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114 Teaching and Learning in General EducationTo ensure that the necessary extended effort is made, and that it isproductive, requires carefully designed homework assignments, gradingpolicies, and feedback. As a practical matter, in a university environmentwith large classes the most effective way for students to get the feedback thatwill make their study time more productive and develop their metacognitiveskills is through peer collaboration.Using TechnologyI believe that most reasonably good teachers could engage students andguide their thinking if they had only two or three students in the class. Butthe reality of the modern university is that we must find a way to accomplishthis with a class of 200 students. There are a number of new technologiesthat, when used properly, can be quite effective at extending instructors’capabilities so that they can engage and guide far more students at once.A caveat: Far too often, the technology drives instruction and studentthinking rather than the educational purposes driving the development anduse of the technology. A second caveat: There is far too little careful testing ofvarious technologies’ effectiveness in increasing the learning of real students.However, here are three demonstrably effective uses of technology.“Just-in-time teaching” was introduced by Novak, Gavrin, Patterson,and Christian (1998). The technique uses the Web to ask students questionsconcerning the material to be covered, questions that they must answerjust before class. The students thus start the class already engaged, andthe instructor, who has looked at the students’ answers, already knows areasonable amount about their difficulties with the topic to be covered.A second technology that I have worked with extensively is personalresponsesystems or “clickers.” Each student has a clicker with which to