Active Participation through Student Response
Paul Shimizu & Bill Pellowe
Shimizu and Pellowe demonstrated two types of tools for checking student understanding, which they described as ‘low-tech' and ‘high-tech". The low-technology goes back at least 30 years, when "teaching paddles" were used by medical students to demonstrate their understanding of a lecture. Simple bits of plastic marked on both sides at each end with A, B, C, and D held by each student (beside their faces so the teacher can make eye contact) keep them on-task (because a wrong answer will be glaringly obvious) and committed to their right answer, reinforced by the rest of the class display of the same answer. Not only can teachers evaluate understanding at a glance, but from there groups of students can autonomously negotiate a response, finally communicated to the teacher by a unanimous display of their common conclusion.

• Pellowe has developed "student response systems for mobile devices"; cannily exploiting the ubiquitous cell-phone for homework, complete with shortcuts that avoid a lot of input and get the user connected immediately to various online quizzes and other classroom extensions. Teachers can make a quiz and give it a shortcut which will soon be extended to include peer feedback during student presentations
  Link to meeting listing

Next Item Previous Item