Use Of Audience Response System Research Articles

The Use of an Audience Response System in a Dental Gross Anatomy Practical Exam

Background: Traditional methods for administering and scoring gross anatomy practical laboratory examinations are time and resource-intensive and can be susceptible to errors in grading. Alternative approaches, such as audience response systems (e.g., clickers) and computerized scoring, appear to hold promise to improve the examination experience for students and improve the efficiency and accuracy of grading. Method: To assess perceptions of using such systems, two cohorts of students who completed the gross anatomy practical examination using clicker technology at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Dentistry were invited to complete the survey. Results: A total of 155 students completed the study. Responses reflect a mostly positive appraisal of the use of clicker technology by most students. In particular, students reported that submitting responses was easier and that the speed of grading and feedback on examination performance improved considerably. Conclusion: Based on the survey results, the use of audience response systems appears to have more benefits than liabilities and seems to be a worthwhile technology to use for practical laboratory examinations. KEYWORDS: Gross Anatomy, Practical Examination, Clickers, Audience Response System.

Use of audience response systems (ARS) in physiotherapists’ training: a qualitative study

ObjectiveTo explore the experience of using audience response systems (ARS) in postgraduate physiotherapy training.DesignQualitative interview study following the ‘reflexive thematic analysis’ by Braun and Clarke.SettingHigher education university.ParticipantsTen Italian students (60%...

Use of Audience Response Systems to Enhance Student Engagement in Online Synchronous Environments: An Exploratory Study

Many higher education institutions adapted to the Covid-19 pandemic by switching their teaching into online mode making use of online synchronous sessions using technologies such as Zoom. It was common for lecturers to find it disconcerting that many students were not turning on their cameras and microphones and how this made it difficult to ascertain whether their students were engaged in the sessions at all. This paper examines the experiences of teaching staff in eight courses relating to the use of audience response systems (ARS) to improve the experiences of students and teaching staff when conducting synchronous online teaching sessions or hybrid sessions when they had some face-face students and some online students joining sessions synchronously. Literature is examined that shows the benefits relating to the use of ARS in synchronous online teaching sessions to include anonymity of student responses; enhancement of feedback between teaching staff and students; and teaching staff getting a better sense of student engagement during a session. An analysis of the eight cases presented confirms these benefits in the literature from the perspective of the teaching staff. The findings apply irrespective of the ARS being used and will be of relevance and interest to any teaching staff seeking to improve the experiences of students and teaching staff involved in synchronous online teaching sessions.

The educational value of an audience response system use in an Iraqi medical school

BackgroundMedical education is continually evolving particularly through the modern implementation of educational technology. Enhancing interactive learning in the classroom or lecture settings is one of the growing uses of educational technology. The role and potential benefits of such technology may not be as evident in developing educational systems like the one in Iraq. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect and perception of the use of an audience response system (ARS) on interactive medical education in Iraq. A mixed quantitative and qualitative research methodology approach was used to study the effects and users’ perceptions (both student and tutor) of the ARS.MethodThe study was conducted in an Iraqi medical school in the Head and Neck course during the spring semester for third-year medical students. The course involved fifteen one-hour lectures over fifteen weeks. Users’ perceptions were evaluated by survey and focus group discussions (FGD). Descriptive statistics were used for quantitative measures and thematic analysis for the qualitative data.An ARS system was installed and integrated into the course lectures throughout the course period of three months to enhance interactive learning. Three to five interactive questions were used in each lecture. Anonymous participation and answers were maintained. The appropriate discussion was initiated when pertinent depending on students’ answers.ResultMost students (77% of survey, 85% of FGD) perceived the use of ARS as impactful on their learning.They found the ARS engaging (70%), motivating (76%), promoting interactions (73%), and augment learning through better understanding and remembering (81%). Through the FGD, students expressed improved focus, enhanced thinking and reflection, and joyful learning. The educator perceived the ARS use as practical, interactive, thinking-stimulator, and reflective of student’s understanding. The required technology skills were reasonable; however, it demanded extra non-insignificant time to learn the use.ConclusionThe perception of the ARS in this study was overall positive, providing encouragement for wide application of this technology in medical education in the developing world. Further studies are needed to validate and prioritize ARS usage in medical education in Iraq.

