Your data is in good hands with feedbackr

On February 1st is “Change your Password” day, so we explain the key facts about computer security and how we protect your data in accordance with the in May 2018 implemented GDPR policy at feedbackr.

The primary aim of this day is to make Internet users aware of the need to use passwords that are as secure as possible and to change them regularly. It should now be widely known that a secure password should contain at least 10 characters – the more the better, including uppercase and lowercase letters, special characters and numbers. Under no circumstances should easily derivable information such as a date of birth or the names of your loved ones serve as a password! It can also be helpful to be creative when choosing a password. For example, think of a sentence and form your password from the initial letters. In principle, the longer the password, the more secure. And please don’t use the same password for every service. Why don’t you try a password manager? The password manager will take care of your secure passwords, so that you don’t have to remember everything (e.g. Lastpass, 1Password).

The GDPR

At feedbackr, we take your data and its processing very seriously and have therefore implemented all necessary steps to ensure compliance with the GDPR in time. Last year, we put a lot of time into logging and customizing our processes, so we can make it even more transparent for you.

We do not store any more personal information than is necessary for the use of feedbackr. We guarantee the confidentiality, integrity and availability of your data. We have established procedures to ensure the perception of data subject rights, the deletion of data and the response to data breaches. In addition, according to Article 25 of the GDPR, we already follow the protection of personal data in the development or selection of hardware, software and privacy-friendly presettings. To the other security measures, which were implemented with us even before the GDPR, belongs in particular the encrypted transmission of data between your browser and our server. The service providers selected by us have been checked for compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation. The content of our privacy policy has become broader, as we endeavour to communicate as transparently as possible.

In our privacy policy you will find all the information you need.

We are delighted that feedbackr offers you a secure way for quick and easy interaction such as polls and discussion forums! In our blog posts you will find concrete and easy to implement use cases.

Thanks for this great year!

When we look back on 2018, we get almost dizzy! With the introduction of our three product lines (education, business and event), we are able to address the needs of our customers even more precisely.

feedbackr is continuously developing based on feedback from our customers: Since this year you can insert images, formulas and program codes into questions, use free text questions and Q & A, moderate incoming free text questions and upvote them. Our feedbackr presenter allows you to easily switch between your presentation and feedbackr results from any device. Our blog post series on typical use cases shows how feedbackr can be used in teaching.

New features

 insert images, formulas and program codes into questions
free text questions and Q&A
moderate incoming free text questions
feedbackr presenter

During the year, due to strong demand, we introduced our campus licenses for educational institutions that are successfully used in schools and universities. Meanwhile, feedbackr is already being used at over 500 educational institutions worldwide.

feedbackr in use

Interactive event formats become easily to handle with feedbackr: In our hometown of Graz, we primarily support events of the start-up scene, but the Wirtschaftskammer, the City of Graz and the Styrian Business Development Agency SFG are also happy to use our feedback tool. But feedbackr is not only used in Graz: We are particularly proud of our successful work at this year’s Screenforce Days in the MMC Studios Cologne with over 2,500 participants.

In our blog posts we tracked the needs of digital natives, how valuable feedback and feedforward are and how feedbackr can be used for change management processes.

Our team has been occasionally working remotely from Bali, Singapore and Berlin this year, at times, to visit customers and to expand our network and bring a breath of fresh air into our ideas. Christian Perner joined our team in August, working intensely on feedbackr’s new corporate design.

In any case, it has been great fun to work for our customers and feedbackr! Many thanks to all who made 2018 so successful! We are looking forward to the challenges and developments next year!

We wish you a Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year!

Karin, Christian and the feedbackr team

PS: Of course, we also implemented the GDPR Directive.

 

Smooth interaction with digital natives made easy with feedbackr

The generation of digital natives (starting with the birth year 1980) grew up digitally from an early age and already makes a big part of the employees. Affected by the possibilities of new communication, they act differently in many areas than the age groups before: Well connected and in constant exchange, they expect fast communication channels, flat hierarchies and discussions at eye level.

