Using classroom response systems for creative interaction and engagement with students

Abstract

Recent changes to the landscape of higher education and the student environment generally has brought renewed focus on the need for pedagogical innovation. The importance of student satisfaction and the accompanying rising expectations of the technologically savvy generation of students have brought significant challenges to an academic community already busied with the pedagogically sound delivery of undergraduate taught courses. This new environment has inevitably led to a demand for tools that can assist convenors to meet those challenges without overburdening already tight workloads. This paper presents evidence on the innovative use of one such tool in the form of an over web classroom response system, introduced with the aim of meeting the challenges of the new era in higher education. We suggest that the use of this type of technology can increase student satisfaction and enjoyment as a driver for creative engagement.

Keywords:

• large group classes
• higher education
• classroom response system
• student response system
• clickers
• peer interaction
• economic tools for teaching

Public Interest Statement

Modern social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter have been replacing the traditional channels that students have used to communicate during a taught course. Mobile applications are seen as more “in sync” with lifestyles over university-provisioned services such as discussion boards in a virtual learning environment. One tool that can bridge this recent divide between the traditional channels and the students’ own mobiles is the classroom response system (CRS). This technology allows students to respond to multiple choice questions during a lecture and initiates an interaction between lecturer and student, otherwise absent in the traditional lecture setting. Questions can be used to test understanding or to explore differences of opinion with the benefit of response-specific feedback from the convenor afterwards. In this paper, we describe our development in practice of this tool and present evidence on the student perception of the use of CRS in their teaching.

Additional information

Funding

Funding. The authors received no direct funding for this research.

Notes on contributors

Paul Middleditch

Paul Middleditch is a senior lecturer in Macroeconomics at the University of Manchester, associate member of the Economics Network and fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA). His research interests include monetary policy, macroeconomic time series and also innovation in the area of pedagogy, particularly the use of technology in lectures to foster a more interactive learning environment. http://staffprofiles.humanities.manchester.ac.uk/Profile.aspx?Id=paul.middleditch

Will Moindrot

Will Moindrot is an educational technologist at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. He has worked within the field of technology-enhanced learning for 10 years, previously working for City University London and the University of Manchester. His research interests include classroom interaction tools, media technologies and the effect of these as a change agent to support professional development in higher education roles. http://uk.linkedin.com/in/willmoindrot