Use of TurningPoint electronic voting software in first year physical geography lectures
Rachel Carr, teaching in a lecture format to first year geography students. The course is entitled 'Introduction to Physical Geography' and is compulsory.
I used the Turning Point system throughout my series of nine lectures plus one revision lecture. I designed slides that allowed students to select a choice or choices from a list. I purposely tried to keep the format simple, to avoid technical issues. The questions took a variety of formats: 1. Select the correct answer(s) from a list. 2. True / False. 3. Identifying a feature shown in a picture. 4. Identifying the best method to use for a study (e.g. gauging a river). 5. Selecting the opinion the best fitted their own. 6. Selecting the solution to a problem that they most agreed with. I used formats 4 and 5 in combination with a handout: I asked the students to read a more detailed case study and then to form an opinion. We then voted on which opinion they felt most reflected their own and what could be done about the situation. E.g. 'What was the cause of the Jan 2014 UK floods?', followed by possible solutions. As the course went on, I used the voting system for a variety of different purposes within the lecture: 1. Having mini-test during the lecture, to help the students re-cap the main points. 2. Assessing student understanding of key points and recapping where necessary. 3. Changing the learning format and making the lecture interactive, to keep their attention. 4. Encouraging them to engage with handouts, as they would be asked a question on them at the end. 5. Having one voting system per pair, so that they had to discuss the answer. 6. Using the handouts in the revision lecture, to help simulate the computer aided exam and to re-cap material in an active way.
Initially, this was motivated by feedback from a student, given when I was teaching at another university. The student said that if they did not understand a key concept at the start of the lecture, they became disengaged and could not catch up. I therefore wanted to develop a way to assess student learning of key concepts during the lecture. I found that the students enjoyed the technology and it improved their engagement in lectures, so I continue to develop different ways to use it.
I surveyed my students using the voting system (class size = ~ 175) to determine their opinion of it. The results were as follows: Did you enjoy using the Turning Point handsets? 95% answered yes. Did you feel that the voting system helped you to learn: 88% answered yes. Would you recommend that I use them for these lectures next year? 93% answered yes. I also received some very positive verbal feedback from specific students, who said that they enjoyed using the technology and felt that it really helped them to learn. I felt that the students seemed more engaged and prepared to interact. I also noticed that they began to review their notes to find the answer to questions posed during the lectures, which suggests that they were engaging with the questions and would potentially learn through the re-capping process.
Electronic voting systems
Assessment and Feedback, Research-Informed Teaching, Student Engagement
Undergraduate (Stage 1)
Geography, Politics and Sociology
TurningPoint student handsets
Up to 200 students in a group
Info from my subject network/contacts