Sheffield on i tunes u introduction and future directions telfest 2014
Winter TELFest - LectureTools - Nik Reeves-McLaren
Transcript of Winter TELFest - LectureTools - Nik Reeves-McLaren
The Problem
• My ‘traditional’ teaching is mainly to PGT students
• Poor engagement in class and with material
• Attendances excellent at PGT level
• Average exam scores falling in recent years
Poor Engagement
• Guardian article by Donald Clark: “Ten reasons we should ditch University lectures”
• http://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/blog/2014/may/15/ten-reasons-we-should-ditch-university-lectures
The Problem with Lectures1. Babylonian hour
2. Passive observers
3. Attention fall-off
4. Note-taking skills not taught
5. Disabilities
The Problem with Lectures6. One bite at the cherry
7. Cognitive overload
8. Tyranny of location
9. Tyranny of time
10. Poor presentation
Setting the Scene
• Two new modules: MAT6664 and MAT6665
• MAT6664: ~ 45 New MSc students (all MSE), 95%+ international students
• MAT6665: The 6664 cohort plus ~ 35 DDP students (MSE + other Engineering) + PDRAs…
Setting the Scene• Bout of viral meningitis in the summer had left me
with impaired hearing• Couldn’t guarantee I could hear students if they
had questions
• Made holiday at Butlins calmer…
Setting the Scene• Tried several approaches to improve engagement
whilst also adapting to make life easier for me:
• Clickers
• Screencasts (YouTube/MOLE)
• LectureTools
What is LectureTools?• “An Echo360 Active Learning Company”
• “Student Engagement Solution”
• “Internet-based lecture supplement”
• University Pilot, contact: [email protected]
So, umm… What is LectureTools?• Teacher creates notes in PowerPoint or Keynote
• Upload notes to LectureTools, then add interactive elements
• Students bring devices to lecture, log in to LectureTools and can follow along, make notes, interact… and ask questions / raise ‘confusion flags’
First Challenge: Devices• I asked (42) MAT6664 students if they would be
comfortable bringing a device to class:
Second Challenge: Sign-up• All very well me trying LectureTools if the
students wouldn’t sign up for a free account…
• Sent MOLE Announcement & Spent 5-10 minutes in first lecture on setup and induction
• 72 out of ~ 85 signed up (~85%) - many during the first lecture
How I Used LectureTools
• Other Interactive Elements:
• Multiple Choice Questions
• Video (linked from YouTube)
• Short / Numerical Answer, Ordered Lists
How I Used LectureTools• Generally ~ 30-50% of students engaged directly
with the exercises in LectureTools
• Interactive element allowed me to address “Muddiest Points” in situ using the Visualiser
• Also used some of the same quizzes in later lectures to revise key points - students scored much better
Student Feedback - Short Answer• It is good
• Very helpful and enjoyable
• It is very helpful for further understanding
• Positive
• It was hard to follow what Nik was saying whilst typing...its easier to write notes in book.... but that may be because I’m old-school..It will probably get easier with practise :) Also the students took a while to quiet down..hard to hear Nik in the beginning
Student Feedback• It is good... and should let teachers answer questions after class.
• We could not download the lecture notes from LectureTools, that's may be the only thing inconvenient.
• Easy to use but can be distracting from listening to the lecture
• I am wondering how to download the lecture file. And some letters in the equation do not have a good explanation, so I got confused about some equations.
• Interesting and interactive
Caveat: Lecture 2 Disaster!• I had three 2-hr lectures using LectureTools…
• The software failed - for me alone - early into the middle lecture…
• Around 10% of students still completed interactive elements even though I had switched to Keynote!
• Lecture 3: Mainly used it at start / end
CLOSING REMARKS
• LectureTools was easy to use and largely a positive experience for both me & the students
• Personally, I can still make better use of this:
• Needed more interactive elements!
• Promote better use of questions / confusion flags