Bike and Blossom
Integrating Student Responses Systems in College Lectures: More than a Quiz
Surya Jones
Surya Jones, a Guest Blogger for The Wheel, wrote the following piece reflecting on the use of personal response systems in courses she took at UC Davis. Surya recently graduated UC Davis with a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations and minors in Anthropology and French. Surya currently works as an administrative assistant at a law firm with hopes to begin graduate school for social anthropology in Fall 2020 studying the intersections of technology, race, and ontology.
“What percent of Americans consider themselves vegan?”
“Is a vegetarian society more ecologically/environmentally sustainable?”
“Should a society be vegetarian?”
The questions popped up on the screen at the front of the classroom, the class responses appearing beneath. The website was reminiscent of games I played as a child, decorated with vibrant primary colors and upbeat music in the background, except these questions were for my upper division Anthropology course here at UC Davis. My professor was using Kahoot!, an online student response system that instructors can use to create (or use pre-created) quizzes, discussions, or surveys.
After each question, I pressed the color-coded shape on my phone that corresponded to the ones I saw on the screen. I was rewarded with almost instantaneous feedback on whether I got the question correct via a personalized “incorrect” or “correct” on my cell phone. I got the first question wrong. Kashoot!
The above photo depicts the two screens visible to students while playing Kahoot! The screen on the left is what the entire class sees, including the question, the distribution of class responses, and the possible answers to the question. On the right is the screen that students see on their individual smart phones after they have responded to the question and the response time has expired.
My professor for Ecology, Nature and Society, Dr. Cristina Moya of the Anthropology department, utilized Kahoot! Both as a way to add a bit of entertainment to lectures, but also as a way to take attendance. At the beginning of each quiz, she had us enter our last then first name in the “Nickname” section of the registration. The professor would then use the downloaded participants record as attendance for the day. After each question, we would discuss the answers, why each answer was wrong or right, and how they pertained to either the reading or to lecture content. Dr. Moya appreciates “the possibility of gauging whether people are understanding material as I go along.” When it comes to “being able to stop and clarify things,” Moya said, “I try to do it in the moment.” As students, we found that this system provided us with both an instant answer and an instant explanation to each question. In addition, Moya reserved sections of each lecture for Kahoot! questions usually before we would dive into the lecture or before we would take a five minute break. For students, the Kahoot! quizzes added a little spice to an otherwise long lecture period. Dr. Moya also appreciated the small break in between topics, “This one is the longest class I have ever taught, where it’s two hours at a time,” she explained, “I find that it kind of breaks up the listening only.” The Kahoot! quizzes have served as a way for me to personally check my comprehension of the material but also as a way for my professor to gauge the level of understanding the class has of the material while simultaneously taking attendance.
Many UC Davis professors take advantage of mini in-class quizzes to break up the lecture, test our knowledge, and check for attendance. Most professors and students at UC Davis are widely familiar with “clicker” questions. Similar in concept to Kahoot!, clickers require students to respond to questions that appear on the board; their response is recorded, and the results are displayed. Unlike with Kahoot!, iClickers must be purchased by students separately. Students must then register their new clickers to their names in order for their responses to be recorded and relayed to the professor. The cost of a single clicker is about thirty dollars, possibly for single use depending on how many of their classes make use of the clicker system. The clickers are so widely used that many students take advantage of the thriving market for used iClickers, whereby students sell them to each other.
Using personal response systems can facilitate student participation in a fun, engaging, and beneficial way without triggering the social anxiety that can come from raising one's hand or volunteering a response. I’ve taken classes that have used clicker questions and classes that have used Kahoot! Both provide similar functions as a way to keep track of attendance, break up a lecture, test students knowledge, and increase engagement. Kahoot! and iClicker also have similar problems of possible fraudulent attendance. For example, students have been known to give a friend their clicker so that it appears they were present for a lecture they missed. Despite these concerns, the benefit of both student response systems is clear:
- they allow students who may be more hesitant to participate in class a chance to recoup participation points;
- they give a good estimate of where a class stands on the material tested;
- and they provide a fun and engaging interlude during longer lectures.
Additional Resources
If you are interested in reading more about personal response systems, check out the following resources from outside sources: