Interactive Teaching and Learning by Using Student Response Systems

Abstract

Engaging students in lectures, especially in large classes, is both challenging and critical to promote their learning. Student response systems (Clickers) were deployed in Agricultural Mathematics course to promote student-lecturer interactions in the classroom at the University of Queensland Gatton Campus, Australia. During each lecture, three to four multiple-choice questions, embedded in a PowerPoint presentation, were answered by students using clickers. Students’ responses to multiple-choice questions were helpful in gauging their level of understanding and clarifying any misconceptions about the topic. The impact of student response systems was assessed by using the institutional Course Evaluation survey (iCEVAL) and a clickers questionnaire developed specifically for this course. Feedback from students was very positive. They enjoyed the interactive teaching and learning mode during the lectures and indicated that more lecturers should make use of clickers in their courses. Some of the major benefits of using clickers were improved student engagement, higher concentration in lectures, anonymous response to questions without peer-pressure, instant feedback, reinforcement of concepts, and familiarization with the style of exam questions.