Using peer instruction in an analysis course: a report from the field

Abstract This paper is meant to give some kind of manual instruction for the use of audience response systems for performing peer instruction in class. The different aspects one has to take into account when trying to implement this method are presented. In all of the sections, additional links and references are provided. The author reports on and reflects on his individual decisions when conducting peer teaching in an analysis course at the university. Finally, the results of the corresponding evaluation are presented and discussed.

Investigating audience response system technology during pesticide training for farmers

ABSTRACT Purpose: Audience response system technology has been found to have modest learning and larger non-cognitive impacts on students in traditional secondary and post-secondary learning environments. The impacts of this technology are less understood for learners in informal settings, including for farmers in training provided by extension services. Approach: In this study, we investigated the implementation of audience response systems by Cooperative Extension trainers in five counties in North Carolina during pesticide training for farmers. We quantitatively assessed farmers’ knowledge gains and explored their impressions of the learning environment when audience response systems were used. Findings: Results suggest that audience response technology has similar benefits in farmer pesticide training as those identified during use in traditional educational settings. Education, age, and experience did not affect knowledge gains observed with use of the technology with farmers. Practical Implications: This study supports the use of audience response system technology in farmer training provided by extension services, even for older adults without post-secondary education. Theoretical Implications: As in traditional learning environments, non-cognitive impacts of audience response system use in farmer training appear to be more robust than learning impacts, and the implementation practices of trainers may influence learning outcomes. Originality/Value: This study meets a need to understand the impact of audience response systems on learning outcomes in agricultural and extension learning environments and uses pre-test measures to establish baseline comparisons of control and treatment groups.

Louisiana State University School of Medicine in New Orleans.

Louisiana State University School of Medicine in New Orleans.

Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California.

Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California.

A systematic review of audience response systems for teaching and learning in higher education: The student experience

Eight databases were used to locate research articles examining the use of audience response systems (ARS) for large group teaching in higher education settings which focussed upon the student experience. Qualitative and mixed methods articles were screened according to selection criteria. Of the twenty selected studies, an analysis of the papers helped identify six interconnected themes: 1) engagement 2) interaction 3) anonymity 4) questioning 5) instant feedback and 6) technological benefits and limitations. The themes reveal the complexity of student learning experiences using ARS which, when presented as a model, contributes to current understanding and offers a framework of pedagogical conditions to consider when designing and implementing learning experiences when using ARS.

The effect of personalized feedback on listening and reading skills in the learning of EFL

The present study firstly assesses how students can develop and improve the skills of listening and reading through personalized feedback. Secondly, it evaluates the motivational effects of the use of Audience Response Systems (ARS) in English lessons in comparison with the lessons where these electronic devices are not used. In three sessions, 68 sixth-grade students did exercises of reading and listening based on their errors, while other 68 students–the control group–completed generic activities working on those skills. Clickers, ARS devices, were used in both groups as a tool for gathering students’ answers, and the Reduced Instructional Materials Motivation Survey (RIMMS) was employed to evaluate their influence on students’ motivation in the English subject. The results show that both groups were more motivated with the use of clickers and that the group with personalized feedback improved their receptive skills more than the control one, especially in the general information variables.

Interactive patient education via an audience response system in cardiac rehabilitation.

