Google Docs and SurveyMonkey™: lecture-based active learning tools

Abstract

What problems were addressed? Lecture-based courses are coming under increasing scrutiny as medical pedagogy transitions to more active learning modalities such as case-, problemand team-based learning. These approaches enable students to progress beyond the acquiring of factual knowledge and achieve a depth of understanding through solving complex problems alongside their peers. Further, the practice of filming and archiving lectures is reducing the incentive for students to attend class, and medical schools are adopting ‘flipped classrooms’ in which students view taped lectures outside of class in preparation for active in-class learning. However, many courses remain lecture-based, and there is a need to explore whether social technologies can contribute to more active learning environments during lectures. What was tried? At Penn State College of Medicine, we sought to promote greater student engagement in a semester-long, lecture-based course for 154 Year 1 students by integrating two interactive technologies – Google Docs and SurveyMonkey – into 22 hour-long lectures. Before the semester, course lecturers were asked to provide one or two discussion prompts and one or two survey questions relevant to their topic and to identify ‘pause points’ in their lectures to reflect on student responses. Before each class, discussion prompts and an active link to survey questions were posted into a shared Google Doc and students were encouraged to bring laptops or tablets to class. During class, dual projection screens displayed, respectively, the faculty member’s PowerPoint presentation and a laptop feed that course co-directors used to toggle between Google Docs and SurveyMonkey during lectures. Within the Google Doc, students were able to respond anonymously to discussion prompts and pose questions for lecturers. The active link to SurveyMonkey posted within the Google Doc enabled students to provide real-time responses to survey questions that lecturers then integrated into their presentations. Student usage was not mandatory and those who participated were required to use professionalism. What lessons were learned? Consistently, half of the class participated in the Google Doc and SurveyMonkey activities, with engagement increasing throughout the semester. Both technologies generated student-driven content for the lecturer to address and prompted online conversations among students during lectures. Because the Google Doc enabled students to post anonymously, questions were often directly challenging to lecturers. Students also shared links to relevant news articles pertinent to lecture topics. Contrary to initial concerns, no unprofessional incidents were observed. SurveyMonkey was an effective tool, but response rates were occasionally low, which limits the ability to extrapolate results to the class. Future efforts might solicit survey data from students before the lecture. For both technologies, pause points to reflect on student-generated content were most effective when woven into lectures by faculty staff, with periodic assistance from course co-directors. It was difficult to elicit survey and discussion prompts from lecturers before the semester, and course co-directors frequently developed and prompted active learning content. The use of a split-screen in the lecture room (i.e. two computer feeds) meant that course co-directors sometimes had to share the podium with the speaker when reflecting on shared content, which was awkward. Another practical challenge, of course, is that encouraging students to use Internet-ready devices during a lecture risks their distraction from other online content. Ultimately, although they are perhaps less interactive than case-, problemand team-based learning, social technologies such as Google Docs and SurveyMonkey can introduce active learning aspects into lecture-based courses.