and Creative Thinkers	• How does structured peer feedback using FeedbackFruits' Peer Review tool affect medical students' ability to critically evaluate differential diagnoses? • Can the Interactive Document tool with embedded clinical reasoning prompts enhance nursing students' ability to synthesize patient data and develop comprehensive care plans?	Steps 2-3: When identifying your research problem (Step 2), consider how FeedbackFruits tools might address clinical reasoning bottlenecks in your healthcare courses. For evidence supporting the problem (Step 3), examine existing literature on technology-enhanced clinical decision-making.	• Quality of peer feedback on simulated patient case presentations • Progression of clinical reasoning skills through multiple case iterations • Student reflections on their diagnostic thinking processes
2: Encouraging Student Engagement	• How does the use of Interactive Video affect pharmacy students' engagement with medication administration protocols compared to traditional video assignments? • What patterns of engagement emerge when dental students use Discussion on Work for collaborative annotation of radiographic images?	Competency-Based Approach: Design your study to examine how engagement with FeedbackFruits tools correlates with the development of specific healthcare competencies. The Group Member Evaluation tool can provide insights into interprofessional collaboration competencies, while Skill Review can track progress on clinical skills development.	• Engagement analytics (time spent, number of comments, etc.) • Quality and depth of student interactions on patient case discussions • Student self-reports on motivation and engagement with complex healthcare concepts
3: Understanding Complex Learning Processes	• How do different feedback modalities (text, audio, video) in Assignment Review affect physical therapy students' understanding and application of treatment protocols? • What learning patterns emerge when occupational therapy students engage with Interactive Documents versus traditional anatomy and kinesiology readings?	Steps 4-5: When designing your study methodology (Step 4), consider how FeedbackFruits can help you capture the multidimensional nature of healthcare learning. Your research questions (Step 5) might explore cognitive, social, and affective dimensions of learning clinical skills as facilitated by these tools.	• Progression of understanding through multiple drafts of patient care plans • Patterns in student questions and comments on complex medical cases • Correlations between engagement with interactive elements and clinical competency development
4: Examining How Identities Affect Teaching and Learning	• How do different student groups in interprofessional healthcare teams engage with and benefit from peer feedback processes? • Does anonymous peer review using FeedbackFruits affect participation patterns among diverse healthcare student populations?	Step 9: When studying identity-related factors, pay careful attention to ethical principles. FeedbackFruits' anonymity features can help create safe spaces for healthcare students while generating valuable research insights.	• Comparative analysis of engagement patterns across healthcare disciplines • Qualitative analysis of student reflections on interprofessional learning experiences • Surveys on perceived inclusivity of different tool-mediated clinical activities
5: Advancing SoTL Practice	• How effective is FeedbackFruits as both an intervention and a data collection tool for SoTL research in healthcare education? • What methodological approaches best capture the impact of technology-enhanced feedback on clinical skills development?	Step 8: When ensuring trustworthiness (Step 8), consider how FeedbackFruits' automatic data collection can enhance reliability and validity through triangulation with other clinical assessment data.

 

5. A Turnkey Approach: From Teaching Innovation to SoTL Publication

Here's a practical guide for turning your FeedbackFruits implementation into a SoTL project:

1. Identify a teaching challenge that aligns with one of the grand challenges (Hopscotch Step 2)
2. Select appropriate FeedbackFruits tools that address this challenge
3. Design your implementation with research in mind:
   • Create clear learning objectives aligned with healthcare competencies
   • Plan for baseline and follow-up clinical assessments
   • Consider what data the tools will automatically generate
4. Obtain IRB approval if needed (Hopscotch Step 9)
5. Implement the tools in your course
6. Collect and analyze data from FeedbackFruits analytics and other sources (Hopscotch Steps 6-7)
7. Share your findings through presentations and publications

6. Example: A Healthcare SoTL Project Using FeedbackFruits

Let's consider a concrete example of how this might work in practice at MUSC:

Grand Challenge Focus: Developing critical and creative thinkers

Teaching Innovation: Using Interactive Document and Peer Review tools to scaffold complex clinical case analysis

Research Question: How does structured peer feedback on clinical reasoning documentation affect medical students' ability to evaluate and synthesize patient data for accurate diagnosis?

