Carol Withey (a technophobe!)

Text-please add entry to phonebook (polls)-07624806527

Smartphone/web-http://poll4.com

Tweet @poll

University of Greenwich

EVS and mobile phones

U

Polleverywhere.com ( based in USA)

Why am I using them?

No funding for clickers

Cost to students – depends on their text package – they are texting a UK number

Car

Students can also vote via web / Smartphone and Twitter and web widget ???? ( therefore remotely! )

It is possible to track individual responses ( either by mobile phone or by assigning a code/ number to each phone number)

How does it work?

1) Create a poll on the site

2) Download to PP then paste to presentation

3) You have to play the slide to initialise it (open it up)

Go to site……….

The system costs about £40 per month for up to 250 students – ‘roll on and off’ as and when you like

Two people can use the system for that price (but can cheat with generic email address)

It is free for classes up to 30 (seminars)

The company provide packages for HE

• I used the system for 5 weeks in 2 hour Criminal Law lectures. (130 students )

• Multi choice Qs

• 3 per week before /after break/end

• 15 minutes per week

Questionnaire feedback and analysis- I have put on the ESTICT website

• 79 responses

• 100% bring phone to University

• 67% - unlimited tariff

On cost of voting

67% - ‘excellent or good’ ( including 47% of those on limited tariffs)

Another 28% of the total said reasonable

Only 2 students said unreasonable

New research – phones v clickers

(92 students)

1) Graphics – almost the same ( excellent/good)Phone has moving bars and response counter

Clickers has response counter, timer and correct answer indicator

2) Time taken up –

Phone 64% just right

Clicker 86% just right ( clickers took up more time!

However…. misconstrued question! (comments suggest referring to

actual process of voting) I Did not use ‘keywords’ or get them to put

number in phone!!

3) Time dedicated to EVS?

47% 15 mins

18% 20 mins

17% 10 mins

4) At what time in lecture?

61% at the end

39% various points

5) Experience? - (10 weeks in all)

44% Positive at first and became more positive

42% Positive at first and remained same level

1% Positive at first but became less positive

13% Not positive at first but became positive

0% Not positive at any stage

6) Leader boards?

55% Yes

45% No ( “too competitive / intimidating / embarrassing even though anonymous”)

7) Use to chart progress and monitor students?

31% - Yes

69% - No

too serious

too much pressure

deter from answering

demoralising

wrong answers are made as ‘snap ‘ judgements

intimidating

this is what course work is for

8) Clickers arrangement?

66% attached to desk

29% give out each lesson

5% students look after for a deposit

9) Clickers or phones?

• 94% clickers• 6% phones

• Reasons ……………

• Nearly all said because clicker quicker and easier to vote – but did not use keywords or store number

• Some said focusing more on texting the right number than looking at questions

• A few said the cost

My preference? - phones• Cheaper than clickers

• Easy to set up a poll and download into PP

• It does not disrupt lectures (in 5 weeks there were no interruptions with phones going off) and less hassle/time

• Prefer live moving graphs

• Some of the clickers did not register

• Students are unlikely to forget their phones

• Fiddly saving data with clickers

• Remote voting

• All staff can use in seminars up to 30

• User friendly

• E-mail support

Future?

Further research when using both in same session

Phones can be used for other purposes (induction)

Thanks for listening

C.A.Withey@gre.ac.uk

Car

• The the stuff below is from the original presentation to TFS on mobile phones only

• 54% voted each time

• 83% voted all or some of the time

• 17% did not vote

• 87% on unlimited tariff ‘all or some’ of the time

• 73% on limited tariff ‘ all or some’ of the time

• Reasons for not voting

• 13 (56%) said no signal – Orange

• 4 (17%) said cost

• 2 (8%) said they could not be bothered

• 1 student did not trust the site

• On cost of voting

• 67% - ‘excellent or good’ ( including 47% of those on limited tariffs)

• Another 28% of the total said reasonable

• Only 2 students said unreasonable

• On time taken up in the lecture

• 87% said ‘just right’

• 9% said too much ( 1x disruptive,1 x wanted more time spent on the lecture, 4x said was a waste of time)

• 4% said not enough dedicated to EVS and asked for more questions

• On benefit /non benefit to lecture experience ( open Q)

• 93 separate comments

23 (25%) tested their understanding18 (20%) provided a break & variety in lecture16 (17%) made the lectures more interactive 10 made the lectures interesting / fun10 allowed revision of main points

/clarification 4 helped maintain attention3 allowed tutor to see students’

understanding3 nice to see others did not understand 4 gave brain a ‘mini workout’5 allowed shy students to participate 1 concluded parts of the lecture nicely

• There were 3 negative comments ..

• 2 said that it took up too much time

• 1 said it was disruptive

• Benefit / dis-benefit specifically to understanding the subject/topic? ( open Q)

43% it showed them points they had understood and misunderstood

9 it made them think more deeply about what they had just

been taught

2 said it was good to have communal /group learning

1 said that it gave them a sense of pride to see that they had understood

There were 5 negative comments……

2 said that there was no real benefit2 said it was good but a shame that only limited amount of

questions could be asked1 said that it made them lose concentration

• On how many questions should be asked in each session

68% 3 - 5 28% 5 exactly47% more than 5

• On when should Qs be asked (open Q)

86% after the break 54% at the end of the lecture

• On whether we should continue to use the system in Criminal Law

97% Yes

On whether it should be used in other lectures / in seminars

91% Yes - other lectures 55% Yes - seminars

• Would you prefer to be handed out ‘clickers’

Note: this a flawed question in as much as students have not experienced the clicker system yet

43 (54%) Prefer clickers 27 (34%) Prefer phones 9 (12%) Don’t mind

• The main reason give for clickers was that although they liked using phones they thought clickers might be best as some of their friends could not get reception

My observations

• Cheaper than clickers?

• Easy to set up a poll and download into power point

• It does not disrupt lectures

• Students are unlikely to forget their phones

• In the whole 5 weeks there were no interruptions !!

• I used PE for 5 weeks- students may lose enthusiasm as theyear progresses

• Negative - reception in the lecture room ( QA080 – no orange – but KW315 –all had reception)

• I am conducting a comparative analysis of the feedback with use of ‘Turningpoint’ ( a clicker system)

Carol Withey

Department of Law and Criminology

University of Greenwich