INTICE - Interactive
Technology to Improve the Classroom Experience
Revenge of the Blue Gizmos
Kathy Schmidt and Justin Cone Faculty Innovation Center (FIC); Jeffrey Siegel, Architectural Engineering, Department of Civil Engineering January 21, 2004
PRESENTATION OVERVIEW:
Interaction in the classroom is essential to improving student learning and
using the Classroom Performance System (CPS) technology is one way to promote
interactions. The CPS system consists of remote controls for each student and a
receiver that records student answers to multiple-choice questions posed by the
instructor. In order to promote the use of the questions and answers as a study
tool, we designed software that provides a feedback loop for the instructor and
students to examine their responses. Our software also provides data to the
instructor about individual student performance, aggregate class response to
topic areas and specific questions, and student participation and class
attendance.
In the fall of 2003, we implemented the CPS system in Building Environmental Systems, a core class required of all Architectural Engineering majors. The instructor used the CPS system an average of five times per lecture, including opinion or subjective response questions and questions to ascertain class attendance. Our hypotheses include:
1) CPS improves classroom participation for all students, especially those who don’t typically ask questions or participate in discussions,
2) CPS allows instructors to monitor and evaluate student participation and attendance more easily than traditional techniques,
3) CPS allows departments to evaluate their curricula by examining student retention of material from pre-requisite classes,
4) CPS provides a means to pre-plan questions at appropriate and challenging levels.
We evaluated these hypotheses by collecting student surveys and conducting classroom observations, and then correlating student class performance with successful response to different types of CPS questions.
Our evaluation of the data suggests that the majority of students reported that the CPS system enhanced their learning and they benefited from having the CPS software as an additional study tool: This observational study also suggests ways in which the CPS system can be used to minimize instructor time on class administrative chores and, most importantly, promote student learning of engineering material.