Give Your Students a Voice, One Dot at a Time

Each one of us makes daily decisions that impact the lives of others. How often do you take the time to have students and colleagues vote or share a voice in how decisions are made? Although this can be time consuming, Dotstorming is a tool, much like Padlet, where participants can add ideas, share opinions, and vote through dots. 

Step 1: Create Your First Dotstorming Board

First, you will need to create your first Dotstorming topic by providing the title of the topic, a description, how many votes (or dots used to cast votes) you would like each person to have, and how do you want to share your board (via a link or email). 

Step 2: Share Your Topic

Next, you will want to share your Dotstorming topic with others through a link or via email. As with other collaborative sties, participants do not have to have an account to participate. 

Step 3: Add Your Ideas

Then, you will want to add your ideas in the form of text, images, and videos. There are tons of was that you can use this tool, such as:

• Determining topics to cover in class or professional development
• Which resources to share at your next faculty meeting
• Plan your next unit with colleagues
• Have your students or colleagues give feedback on what worked and what didn't
• Have your students use this as a project-based learning workspace

Step 4: Vote

Last but certainly not least, you will want to have participants vote on your topic. Simply click on the idea you like to place a "dot" or cast a vote.

Conclusion: 

Humans are naturally wired to want to have choice; however, we often struggle with how to give options and receive quality feedback. Allowing others to have a voice is the perfect way to create engaging and collaborative environments, where everyone has an opportunity to share and be heard. Dotstorming is the perfect tool to get the feedback that you desire.