Objectives:Patient education and compliance play an important role in the success of rehabilitation in cardiovascular diseases. The aim of this study is to analyze whether interactive learning methods, in this study, the audience response system with a “clicker,” can improve the learning success of patients during and after their rehabilitation process.Methods:In a randomized, prospective cohort study, a total of 260 patients were randomized to either an interactive training group using Athens audience response system or to a control group without the use of audience response system during the educational sessions. Patients were taught and tested on four different topics concerning their primary disease: heart failure, arterial hypertension, prevention of cardiovascular diseases, and coronary heart disease. After each session, the patients had to answer questions on the previously taught topics via questionnaires. These questions were asked again at the day of discharge, as well as 3 and 12 months after discharge. Additional information on the patients’ health, plus their mental status, was gathered with the help of further questionnaires (HADS and SF-12).Results:A total of 260 patients (201 men and 59 women) were recruited. The patients were on average 61.1 ± 11 years old. A significant short-term effect on the patients’ knowledge about their disease was found immediately after the educational sessions in the intervention group. However, there was no long-term effect in either the intervention or control group. Although there was no statistical significance found in any of the observations, a positive short-term effect on learning capacity as well as positive trends in mental and physical health after discharge could be found in patients after the use of audience response system during their rehabilitation.Conclusion:This study provides interesting and new data on the use of an interactive learning method for patients to gain knowledge about their primary disease and eventually improve their physical and mental health status in a long-term perspective. By implementing different and new ways of teaching and interaction during the hospitalization, not only patients, but also medical staff and caregivers could benefit.

Redesigning first year anatomy and physiology subjects for allied health students: Introducing active learning experiences for physiology in a first semester subject

In this paper we describe the initial development of flipped classroom learning activities for the physiology component of a first year anatomy and physiology class for allied health students, and the subsequent transformation to focus on active learning strategies over a period of three years. The learning activities incorporated included the use of audience response systems for in-class quizzing, mini case studies, role plays, and simulations. Results of on-course assessment items, consisting of on-line quizzes, was compared in order to determine whether active learning approaches improved academic performance. We found that academic performance increased across the cohorts when first implemented as flipped classroom, and the increase was maintained in the subsequent years focussing on the active learning strategies alone. We conclude that the introduction of active learning experiences to this class enhanced engagement and academic performance across the student cohorts.

Transforming classroom questioning using emerging technology.

Classroom questioning is a common teaching and learning strategy in postgraduate nurse education. Technologies such as audience response systems (ARS) may offer advantage over traditional approaches to classroom questioning. However, despite being available since the 1960s, ARSs are still considered novel in many postgraduate nurse education classroom settings. This article aims to explicate the attitudes of postgraduate nursing students in an Irish academic teaching hospital towards classroom questioning (CQ) and the use of ARSs as an alternative to traditional CQ techniques. The results of this small-scale study demonstrate that ARSs have a role to play in CQ in the postgraduate setting, being regarded by students as beneficial to learning, psychological safety and classroom interaction.

Atypical use of audience response system provides opportunity to formatively assess teaching and improve learning outcomes

PURPOSEAlthough audience response systems (ARS) are frequently used to formatively assess student learning, this technology is rarely employed to formatively assess teaching. Aim of study was implementation of novel approach using ARS to assess teaching methods in order to enact rapid improvement.METHODSSecond‐year students of large multi‐center medical school participated anonymously. Study involved nine sequential, three‐hour pulmonary class sessions delivered live on one campus and livestreamed to others. Following each session, ARS delivered three Likert scale and one open‐ended question: 1)What degree have you utilized higher order skills; 2)Rate your level of engagement; 3)Estimate percentage of time focused; and 4)What went well/suggestions for improvement. Following each session, course leaders considered student input and adjustments made before delivery of next session. Faculty also quantified parameters including number of cases, key concepts, videos, and slides per session and “Bloomed” embedded questions.RESULTSApproximately 60% of students responded to ARS questions. Results indicated consistent improvement from session one to nine in all parameters: number of students perceiving very high use of higher order skills increased from 10% to 30%, students rating the session as highly engaging rose from 55% initially to 80% for final session, and ability to remain focused for more than 70% of the class time rose from 55% of students to over 75%. Comparison of student perceptions to objective measures is underway.CONCLUSIONInnovative ARS use allowed faculty to immediately gather feedback from diverse students at distributed locations. Feedback guided change leading to improved student engagement, focus, and utilization of higher order skills. Students were also highly appreciative of opportunity to impact change in the class while participating.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.

