Case Study: University of Texas at Austin fosters reflective student discussion with Kritik

How Kritik Helps Students Understand Inequities in Society

The University of Texas at Austin, specifically Professor Bridget Goosby, sought to facilitate constructive discourse on sensitive topics like racial and health inequities in her online sociology course. The challenge was to move students beyond simply absorbing lectures and enable them to articulate their feelings, revisit their ideas, and learn from diverse peer perspectives in a safe, structured environment without creating a significant grading burden. She addressed this by implementing the Kritik platform for peer assessment and feedback.

Using Kritik, Dr. Goosby structured activities where students create responses to prompts, then evaluate each other's work and even the feedback they received weeks later. This process encourages reflective thought and allows ideas to develop over time. The platform’s anonymity empowered students to provide in-depth feedback, and its flagging system helped maintain a respectful environment. For the instructor, Kritik saved grading time while personalizing student education. Students reported high satisfaction, appreciating the anonymous and structured conversations that helped them understand complex societal inequities.

University of Texas at Austin

Bridget Goosby

Professor of Sociology