Marina De Vos, Emma Cliffe, James Davenport, Alan Hayes, Nitin Parmar.

1. Enhancing the student learning and the student learning experience through an Electronic Voting System. Marina De Vos, Emma Cliffe, James Davenport, Alan Hayes, Nitin Parmar. HEA ICT 10th Programming Workshop, University Brighton, 30 March 2010 With support of HEA ICT.

2. Goals • Provide a more interactive teaching environment • Enhance feedback to and from students • Enhance students motivation • Improve the Performance, Self-Reflection and Forethought cycle: Self-regulated environment • Support students learning the basics of programming EVS - 10th Programming Workshop – University of Brighton 2

3. Electronic Voting Systems (EVS) • Allows for effective student participation • Immediate [anonymous] submission of responses • Graphical output of results • Response data saved for later analysis EVS - 10th Programming Workshop – University of Brighton 3

4. 1. Which one of the sentences is true considering the following lines of code: • the class Town contains a constructor with a String as a parameter • bath is an instance of the class England • bath is an object of type String String country = "England";Town bath = new Town(country);

5. 2. After executing the code, what are the values of a and b? int a=3; int b=5; int c=a++; int d=--b; if ((a+1)==d){ c++; b--; } if (c!=b){ a++; } else { b++; } • a=3; b=4; • a=4; b=4; • a=3; b=5; • a=5; b=4; • a=4; b=5; EVS - 10th Programming Workshop – University of Brighton 5

6. 3. A & B is the same as B & A for any boolean expression in Java. • True • False EVS - 10th Programming Workshop – University of Brighton 6

7. Advantages of EVS • Enables students to benchmark their progress against their peers • Supports the students actively engaging with their learning • Faster loop of performance, reflection and forethought – improves self-efficacy • Enables the lecturer to indentify those areas that the cohort are struggling with • Promotes peer interaction and support • Enables the students to anonymously feedback the lecturer • But multiple-choice questions makes stimulating deep learning more difficult. EVS - 10th Programming Workshop – University of Brighton 7

8. EVS in Programming 1 • Python: Pen and Paper Revision Quiz • Java: EVS revision quiz using EVS • Unit Feedback: to complement the anonymous web-based one EVS - 10th Programming Workshop – University of Brighton 8

9. 3. A & B is the same as B & A for any boolean expression in Java. • True • False EVS - 10th Programming Workshop – University of Brighton 9

10. EVS is good fun, something different and its very good to be interactive • Strongly Agree • Agree • Neutral • Disagree • Strongly Disagree EVS - 10th Programming Workshop – University of Brighton 10

11. Java EVS vs. Python Quiz • evs • Quiz • I liked both • I liked neither EVS - 10th Programming Workshop – University of Brighton 11

12. Student Opinion • “.. It gives a good view on how the rest of the class is doing in comparison and lets you know how much harder you should be working” • “It was useful to be able to see my answer in comparison to other peoples. This gave me an easy way to benchmark my learning against others to see how I was doing on the course” EVS - 10th Programming Workshop – University of Brighton 12

13. Lecturer Opinion • Easy to use • Makes it easier to spot problem areas • More relaxed atmosphere. • Stimulates discussion between students and students-lecturer EVS - 10th Programming Workshop – University of Brighton 13

14. The Reverse: Obtaining Feedback • Standard web-based review: limited volunteers • EVS: all student in the lecture • They all see each others evaluation • Closing the loop EVS - 10th Programming Workshop – University of Brighton 14

15. Student Opinion • More enjoyable • More interactive • Compare opinions • Would have preferred to hear the lecturer’s expectation • No room for comments • Feedback on the questions EVS - 10th Programming Workshop – University of Brighton 15

16. Lecturer Opinion • Confrontational but worth it • Opens up debate • I preferred it over reading the unit evaluations • Results are comparable EVS - 10th Programming Workshop – University of Brighton 16

17. ResponseWare • Internet version of EVS • More flexibility • Used for remedial classes • Requires more flexibility on the part of the tutors EVS - 10th Programming Workshop – University of Brighton 17

18. EVS in Literature • Caldwell, J.E., 2007. Clickers in the Large Classroom: Current Research and Best-Practice Tips. Life Sciences Education, 6(1), 9-20. • Draper, S.W. & Brown, M.I., 2004. Increasing interactivity in lectures using an electronic voting system. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 20(2), 81-94. • Cutts, Q.I. & Kennedy, G.E., 2005. Connecting learning environments using electronic voting systems. In Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia: Australian Computer Society, Inc., pp. 181-186. EVS - 10th Programming Workshop – University of Brighton 18

19. After this talk I would be willing to use EVS? • Absolutely • Maybe • Neutral • Probably not • Definitely not EVS - 10th Programming Workshop – University of Brighton 19

20. Thank you. Questions? EVS - 10th Programming Workshop – University of Brighton 20