Examining the impact of audience response systems on student performance in anatomy education: a randomised controlled trial.

Background and aims Electronic audience response systems offer the potential to enhance learning and improve performance. However, objective research investigating the use of audience response systems in undergraduate education has so far produced mixed, inconclusive results. We investigated the impact of audience response systems on short- and long-term test performance, as well as student perceptions of the educational experience, when integrated into undergraduate anatomy teaching. Methods and results A cohort of 70 undergraduate medical students was randomly allocated to one of the two groups. Both groups received the same anatomy lecture, but one group experienced the addition of audience response systems. Multiple-choice tests were conducted before, immediately after the lecture and again 10 weeks later. Self-perceived post-lecture subject knowledge, confidence and enjoyment ratings did not differ between groups. Test performance immediately following the lecture improved when compared against baseline and was modestly but significantly superior in the group taught with audience response systems (mean test score of 17.3/20 versus 15.6/20 in the control group, p = 0.01). Tests conducted 10 weeks after the lecture showed no difference between groups (p = 0.61), although overall a small improvement from the baseline test was maintained (p = 0.02). Conclusions Whilst audience response systems offer opportunities to deliver novel education experiences to students, an initial superiority over standard methods does not necessarily translate into longer term gains in student performance when employed in the context of anatomy education.

Systematic review of the implementation of audience response systems and their impact on participation and engagement in the education of healthcare professionals.

Audience response system provides a mechanism to engage larger groups as active participants in teaching sessions. However, they are traditionally based on 'fixed' closed loop system, which limits their functionality to a single geographical location, thus has the effect of confining their use to universities and other larger institutions, with a primary focus on education. Conversely, in the healthcare education context, the majority of formal education is undertaken through postgraduate training programmes, largely conducted in smaller cohorts in clinical settings. The purpose of this review is to evaluate audience response systems in terms of feasibility of implementation and the impact on participation within the field of education of healthcare professionals, in comparison to the non-healthcare education. Therefore, systematic structured searches of PubMed and Medline databases for healthcare education were conducted, and Scopus, Education Resources Information Center, British Education Index, Education Abstracts, Education Administration Abstracts and PsycINFO databases for non-healthcare education databases. Consistent and fundamental differences were found in the studies evaluating healthcare education compared with other fields, with more difficulties encountered in implementation and a less significant impact on engagement seen. Here we discuss the consequences of these findings on the use of audience response systems and beyond.

Using audience response systems to enhance student engagement and learning in information literacy teaching

One of the key challenges in Information Literacy (IL) teaching in higher education is ensuring student engagement. As such, active learning approaches are encouraged in order to maximise student participation and interaction with the teaching. The use of audience response systems (ARSs) is one active learning approach which is being used increasingly in IL teaching. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of ARSs in terms of increased engagement and student learning. Previous research has explored the use of ARSs as an active learning approach in comparison to traditional lectures, but this study aims to specifically examine the effectiveness of these tools as part of an active learning pedagogy. Most existing studies have looked at a single ARS, usually clickers. With an increase in availability and functionality of online tools, and discussions at a university level about moving to a single system which makes use of students’ own devices, this study also aims to compare the effectiveness of clickers and online ARSs. A controlled study was carried out on two cohorts of medical students at Queen Mary University of London comparing the use of clickers, online response tools, or a mixture of the two, to teaching without ARSs. Class observation and student evaluation were used to measure student engagement, and quizzes and student confidence levels to measure student learning. Results of the study showed that ARSs, when used as part of an active learning pedagogy, are an effective tool in terms of increasing student engagement, and have a generally positive impact on student learning, with online tools being slightly more effective than clickers. The study provides evidence which can be used by IL practitioners to help integrate ARSs into their teaching as well as inform institutional decisions on the use of these tools.