Different terms such as Generation Busy, Generation Flex, iGeneration or Generation Emoji and the associated attributions want to capture the spirit of this group, which is not really possible due to the complexity and overlaps. But the most obvious is: digital natives are curious and knowledge should be easy to find and ideally online. They are quickly bored and always looking for the next experience. Digital natives are fundamentally more skeptical of authoritarian behavior and question many of the views about the value of work, success, and material possessions. Because of their education, they often have a tremendous sense of self, and as young adults, they expect to be respected and heard. Above all, they like to think and create together!

Closely linked to the concept of digital natives is the so-called experience economy. It is no longer about pure consumption, but about collecting enriching experiences and unforgettable moments. Experience values of events and encounters are becoming increasingly important.

feedbackr brings people and opinions together in real time, supports knowledge generation and targeted matchmaking – in short: feedbackr allows thinking together in larger groups. This blog post outlines how you can inspire digital natives in your respective field of activity.

Digital natives and education

How do you get the attention of a generation that checks their smartphone on average every seven minutes? Exactly! At least for a permitted time, the smartphone is integrated into the teaching.

Interaction in the sense of digital natives is easily possible with feedbackr: Digital natives want to be perceived individually and integrated into the design process, including courses – feedbackr gives everyone in larger groups a visible voice and makes it easy and fast to interact at different levels. That’s what makes teaching fun and works for digital natives! feedbackr enriches group discussions and eases the lesson as well as the repetition and consolidation of the material and paves the way for new approaches to brainstorming and the generation of ideas.

Incidentally, with our campus license, it is possible for all employees to use an extended functional catalog and to create questions for the students in the design of the educational institution.

Digital natives and events

Modern events should be interactive, memorable and create lasting contacts. For a long time now, the trend has been away from the frontal lecture to interactive communication, which makes the participants so-called prosumers, i.e. people who both receive and contribute. feedbackr supports communication within large groups with various functions such as free text questions, Q & A or moderation function. This not only enriches events, but actively controls and jointly shapes them. The knowledge of all becomes visible and divisible.

As people tend to go to events because they want to meet the people who provide them with the information and contacts they need right now, we are developing a special matchmaking feature.

At events, feedbackr creates a special kind of shared experience that connects people in a sustainable way, thanks to the variety of possible applications.

Digital natives and work

The generation of digital natives challenges employers: Well educated and mobile, there are countless possibilities open to them. Therefore, they only remain faithful to a company that understands how they tick and offers them enough variety and development potential. Digital natives want to be involved in co-determination and to express personal opinion – Here, feedbackr can provide quick and, above all, anonymous feedback. Their individuality should be valued and they want to work self-determined and especially flexible. They take advantage of all the benefits of digital media and wish to be supported here by entrepreneurs trainings. Again, feedbackr can be used efficiently, effectively and profitably in these cases.

Companies offer regular employee appraisals, in which they find out which improvement potentials there are. feedbackr is perfect for giving feedforward, as well as for change management processes.

To motivate employees, short-term successes should also be made visible – for this purpose successful sub-steps can be collected via feedbackr and evaluated by the others. As a playful variant, projects and achievements could be raised in a kind of competition and employees rewarded for their successful implementation.

Conclusion:
feedbackr is the ideal tool to give anonymous and user-friendly feedback during or after presentations, lectures or meetings, or to ask questions in case of ambiguity. For every generation, including digital natives.

And, are you already prepared for the numerous needs of digital natives?

 

Feedback is important – so is Feedforward!

How to use feedbackr as a practical tool for anonymous feedback and collaborative brainstorming has been presented several times in our blog post series. But you might use it for feedforward as well!

Feedforward (based on Marshall Goldsmith) means that instead of past feedback, suggestions for future behaviors are sought from employees. Successful companies evaluate past processes, but do not despair of made mistakes, instead they optimize processes, formulate concrete goals for the future and thus increase efficiency. Feedforward demonstrates the potential that exists in each individual, enables options for action and alternatives to improve activities and contributes to a positive organizational climate.

Incidentally, Marshall Goldsmith characterizes feedforward as follows:
Feedforward is especially suited to successful people.

We’d love to support your success!

