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. 2003 Dec 17:3:12.
doi: 10.1186/1472-6920-3-12.

Experiences of using an interactive audience response system in lectures

Matti Uhari  1 , Marjo Renko, Hannu Soini
Affiliations

Experiences of using an interactive audience response system in lectures

Matti Uhari et al. BMC Med Educ. .

Abstract

Background: Lectures are good for presenting information and providing explanations, but because they lack active participation they have been neglected.

Methods: Students' experiences were evaluated after exposing them to the use of voting during lectures in their paediatrics course. Questions were delivered to the students taking paediatrics course. Thirty-six students out of the total of 40 (90%) attended the opening lecture, at which the first survey concerning previous experiences of lectures was performed. Thirty-nine students (98%) answered the second series of questions at the end of the paediatrics course.

Results: Most of the students felt that voting improved their activity during lectures, enhanced their learning, and that it was easier to make questions during lectures than earlier.

Conclusions: The students gained new, exciting insights much more often during the paediatrics course than before. We as teachers found that voting during lectures could easily overcome some of the obstacles of good lecturing.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The transmitters are kept in a locker in the lecture room which is opened before the lecture. Students pick them up as they enter the room and return them after the lecture. Each transmitter is numbered.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The PC-based software interface of the voting device. The play list includes PowerPoint files and questions, which can be written with the software or imported from a text editor.
Figure 3
Figure 3
A question and its alternative answers can be shown to the whole audience, with voting percentages and the right answer highlighted if desired.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Student attendance and activity in lectures. The x-axis shows the percentages of students giving the respective estimates of their attendance at lectures or their activity during them. Questions were asked immediately before (Before) and after (After) the paediatrics course of 40 students in the spring 2002.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Percentage student responses to four statements about lecturing, and the effect of voting on these responses (before vs. after a lecture course that included voting).
Figure 6
Figure 6
Student responses to statements about voting during lectures.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Percentage distribution of students' responses to statements about lecturing.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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