Measure Student Motivation with Emoji

Simple Way to Measure Student Motivation: Emoji

Need to measure student motivation? Then why not use emoji? I watch social media closely and it's my job to share some of the hot topics on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and other outlets that teachers, principals, students, and parents are contributing.

It can be a hassle trying to find ways to measure student motivation or response to a lesson. Thanks to Edutopia‘s Twitter account, I found a simple solution. Use emoji! At the end of a lesson, project, or any other class event, hand out a list of emoji and ask students to circle the face that represents how they feel. The image posted also included a short explanation of why the student selected the emoji they did. You can see an example below.

This is a great way to measure things that you can't easily test, such as a student's emotional health. Reading students' faces is a guessing game. Asking for spoken feedback will never work because most students would feel too intimidated to admit they're confused or to say something negative or even positive. Written feedback works sometimes, but lots of the feedback is hard to interpret. Also, students might hesitate to tell the truth if they think you can tell who wrote it by their handwriting. Using an emoji image like the one above cuts out many of those problems. It asks a direct, anonymous question that will be difficult to misinterpret. It's a simple, easy way to gauge where your class is at.

Can you think of other simple solutions? Have you used anything like this before? What ways have you successfully received classroom feedback?

Tori Pakizer is the Social Media Editor at SimpleK12.com. She writes regularly about the use of educational technology in K-12 classrooms, and specializes in how teachers use Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and other social media. You can follow Tori and SimpleK12 on Twitter @SimpleK12. If you have ideas for using social media in schools, please send your information or tip to editor@simplek12.com.