That’s how feedbackr specifically supports you in giving feedforward

Individual employees name a topic that they consider to be in need of improvement and formulate a clear question for themselves, for example: “How can I present our product (even) better at trade fairs?” In a second step this question is posed to a group, who then uses the free text function of feedbackr to give suggestions for improvement in a quick, easy and above all anonymous way. The contributions are collected and automatically ranked if mentioned multiple. In addition, the others can up-vote the given answers to clarify recommendations, which can then be implemented concretely. Consequently, the individual field of activity expands, which strengthens the entire team and thus the company. By the way, the same rules of considerate cooperation apply to feedforward as to giving and receiving constructive feedback: It should be designed as concrete, analytical and solution-oriented as possible.

Furthermore, it’s possible evaluate on occasion activities by asking the employees for suggestions for improvement. But feedbackr is also a valuable companion in company and / or product development. You can easily get feedback and -forward at any time. Especially in the change management process, it is important to actively involve your employees.

Incidentally, you already know the blog posts about our latest developments like inserting images into feedbackr or using free text questions as well as Q&A?

Opinion Polls & topic identification with feedbackr

Your students can contribute to the lessons with feedbackr: For example, let them choose from a selection of topics to be covered. Students can also use feedbackr to choose which exercise to do as homework. Any decision-making in the classroom that has an impact on your students can be ideally mapped.

Use single or multiple choice questions if you want your students to choose from a set of topics. If you want to get ideas from your students, you can also use free text questions.

Benefits

  • Students can actively participate in the configuration of the lesson.
  • Teachers get a sense of which topics are interesting for the students and can adjust the lessons accordingly.
  • Decision making within the group can be dealt with quickly.

Recommended settings in feedbackr

Multiple Choice question

Show results immediately: disable, if the results should remain “secret” until the resolution. Activate this setting if you feel that there is a “competition” among students with the aim that their favorite subject wins.

multiple choice: Depending on the type of question, a multiple choice may make sense.

Free text question

Show answers:

  • never: The students never see the topics that have been entered. Regarding transparency, this adjustment is rather not recommended.
  • once stopped: the students see all the suggested topics of the others as soon as the voting is stopped.
  • immediately: the suggested topics become directly visible to all students. This is especially useful in combination with the setting “Answer Ranking”.

Multiple answers: enable this setting if you want your students to submit more than one suggested topic.

Answer Ranking: only effective in combination with “Show answers: immediately”. Thereby Students control the prioritization of answers / topics.

You find other use cases in our blogpost series:

Thanks for using feedbackr in your lectures!

Now available in feedbackr: formulas, pictures, code examples and much more

Especially teachers have repeatedly expressed the wish that formulas or similar can be visualized in feedbackr. We are very pleased to meet this requirement: From now on formulas, pictures,code, tables, links, emojis, … can be used in questions. The representation of symbols and other characters is now no longer a problem.

With simple commands it is now possible for you to format text in feedbackr as desired and to present additional visual material to your audience.

This feature is available in feedbackr education advanced, in feedbackr business advanced and higher, in feedbackr event and in our campus license.

If you have any questions, please contact us at any time!

30th of April: Honesty Day

As much honesty is combined with values like authenticity, integrity and integrity, the implementation of honest feedback is difficult in practice – too great is the danger that the other person will be left hurt or annoyed, no matter how constructively the criticism was intended.

feedbackr, our audience response system was born out of the idea of being able to give feedback to others simply, quickly and anonymously – valuable feedback that can help everyone to improve their skills. With the function of the free text questions, you can not only receive honest feedback but also obtain moods or opinions, generate ideas and conduct votes. Over the entire course your audience can share questions and feedback about your presentation, lecture or event. This timely recording of comments gives you a valuable collection of feedback to help you customize and optimize your event.

The Answer Ranking feature allows your audience to cast additional votes for others’ responses. This allows you, for example, to implement a priority ranking. In addition, voting by feedbackr has no group dynamic effects, as you can determine when the results will be visible to all participants. This allows a wide range of honest and uninfluenced answers. feedbackr enables the objective presentation and further processing of subjective opinions.

