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Using Interactive Assessment Tools in the Classroom

Abstract

Research continues to show the most common instructional technique, the lecture, is less effective in promoting student learning than student-active methods. Students tend not to retain the majority of material after the first 10-15 minutes of lecture. Actively involving students in the lesson has many benefits such as supervised practice, increased retention, and better understanding of concepts. In-class assessment is a useful tool that actively involves students, while providing valuable feedback to the instructor. Immediate feedback can be even more beneficial, because the instructor can modify the presentation “on the fly” depending on the students’ levels of understanding. One currently available tool, the GTCO CalComp™ “Personal Response System” (PRS), is designed to provide instructors assessment and immediate feedback to monitor student learning. The PRS is a computer-based, wireless system where students use individually coded transmitters to answer questions based on the lesson material. This paper will summarize the results of a study using the PRS in the United States Air Force Academy Engineering Division Fundamentals of Mechanics course. A class survey and focus group were used to determine the usefulness of PRS-based assessment for the course. The goal of the analysis was to use emerging technology to enhance the learning environment in engineering courses by increasing instructor-student interaction through assessment and real-time feedback.

Introduction

Student-active learning is an effective way to increase retention of lesson concepts. Involving the students tends to increase their attention, because they know they are an integral part of the lesson. The involvement also helps them better understand the main points of the lecture. Even though more student involvement is beneficial, without assessment the instructor cannot know how many of the students actually grasp the principle concepts. Using questions or activities to check student understanding not only involves the students, but provides the instructor with the needed feedback.

One currently available tool, the GTCO CalComp™ “Personal Response System” (PRS), is designed to provide instructors assessment and immediate feedback to monitor student learning. The PRS is a computer-based, wireless system where students use individually coded transmitters to answer questions based on the lesson material. The PRS was used to check understanding during lectures in the “Fundamentals of Mechanics” course at the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA). Questions posed ranged from those requiring simple true/false responses to simple work-out problems that illustrated the concepts being discussed.

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Moe, G. (2006, June), Using Interactive Assessment Tools In The Classroom Paper presented at 2006 Annual Conference & Exposition, Chicago, Illinois. 10.18260/1-2--1465