One of the things I loved when I was in a 1:1 classroom was that I was better able to make sure that everyone was able to ask questions and get the feedback that they needed and wanted.  We know that we have certain students that will always ask a question and have no fear but we have many students who for one reason or another, do not ask questions in class.  Those students could be afraid of looking dumb in front of other students or they could just be too unsure of themselves to ask the questions they need to.  Another reason that students may not ask a question in class is that the pace of the class is too fast for them or they do not think of the question till they are in a different class.

You can easily use one of many tools to create ways for students to ask questions, from a online forum room to even through the use of a backchannel tool.  No matter what tool you use, make sure you use one that students can easily use and that allows you to be able to check it at some point during a class and then again before the next class.  A simple Google Form could easily work for this as you can just give students access to the form (embed on a Site, email the link, place the link in a Google Doc for that unit plan) and check the results periodically.  You can also decide whether you want to have it automatically collect the student’s username or if you want it to be anonymous.  You could even create two forms and let the students pick whether they want to be anonymous or not.  Again, it all comes down to the specific needs of your students and your learning environment.  Some students feel better when they can ask questions anonymously but it does help if you know who asks the questions so you can help them directly.  Either way, that is a decision that can not be made for a teacher but must be made by a teacher for that specific learning environment.

Our goal should be to help every student reach that level that is desired.  Too often it is only the vocal students that get the help and the quiet or fearful students fall to the wayside.  The advantages to the learning process created by asking questions is still something we have to help our students learn, that is our job as teachers.