Who-wants-an-interactive-lecture? Embedding the use of personal response systems in large lectures

1. Who-wants-an-interactive-lecture? Embedding the use of personal response systems in large lectures Jane Guiller & David Bell Department of Psychology Glasgow Caledonian University

2. Background • Ongoing HEAPN DTES project • Action research project for my PgC LTHE • Large introductory psychology module • ‘Get them to do things!’ (Race & Pickford, 2007) • Provide opportunities for: • Activities and questions/responses • Peer discussion • Feedback to students and lecturer

3. Using a PRS (or ‘clickers’) • Turning Point System (portable) allows for: • anonymous responses to forced-choice stimuli • immediate display of responses on screen as histogram • Lots of examples of use across disciplines: • Formative assessment using conceptual inventories (Wit, 2003) • Activities involving peer discussion (see Boyle & Nicol, 2003) • In-class replication of psychological phenomena (Cleary, 2008) • Contingent teaching (Draper, 2007; Draper & Brown, 2004)

4. Previous work suggests... • Students are overwhelmingly positive re PRS use • Positive relationship between PRS use and attendance and performance (Kennedy & Cutts, 2005; Morling et al., 2008; Porrier & Feldman, 2008; Chun et al., 2009) • But, most rely on Likert-scales and neglect minority • Motivations underlying preferences (Draper, 2002b) • engagement, feedback, anonymity and comparison

5. The project • Embed formative assessment, contingent teaching and peer discussion in large lectures using the PRS • How does using the PRS facilitate student attention, motivation and engagement in large lectures? • Phase 1 • 120 students used PRS in 9/24 lectures • 19 students submitted diaries • 24 completed evaluation survey in Blackboard

6. Method Thematic analysis of students’ diary entries and responses to open-ended evaluation questions (and Likert-scales for good measure!) Question 1: Describe activity in which PRS was used Question 2: Do you think that using the PRS added to your enjoyment of the class today? Why? Question 3: Do you think that using the PRS added to your understanding of the material covered in class today? Why? Question 4: At what point did you feel most engaged with the class today? Why? Question 5: Are there any ways in which today’s activity with the PRS could have been improved?

7. HELPS ME PAY ATTENTION • “It split the lecture up making it more interesting and kept me focused, where when you have a lecturer speaking for an hour I seem to get distracted, or not take things in” • “You found yourself listening more intently as you knew you would be tested” MAKES LECTURES FUN • “Brain lateralisation is complicated and this was a fun way to put together to stop it being too overwhelming” • “The material covered in class was a little dry so the PRS made it a bit more fun to engage in”

8. DESIRE TO BE MORE ACTIVE AND INVOLVED IN LECTURES • “It is really good for lecture classes as we feel much more productive than just sitting and listening” • “I was most engaged during the questions as I was actively doing something that wasn’t just note taking” • “It helped as I was more involved. So I became more interested and that helped as I got a better understanding of the class. It helps if the class is interesting as it makes you concentrate more.”

9. DESIRE FOR INTERACTION WITH PEERS “Yes it allowed the class to engage with each other and discuss the answers” “I enjoyed it much more as everyone was interacting” “While the answers were revealed as I was able to talk to my peer about how I or they had went wrong” SOCIAL COMPARISON “It was also good to see how I compared to my peers (whether we were getting answers right or wrong)” “I was most engaged when I realised that most of the class answered the same way I did” “Yes because it allowed me to compete with my peers”

10. PROMOTES FEELINGS OF CONFIDENCE “My confidence was raised as I realised that I remembered more than I thought I would” “I liked to use them as it was interesting to see other students answers. It makes you feel better if you get the question wrong but a percentage of others did too.” “I enjoyed using the PRS when being asked questions in class, as I do not like speaking out in class this gave me the opportunity to put my point across confidently in lectures!” PROMOTES FEELING OF COMMUNITY “Yes I feel as though I am part of class” “The PRS included me in the lecture and forced me to take part” “Interesting to see the percentages of each answer even if I got it wrong and realised that I wasn’t alone”

11. ENHANCING LEARNING AND UNDERSTANDING “It summarised all the information from the lecture and with having to interact in the activity, it helped you learn much more” “It helped to reinforce the lecture material” “I found the lecture quite confusing and a lot of information to take in but the PRS gave Jane a second chance to go over the key points” “It really added to my understanding. The scenarios explained complex theory in a clearer way” “PRS lectures were less passive than our "normal" lectures. The questions forced us to recall information from the lecture immediately, which wouldn't normally happen, and I think this was useful”

12. Conclusions • Interactive lectures have many advantages • Teaching tool, not an approach • Other methods to engage students, e.g. non-verbal, humour, visual aids • PRS offers anonymity and feedback • Practical issues • Students valued some activities more than others, especially formative assessment and peer discussion • Student expectations regarding content delivery