Ideally, constructive criticism is as concrete as possible, analytical and solution-oriented – feedbackr accomplishes all of this: Use cases can be evaluated immediately and anonymously, details can be selected, and suggestions for improvement can be made to solve a problem.
Be it anonymous honest feedback or answers to tricky questions – feedbackr allows you to do that in any kind of event! Try it out for yourself!

Repetition of lecture with feedbackr

At the end of the lesson, students should be able to answer questions about the subject that has just been dealt with. Therefore, you can ask some questions at the end of the lesson. This has the effect that your students are once again actively involved in the topic. On the other hand, it is also an indicator for teachers of how well the material was understood and where to go in the next lesson.

You can use single or multiple-choice questions with the option “Show correct answers”.

Benefits

  • You quickly get an overview of what the students understood and where there are still problems. You can react accordingly and lessons are constantly improved.
  • Students are once again actively involved with the presented material. This will consolidate what they have learned.
  • Students get a sense of what they understand and where they still have shortcomings.

Recommended settings in feedbackr

Multiple choice question

Show results immediately: To avoid interference, this setting should be disabled.

Multiple choice: depending on the type of question, if multiple answers can be selected, activate.

Mark answers as correct: If you ask knowledge questions, you can also mark answers as correct. To do this, in the edit mode of the question, click on the circle (for single choice questions) or the square (for multiple choice questions) in the answers that you want to mark as correct. The correct answers will also be shown to your students after stopping the question.

Feedback on presentations / seminar papers / exercises with feedbackr

In seminars or exercises, presentations or solving a problem in front of a class are common. In addition to the teacher’s assessment, the anonymous and therefore sincere feedback from the other students can be incorporated. For example, the students could vote on the following areas:

  • understanding
  • presentation
  • rhetoric
  • design
  • etc

Use single or multiple choice questions for quantitative evaluation. If you also want to obtain qualitative feedback, you can use free text questions.

Benefits

  • Anonymous, valuable feedback from students
  • By focusing on the strengths / weaknesses of the speakers, students get a sense of the quality of their own performance.
    In addition to the own assessment of the presentations, the teacher can incorporate the feedback of the students.

Recommended settings in feedbackr

Free text question

Show answers:

  • never: the answers are only visible to you. This setting is useful if you want to collect feedback, but only visible for you or the organizer.
  • after stopping: this setting causes the answers to become visible to the participants when you stop the question. This way you can prevent mutual interference.
  • immediately: the answers are immediately visible to the entire audience. This is especially useful if you want to collect questions or topics.

Multiple answers: enable this setting if you want your students to answer more than one answer.

Answer Ranking: allows you to prioritize questions by your students. Only in combination with “show answers: immediately” available.

Single choice question

Show results immediately: deactivate to avoid mutual interference

 

With this variant, you can collect valuable feedback for your students and further develop the way they create presentations.

Take a look at our previous blog posts on education topics!

Have fun using feedbackr in your lectures!

 

Partner / Group discussions with feedbackr

In a partner or group discussion, students should actively and intensively deal with a topic and discuss it. To do this, ask a question at the beginning and let all students vote but without naming the correct solution. If many wrong answers have been given, ask your students to discuss the question and the different answer options or convince the neighbor of their solution. After the discussion, the same question is asked again and the correct answer is resolved.

Use single or multiple choice questions. For the second round of questions, you can use the “show correct answers” option.

Benefits

  • Students intensively deal intensively with the topic and get further perspectives through the discussion.
  • Students are given the ability to present and represent arguments in a coherent manner.

Recommended settings in feedbackr

Multiple-Choice-Question

Show results immediately: deactivate to avoid mutual influence.

Multiple choice: depending on the type of question

Mark answers as correct: to do this, in the edit mode of the question, click on the circle (for single choice questions) or the square (for multiple choice questions) in the answers that you want to mark as correct. The correct answers will also be shown to your students after stopping the question.

The question can be prepared several times by duplicating.

With this variant you can make the lessons even more lively and varied.

 

Next week, we will introduce the uses of feedbackr for feedback on presentations, seminar papers or exercises.

feedbackr can be used in a wide variety of ways in teaching: