by Adrian Hui, Pharm.D., PGY1 Pharmacy Resident, MedStar
Union Memorial Hospital
How
many of you have used
an audience response system? Please use your devices to select an answer.
A. Yes
B. No
C. Not sure
D. What is an audience response
system?
Many of you may be
familiar with this scenario, commonly seen in classroom settings today. With their increasingly widespread use, audience
response systems have made their way into television game shows such as “Who
Wants to be a Millionaire” where the audience can be polled to help the
contestant answer a question. If you are
not familiar with the term “audience response system,” perhaps one of the
following alternatives may ring a bell: personal response system, electronic
voting system, or student response system.1
What exactly are
“audience response systems (ARS)?” ARS are
tools used to quickly gather data from people participating in a poll. ARS made their first appearance in the 1960s
at Cornell and Stanford Universities2 but were costly, cumbersome,
and frequently malfunctioned.1
Eventually, ARS became commercially available in the 1990s, and with several
technological improvements (e.g. infrared capability, portability), it soon
became widely used in various educational settings in the early 21st
century.1 Nowadays, ARS are
simple and easy to use. They only
require the following components:3
- Presentation software (i.e., PowerPoint with Turning Point)
- Hardware to transmit information (i.e., “clickers”, mobile computers, mobile phones)
- Wireless receiver or Internet connection to a computer to receive the data
I first experienced
ARS as an undergraduate student when I was required to purchase my first
“clicker” for an introductory genetics class.
The device was about the size of a small TV remote and had buttons for
the numbers 0-9, the letters A-J, and a few other miscellaneous functions. We were required to bring the “clickers” to
every class and use them to answer multiple choice quiz questions interspersed
throughout the lectures. Our answers on
these “quizzes” counted towards 10% of our final grade. This mode of learning was unlike anything I
had ever experienced before, and although I initially felt apprehensive about
ARS, I eventually came to appreciate its utility.
There are several benefits
to using ARS. Once a question is posed,
responses are anonymous and summarized graphically for the audience. However, the instructor has the flexibility
to track each individual response and can collect the data for a grade or to give
credit for attendance. Anonymity can
have a positive impact on learning, often enhancing participation, engaging the
students, and promoting greater interactions between the students and their
peers/teachers.1 In fact, a
study by Clauson et al.4 showed that 93.2% of pharmacy students
appreciated the anonymity of ARS. To
gauge how well the students understand the material being covered in class, the
instructor can use ARS intermittently throughout a lecture. Based on the results, the instructor can determine
whether it's appropriate to re-explain concepts more in-depth if the class seems
to be struggling or continue on to the next topic. Thus, ARS, if used effectively, can improve
the quality of learning and provide both the instructor and students valuable feedback. ARS may help improve test results as
well. In a study by Cain et al., final
grades for a Physiological Chemistry and Molecular Biology (PCMB) II course in
2008 (using ARS) were significantly higher than those in previous years without
ARS (p < 0.05 for 2008 vs 2007 and p < 0.001 for 2008 vs 2006). Also, students taking PCMB II with ARS in
2008 had significantly higher final grades compared to when they took PCMB I
the previous semester without ARS (p < 0.001). Although this study has some limitations, the
findings suggest that ARS may be a useful tool to improve student performance
on exams.3 See Table 1 for a summary
of the benefits of ARS.1
Table 1: Summary of ARS Benefits
Classroom environment benefits
|
Attendance: Students go to class more
|
Attention: Students are more focused in
class
|
Anonymity: All students participate
anonymously
|
Participation: Students participate with
peers more in class to solve problems
|
Engagement: Students are more engaged in
class
|
Learning benefits
|
Interaction: Students interact more with
peers to discuss ideas
|
Discussion: Students actively discuss
misconceptions to build knowledge
|
Contingent teaching: Instruction can be modified
based on feedback
|
Learning performance: Learning
performance increases as a result of using ARS
|
Quality of learning: Qualitative
difference when learning with ARS (e.g., better explanations, thinking about
important concepts, resolving misconceptions)
|
Assessment benefits
|
Feedback: Students and teachers like
getting regular feedback on understanding
|
Formative: Assessment is done that
improves student understanding and quality of teaching
|
Compare: Students compare their ARS
responses to class responses
|
Adapted from Kay et
al (2009)1
Although ARS has
some benefits, there are some challenges too.
