THE IMPACT OF CLASSROOM RESPONSE SYSTEM ON PEER EVALUATION

Peer evaluation being an active type of learning develops learners’ interactivity, speaking, listening, critical thinking abilities. Unlike the passive learning, in active learning students are more engaged in the evaluation process of presentation made by their peers, which significantly encourages student participation. Applying Classroom Response System students gain the ability to instantly respond and react, since this activity requires continuous attention. Promoting student-instructor interaction this technique leads to the involvement of students to class discussion simultaneously providing information about efficacy of the comprehension of the new topic. A significant point to be taken into consideration is the individual approach to every student.

Questions for Classroom Response Systems and Teaching Instrumental Element Analysis

Asking students questions is a central, although understudied and underappreciated, ingredient of teaching. Formative questioning provides many opportunities for teachers and students, e.g. to practice skills and receive feedback. Among other approaches, classroom response systems (CRSs), which run on the mobile electronic devices of students, facilitate such active engagement of students in the lecture hall. This paper presents an overview on questions for teaching with a focus on questions for CRSs and provides considerations and brief guidelines for the development of multiple-choice questions. Examples from a mid-sized analytical chemistry lecture illustrate additional challenges and different probes for potential misconceptions. Moreover, limitations of valid interpretation of students' responses are emphasized. This leads to a discussion of the value of incorporating prompts for justifications into questions.

Technology acceptance of four digital learning technologies (classroom response system, classroom chat, e-lectures, and mobile virtual reality) after three months’ usage

Digital technologies have gained much popularity in education thanks to the cost efficiency they gain through scalability. While the acceptance of some of these new digital technologies has been investigated, there are few direct comparisons. The most established model for measuring acceptance is the technology acceptance model, which can predict the behavioral intention to use the technology. We compared four digital learning technologies (e-lectures, classroom response system, classroom chat, and mobile virtual reality) in terms of their technology acceptance. The classroom response system had the highest level of acceptance. It was closely followed by e-lectures, then the classroom chat and then mobile virtual reality. The students evaluated all tools favorably before and after usage, except for mobile virtual reality, which saw a substantial drop in perceived usefulness and behavioral intention after 3 months’ usage.

Philosophy in the science classroom: How should biology teachers explain the relationship between science and religion to students?

This review explores Thomas Lessl’s “Demarcation as a classroom response to creationism: A critical examination of the National Academy of Science’s Science, Evolution, and Creationism (2008).” Lessl’s work examines philosophical debates about the relationship between science and religion from the perspective of communication dynamics between science teachers and audiences skeptical about evolution. His essay raises a number of important points that might help educators craft statements that are less likely to alienate religious students and to entrench any pre-existing opposition to evolutionary science. However, in this review, I raise a number of criticisms of Lessl’s account of the problems with the approach taken by the National Academy of Science. I argue that many of the criticisms of NAS’s approach to demarcation are not well-supported, and even were they to be strong criticisms, they do not justify skepticism toward evolution or science in general. Ultimately, I argue that addressing Lessl’s concerns means creating space for more intellectually rigorous and satisfying discussions of science and religion, but this is not appropriate in a biology classroom that merely wishes to introduce evolution. Addressing these concerns requires making more space for philosophy in the curriculum.

Classroom Response System in a Super-Blended Learning and Teaching Model: Individual or Team-Based Learning?

Building an interactive environment during learning experience is sometimes hindered by student numbers in class, their sociocultural differences and limited teaching time, which may reduce student engagement. In this study we provided a super blended teaching and learning model by hybridising Classroom Response System (CRS) with Flipped Classroom (FC) and Team-Based Learning (TBL). CRS allowed learners to use their smart devices (e.g., phones, tablets and laptops) to respond to a variety of numerical, multiple-choice, short-answer and open ended questions posed during live classes and encouraged them to engage with classroom activities. Our Flipped-CRS (F-CRS) approach required the students to preview the e-learning material and watch the recorded lectures before the sessions and apply their knowledge within the session, either individually or as teams, by answering questions using TurningPoint CRS software. Learners provided positive feedback regarding F-CRS and the application of super blended teaching and learning model demonstrated a substantial increase in student collaboration and enhanced their motivation, engagement, attendance and academic performance, especially while using F-CRS approach in teams. Our super blended approach enabled educators to monitor student engagement throughout the year, facilitated formative assessment and assisted teachers to create crude class performance prediction in summative assessments.