AUSTRALIA: Getting a buzz out of learning

Picture this: a lecture theatre is full of students – each with a handheld device that instantaneously gives responses on the lecture content. Every lecturer's worst nightmare? Not so, says Associate Professor Roy Tasker from the school of natural sciences at the University of Western Sydney. "It's an opportunity to encourage student participation in lectures, and for lecturers to receive prompt feedback on what's working for students and what's not," he says.

Tasker hopes a small credit card-sized device called a Student Response Unit or SRU will put an end to the same students always responding to questions in lectures and encourage even the most reserved students to engage in the learning process.

He and colleagues Dr Mark Williams and Dr Richard Thomas are currently evaluating the use of SRUs by students as part of a learning and teaching action plan project. Also on the project team are members of the teaching development unit who are investigating the potential of this technology for UWS-wide implementation.

"It's an age-old problem: when a lecturer asks questions, the same students always answer. Some students are more confident than others, and often students from non-English-speaking backgrounds are more reticent about responding," Tasker says.

With SRUs, students can respond to multiple-choice questions anonymously by pressing buttons. Their choice is detected by a USB-receiver in the lecturer's laptop using wireless technology. This information is automatically compiled using a software plug-in ‘turning point’ within Power Point and then displayed as a histogram on the projector screen.

Tasker says the device enables students to answer questions without fear of being shown up as wrong. They are then encouraged to discuss the question with their neighbours and asked to give their answer again. "We think peer learning with this technology is more engaging and effective for all concerned. So the aim of the project is to collect a range of data types to see if this is true or not," he says.

It also enables an evaluation of what questions and techniques are working best for students. "Questions requiring real thinking or that probe the existence of misconceptions work best. Students are told that their use of the device and level of participation in lectures contribute towards their assessment. This provides the extrinsic motivation to bring SRUs to lectures."
Tasker says academics in the university's medical faculty are undertaking trials with the technology and he is keen to encourage its use in other disciplines.

"It's very exciting. We tested the device in the pilot phase of the project in the spring semester of 2006 and the results indicated that students were more actively involved in answering SRU questions than when ordinary questions were asked. If the evaluation project provides convincing evidence that the SRU achieves its goals, we hope to see SRUs used throughout UWS this year.

*This report first appeared in the UWS magazine, UniLife. Photo credit: Sally Tsoutas.