From my experience, the “clickers” were a source of stress when students
lost/forgot them or had technical difficulties.
This was especially the case when the “clickers” were used to answer
quiz questions that counted toward a student’s grade or attendance. Cain et al.3 found that the most
common complaint about ARS (shared by 82% of pharmacy students) was the cost of
the devices. It should be noted,
however, that some schools “cover” the cost of the devices and recirculate them
to students in different classes. But
let’s face it, even when the school buys the devices to be shared by students,
the cost of this technology is, in the end, bore by students in the form of
tuition and fees. Technical problems with
ARS can also be frustrating for instructors that have integrated ARS questions
into their lectures. Furthermore, ARS
may be a challenge for relatively inexperienced instructors unable to adapt
their teaching to address unexpected responses from the students. Developing ARS questions can be time
consuming and takes skill and experience in order to create truly effective
ones. Effective questioning should not
target simple recall of the material being presented but rather should cultivate
conceptual, analytical, and problem solving skills.5 Such thoughtful questions are more likely to
lead to enriching discussions and stimulate higher-level cognitive processes
instead of serving as one-dimensional questions simply used to keep the student
awake. For a summary of the challenges
with ARS, see Table 2.1
Table 2: Summary of ARS Challenges
Technology-based challenges
|
Bringing remotes: Students forgot/lost remotes
and could not participate in class
|
ARS did not work: Remote devices did not
function properly
|
Teacher-based challenges
|
Responding to student feedback: Less
experienced teachers cannot adjust to student feedback
|
Coverage: Cover less course content if
ARS is used
|
Developing questions: Time consuming to
create ARS questions
|
Student-based challenges
|
New method: Students find it difficult to
shift to a new way of learning
|
Discussion: Discussion leads to confusion
or wasting time
|
Effort: Too much effort is required by
students when using ARS
|
Summative assessment: Using ARS for tests
may not be popular with students
|
Attendance for grades: Students do not
like ARS used for monitoring attendance
|
Identifying students: Students want to
remain anonymous
|
Negative feedback: Students feel bad when
receiving negative feedback
|
Adapted from Kay et al (2009)1
How can we optimize the
use of ARS in the classroom? Since our
attention span often fades after about 20 minutes,1 one strategy is
to provide ARS questions every 20 minutes to break up a lecture. Along with using effective questions, a small
incentive to increase participation and attendance may be helpful. Using ARS responses for 5% of a student’s
grade is sufficient to increase motivation and attendance.1 Lastly, although ARS may take away time to
cover material, I would argue that ARS enables the instructor to explore
concepts in greater depth and thus provides greater value in terms of student learning. Overall, the benefits of ARS seem to outweigh
its challenges, and several studies have shown that the majority of students favor
its use in the classroom. Yet, more
research is needed to better understand the utility of ARS and to hone best
practices.1
References:
1. Kay RH and LeSage
A. Examining the benefits and challenges of using audience response systems: a review of the literature. Computers and Education.
2009; 53:819-27.
2. Nelson C,
Hartling L, Campbell S et al. The effects of audience
response systems on learning outcomes in health professions education. A BEME
systematic review: BEME Guide No. 21. Med
Teach. 2012;34(6):e386-405.
3. Cain J, Black EP,
Rohr J. An audience response system strategy to improve student motivation, attention, and feedback. Am J Pharm Educ. 2009;
73(2): Article 21.
4. Clauson KA,
Alkhateeb FM, Singh-Franco D. Concurrent use of anaudience response system at a multi-campus college of pharmacy. Am J Pharm Educ. 2012;76(1): Article 6.
5. Dangel HL and
Wang CX. Student
response systems in higher education: Moving beyond linear teaching and surface
learning. Journal of Educational Technology
Development and Exchange 2008; 1(1): 93-104.
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