Competency Focus: Clinical reasoning and diagnostic accuracy

Data Collection:

• Pre/post assessment of clinical reasoning skills using standardized cases
• Analysis of peer feedback comments on patient case write-ups
• Quality of final diagnostic justifications
• Student reflections on their clinical thinking processes

Hopscotch Integration:

• Steps 2-3: Identify clinical reasoning as a challenge based on previous course outcomes
• Steps 4-5: Design a mixed-methods study examining peer feedback quality and impact on diagnostic accuracy
• Steps 6-7: Collect and analyze data from FeedbackFruits analytics and student clinical documentation
• Steps 8-9: Ensure trustworthiness through triangulation and ethical treatment of student data

7. A guide to collecting and analyzing data from FeedbackFruits

FeedbackFruits empowers you to use data for your scholarship for teaching and learning. You can collect data with FeedbackFruits in two ways:

1. Data collection at the activity level
2. Data collection at the course level

7.1 Activity Level data

Every FeedbackFruits activity with progress contains data. This data is visible in-tool at the top of an activity and is also exportable as an Excel.

Depending on the tool, the file contains information concerning student uploads, review ratings, review comments, and grading. The exportable data serves as an easy way to collect qualitative and quantitative insight about student performance, and student engagement.

The data is also visible in-tool. For instance, the Group Member Evaluation tool allows you to easily visualize outlier students in groups. Under review steps.

The way that the data is laid out depends on the type of tool you are using.
For more information, consult the teacher perspective help article of the tool you are using. You can find them here under the name of the tool you are using.

7.3 Course level data

FeedbackFruits has an analytics platform that collects data at the course level that you can access via the tool picker. To access the platform navigate to the picker by following the steps to creating an assignment in Brigthspace (see here for instructions). Click on either MyLibrary or Institutional Library, then click on ‘You can edit your existing templates and create new ones in the library’.

You will be redirected to the platform page, where you can access ‘Insights’ under ‘Courses’.

When accessing a course you can visualize and export student engagement analytics under ‘Student Engagement’. These are based on student interactions and activity within assignments. Find data such as completion rate, count, and type of contributions.

If you are implementing Competency Based Assessment with FeedbackFruits, you can also visualize the Student Success Dashboards, which give you an aggregate visualization of competency development in your course. For more information the course level Student Engagement and Success dashboards, access this article.

In addition, for users of the Competency-Based Assessment Platform by FeedbackFruits, you can visualize and export data on student portfolios. These inform you about the development student competency at the individual student level rather than the course level, and can be found in the platform under ‘Insights’ and ‘Student Porfolios’. For more information about student portfolios see this help article.

8. Conclusion: FeedbackFruits as a SoTL Catalyst

FeedbackFruits offers healthcare faculty at MUSC a unique opportunity to seamlessly integrate teaching innovation with SoTL research. By leveraging these tools within the framework of the ISSoTL grand challenges and the Hopscotch 4-SoTL model, faculty can:

1. Address significant teaching and learning challenges in healthcare education
2. Collect rich data on student clinical reasoning and skill development
3. Contribute to the broader scholarship of teaching and learning in healthcare
4. Develop competency-based approaches to assessment and feedback
5. Create a more evidence-informed teaching practice

The next time you implement a FeedbackFruits tool in your healthcare course, consider the SoTL opportunity it presents. The data you're already generating could be the foundation for your next research project, contributing to both your students' learning and the broader understanding of effective teaching practices in healthcare education.

Cite: Jorrín-Abellán, I.M. & Steiner. H. (2021). Hopscotch 4-SoTL (Version 1.0) [Computer Software]. https://hopscotchmodel.com/4-sotl