Enhancing student learning with case-based teaching and audience response systems in an interdisciplinary Food Science course

<p class="abstract">A growing body of research in higher education suggests that teachers should move away from traditional lecturing towards more active and student-focus education approaches. Several classroom techniques are available to engage students and achieve more effective teaching and better learning experiences. The purpose of this paper is to share an example of how two of them – case-based teaching, and the use of response technologies – were implemented into a graduate-level food science course. The paper focuses in particular on teaching sensory science and sensometrics, including several concrete examples used during the course, and discussing in each case some of the observed outcomes.</p><p class="abstract">Overall, it was observed that the particular initiatives were effective in engaging student participation and promoting a more active way of learning. Case-base teaching provided students with the opportunity to apply their knowledge and their analytical skills to complex, real-life scenarios relevant to the subject matter. The use of audience response systems further facilitated class discussion, and was extremely well received by the students, providing a more enjoyable classroom experience.</p>

The evaluation of i-SIDRA – a tool for intelligent feedback – in a course on the anatomy of the locomotor system

ObjectiveThis paper presents an empirical study of a formative mobile-based assessment approach that can be used to provide students with intelligent diagnostic feedback to test its educational effectiveness. MethodAn audience response system called SIDRA was integrated with a neural network-based data analysis to generate diagnostic feedback for guided learning. A total of 200 medical students enrolled in a General and Descriptive Anatomy of the Locomotor System course were taught using two different methods. Ninety students in the experimental group used intelligent SIDRA (i-SIDRA), whereas 110 students in the control group received the same training but without employing i-SIDRA. ResultsIn the students’ final exam grades, a statistically significant difference was found between those students that used i-SIDRA as opposed to a traditional teaching methodology (T(162)=2.597; p=0.010). The increase in the number of correct answers during the feedback guided learning process from the first submission to the last submission in four multiple choice question tests was also analyzed. There were average increases of 20.00% (Test1), 11.34% (Test2), 8.88% (Test3) and 13.43% (Test4) in the number of correct answers. In a questionnaire rated on a five-point Likert-type scale, the students expressed satisfaction with the content (M=4.2) and feedback (M=3.5) provided by i-SIDRA and the methodology (M=4.2) used to learn anatomy. ConclusionsThe use of audience response systems enriched with feedback such as i-SIDRA improves medical degree students’ performance as regards anatomy of the locomotor system. The knowledge state diagrams representing students’ behavior allow instructors to study their progress so as to identify what they still need to learn.

An evaluation of learning clinical decision-making for early rehabilitation in the ICU via interactive education with audience response system

Purpose: Knowledge-related barriers to safely implement early rehabilitation programs in intensive care units (ICUs) may be overcome via targeted education. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of an interactive educational session on short-term knowledge of clinical decision-making for safe rehabilitation of patients in ICUs.Method: A case-based teaching approach, drawing from published safety recommendations for initiation of rehabilitation in ICUs, was used with a multidisciplinary audience. An audience response system was incorporated to promote interaction and evaluate knowledge before vs. after the educational session.Results: Up to 175 audience members, of 271 in attendance (129 (48%) physical therapists, 51 (19%) occupational therapists, 31 (11%) nursing, 14 (5%) physician, 46 (17%) other), completed both the pre- and post-test questions for each of the six unique patient cases. In four of six patient cases, there was a significant (p< 0.001) increase in identifying the correct answer regarding initiation of rehabilitation activities. This learning effect was similar irrespective of participants’ years of experience and clinical discipline.Conclusions: An interactive, case-based, educational session may be effective for increasing short-term knowledge, and identifying knowledge gaps, regarding clinical decision-making for safe rehabilitation of patients in ICUs.Implications for RehabilitationLack of knowledge regarding the safety considerations for early rehabilitation of ICU patients is a barrier to implementing early rehabilitation.Interactive educational formats, such as the use of audience response systems, offer a new method of teaching and instantly assessing learning of clinically important information.In a small study, we have shown that an interactive, case-based educational format may be used to effectively teach clinical decision-making for the safe rehabilitation of ICU patients to a diverse audience of clinicians.