eVoting

Student participation: engagement and interaction

Beverley Lawe, Design and Technology, School of Education
September to October 2008

Background
Initially seen at NTU's Annual Learning and Teaching Conference 2008, the electronic voting system, TurningPoint, seemed ideal for engaging students on the School of Education's BA and PGCE programmes. For groups of students working towards external examinations from the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, lectures beforehand form an important element of preparation. In order to be successful accurate recall of key information is vital. Strategies to foster involvement in lectures have proved effective in the past.

The eLearning advantage
Using TurningPoint gave the sessions the added interactive focus they required with minimal adaptation of existing lecture materials. Introduced to the students as being a session along the lines of 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire', the simple-to-use technology increased motivation to participate, and by checking the number of votes polled 100% involvement was secured. Students were enthusiastic about the use of voting and drawn into the session. The use of voting helped to highlight some key points of misconception which had previously hampered examination performance. It also meant that the lecture time was used efficiently: rather than having to review and summarise all sections of the lecture, focus could be directed where needed. Periodically introducing a session in which TurningPoint was included meant that it stayed fresh and interesting.

Key points
Adapting a presentation to include electronic voting using a system such as TurningPoint need not be complex. With a few basic instructions and guidance, a voting-enabled presentation can quickly be up and running and was described as being "dead easy to use" by School of Education lecturer Beverley Lawe. Although its use in this instance helped reinforce work towards an examination using multiple choice questions, it can also be used to encourage discussion on many levels.

Academics need to offer clear guidance about how to use the technology and think about what they want to achieve from its use in their work. The use of voting allows lecturers to reflect on their teaching practice and materials with instant feedback being provided to reveal points of ambiguity or uncertainty.

Testing the system and associated presentation prior to use can help to provide reassurance that things will run smoothly. Time needs to be built into lectures for distributing the handsets, explaining their role and collecting them at the end. It is also worth announcing that the handsets will be used prior to the lecture, as students enjoy using them to the extent that they can help boost attendance.

Final outcome
The use of TurningPoint proved extremely successful: there was engagement with concepts and the anonymity of voting gave students increased confidence to have a voice in the lecture. The session was described by the group as being fun and everyone eagerly took part. From first seeing it at the NTU Learning and Teaching Conference in 2008 to implementing it in her practice, Lecturer Beverly Lawe described it as having become "a useful additional teaching technique" which she would definitely use again and share with colleagues who have already said they are eager to use it.