Authors:
Robert Collier
1
and
Jalal Kawash
2
Affiliations:
1
Carleton University, Canada
;
2
University of Calgary, Canada
Keyword(s):
Classroom Response System, Content Retention, Student Engagement, Computer Literacy.
Related
Ontology
Subjects/Areas/Topics:
Classroom Management
;
Computer-Supported Education
;
Information Technologies Supporting Learning
;
Learning/Teaching Methodologies and Assessment
Abstract:
The most typical uses of a classroom response system are to improve student engagement and to provide opportunities
for immediate feedback. For our introductory course in computer science we sought to investigate
whether the content and format typically associated with a classroom response system could be adapted from
a feedback tool into an approach for improving content retention. We devised an experiment wherein different
sections would be presented with complementary sets of questions presented either immediately after the
corresponding material (i.e., for feedback) or at the beginning of the following lecture, with the express purpose
of reminding and reinforcing material (i.e., to improve content retention). In every case, the participants
that encountered an item in the following lecture exhibited relatively better performance on the corresponding
items of the final exam. Thus our evidence supports the hypothesis that, with no significant additional investment
of preparation o
r lecture time (beyond that associated with all classroom response systems), questions
can be presented in such a way as to engage students while simultaneously improving content retention.
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