If you’ve ever had a prof use these effectively then you’ll agree; yes these should be implemented in our lectures and used for our assignments as much as possible.
It’s the sad truth that some lecturers are just faced with way too many students for the instructors to be able to interact with the students and they just cannot really tell if their students really understand the material. Both iClicker and MonocleCAT help with this problem and provide the lecturer with instant feedback. iClickers are a nifty little devices that allow you to choose answers from A to E to answer a multiple choice question presented by a prof. MonocleCAT is also a fun interactive website allowing students to answer questions by sending in a text or submitting an answer directly online. When the instructor asks a question and immediately sees a graphic appear on his screen showing that over half the class has no idea what the answer is, he knows that he needs to spend more time on a particular concept. This allows the instructors to focus more time on difficult material and to skim over concepts that are already well understood.
Having to answer questions also makes the class more interactive. Let’s face it; if you’ve been sitting in a lecture hall for the past two hours listening to some guy talking, you’re probably falling asleep. If you’ve had to answer questions during the lecture, then would have been paying attention. One of the best ways to get more interaction when questions are asked is to use either iClickers or MonocleCAT. Otherwise, everyone knows it’s the one person in the audience who always knows everything and who’s going to raise their hand whenever a question gets asked. The rest of the audience will just barely lift their heads to acknowledge the response and then zone out the answer completely. If, on the other hand, a part of the grade depends on pressing the right button, then students are more likely to be paying attention.
Some instructors choose to make these instant multiple questions a part of the grading scheme based on participation only; if you answer a certain number of questions you instantly get a certain percentage. Others may choose to reward only correct answers. Either way of assigning the grades encourages students to participate more actively in class and actually reflects on what is being said. Making the questions graded serves as an incentive for students to answer every question and grading them only on participation relaxes any pressure and allows students to build up their confidence. Either way, this sort of participation is very important for actually remembering the material. The more interaction is encouraged during the class, the more likely important concepts will be remembered.
Even if you’ve missed the class or weren’t really sure that you understood the concept, being able to review the questions after class reinforces concepts even further. The questions used usually also cover material that the instructor considers important and relevant. This is a huge advantage to students since they can use the questions to understand what the instructor is likely to ask on a midterm or a final and how the instructor is likely to phrase a question. Having a list of these short, multiple questions on hand is great when students study since they are a very quick way of reviewing the material or just evaluating how much you know.
Some assignments are also far less time-consuming when done online rather than on paper. MapleTA allows students to complete quizzes easily online. You no longer need to lug about your assignment questions since they can be accessed from anywhere. Trying to reproduce 3D structures is a lot easier using online assignment programs such as Webassign, than attempting to sketch them on a perfectly flat 2D piece of paper. Webassign allows you to complete online assignments that use software such as MarvinSketch and JME molecular editor. These allow you to design and edit 3D models of molecules. If you’ve ever attempted to draw all the different isomers of a molecule, you’ll agree that submitting an online assignment which allows you to rotate the molecule in all directions is a lot more convenient. As engineering students we aren’t all stellar artists and online assignments allow us to overcome that difficulty. Some people also have trouble imagining things in three dimensions, although modeling programs may not actually make an image three-dimensional, they will help struggling students visualize a model better. They’re also a great source of inspiration if you’re trying to draw the model on paper. Overall, many assignments benefit from being offered through the web and allow students to spend more time understanding concepts rather than reproducing complicated diagrams.
One final advantage to online technology is that you consume less paper. Think about it for a moment. The typical paper assignment has to be printed out so that you have access to the questions, you then waste of bunch of paper making rough drafts, sketches and etc. and then finally the good copy has to be printed. By adding a technological component to the classroom, you can eliminate a lot of the paperwork that ends up in the garbage anyway.
So yes, using programs and interactive tools such as iClicker, MonocleCAT and Webassign can be a huge advantage in an innovative classroom. They allow students to interact more with their instructors and the instructors to adapt their lectures to students’ needs. Having online assignments also emphasizes which concepts are important and provides a useful tool for studying them. All of these advantages show that these tools can really make the classroom experience more fun and help create a better learning environment.
Leave a Reply