Enhancing the student
learning and the student
learning experience through
an Electronic Voting System.
Marina De Vos, Emma Cliffe, James
Davenport, Alan Hayes, Nitin Parmar.
HEA ICT 10th Programming Workshop,
University Brighton, 30 March 2010
With support of HEA ICT.
Goals
• Provide a more interactive teaching
environment
• Enhance feedback to and from students
• Enhance students motivation
• Improve the Performance, Self-Reflection
and Forethought cycle: Self-regulated
environment
• Support students learning the basics of
programming
EVS - 10th Programming Workshop – University of Brighton
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Electronic Voting Systems (EVS)
• Allows for effective student participation
• Immediate [anonymous] submission of
responses
• Graphical output of results
• Response data saved for later analysis
EVS - 10th Programming Workshop – University of Brighton
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1. Which one of the sentences is
true considering the following lines
of code:
String country = "England";
Town bath = new Town(country);
1. the class Town contains
2.
3.
a constructor with a
String as a parameter
bath is an instance of
the class England
bath is an object of type
String
86%
7%
1
2
7%
3
2. After executing the code, what are the
values of a and b?
int a=3;
int b=5;
int c=a++;
int d=--b;
if ((a+1)==d){
c++;
b--;
}
if (c!=b){
a++;
}
else {
b++;
}
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
a=3;
a=4;
a=3;
a=5;
a=4;
b=4;
b=4;
b=5;
b=4;
b=5;
33%
33%
22%
11%
0%
2
3
EVS - 10th Programming Workshop –1 University
of Brighton
4
5
5
3. A & B is the same as B & A for
any boolean expression in Java.
1. True
2. False
65%
35%
1
EVS -
10th
Programming Workshop – University of Brighton
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6
Advantages of EVS
• Enables students to benchmark their progress against
•
•
•
•
•
•
their peers
Supports the students actively engaging with their
learning
Faster loop of performance, reflection and forethought –
improves self-efficacy
Enables the lecturer to indentify those areas that the
cohort are struggling with
Promotes peer interaction and support
Enables the students to anonymously feedback the
lecturer
But multiple-choice questions makes stimulating deep
learning more difficult.
EVS - 10th Programming Workshop – University of Brighton
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EVS in Programming 1
• Python: Pen and Paper Revision Quiz
• Java: EVS revision quiz using EVS
• Unit Feedback: to complement the
anonymous web-based one
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3. A & B is the same as B & A for
any boolean expression in Java.
1. True
2. False
64%
36%
1
EVS - 10th Programming Workshop – University of Brighton
2
9
EVS is good fun, something different and its
very good to be interactive
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Strongly Agree
Agree
Neutral
Disagree
Strongly Disagree
68%
12%
12%
8%
0%
1
2
3
EVS - 10th Programming Workshop – University of Brighton
4
5
10
Java EVS vs. Python Quiz
44%
1.
2.
3.
4.
evs
Quiz
I liked both
I liked neither
28%
24%
4%
1
2
EVS - 10th Programming Workshop – University of Brighton
3
4
11
Student Opinion
• “.. It gives a good view on how the rest of
the class is doing in comparison and lets
you know how much harder you should be
working”
• “It was useful to be able to see my answer
in comparison to other peoples. This gave
me an easy way to benchmark my
learning against others to see how I was
doing on the course”
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12
Lecturer Opinion
• Easy to use
• Makes it easier to spot problem areas
• More relaxed atmosphere.
• Stimulates discussion between students
and students-lecturer
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The Reverse: Obtaining Feedback
• Standard web-based review: limited
volunteers
• EVS: all student in the lecture
• They all see each others evaluation
• Closing the loop
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Student Opinion
• More enjoyable
• More interactive
• Compare opinions
• Would have preferred to hear the
lecturer’s expectation
• No room for comments
• Feedback on the questions
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Lecturer Opinion
• Confrontational but worth it
• Opens up debate
• I preferred it over reading the unit
evaluations
• Results are comparable
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ResponseWare
• Internet version of EVS
• More flexibility
• Used for remedial classes
• Requires more flexibility on the part of the
tutors
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EVS in Literature
• Caldwell, J.E., 2007. Clickers in the Large Classroom:
•
•
Current Research and Best-Practice Tips. Life Sciences
Education, 6(1), 9-20.
Draper, S.W. & Brown, M.I., 2004. Increasing
interactivity in lectures using an electronic voting
system. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 20(2),
81-94.
Cutts, Q.I. & Kennedy, G.E., 2005. Connecting learning
environments using electronic voting systems. In
Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia: Australian
Computer Society, Inc., pp. 181-186.
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After this talk I would be willing
to use EVS?
1. Absolutely
2. Maybe
3. Neutral
4. Probably not
5. Definitely not
37%
37%
11%
11%
5%
1
2
3
EVS - 10th Programming Workshop – University of Brighton
4
5
19
Thank you.
Questions?
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