Audience Response Systems

Scroll down to learn more about teaching with ARS and how you can get support from the CTL for using Poll Everywhere.

What are Audience Response Systems (ARS)?

Audience Response Systems ¹ are synchronous, web-based technologies ² that provide instructors with efficient ways to pose a question or a series of questions and collect digital responses from every student in the classroom.

Why use an Audience Response System?

ARS is used in the classroom as an active strategy to not only engage students in their learning but also assess student learning in real time. Rather than passively sit through a lecture, in-class activity, or discussion, all students are invited to participate with their mobile devices. 

Student engagement and learning

ARS can increase the number of students who participate in class ^{3 4} regardless of class size. Studies have shown that students perceive these technologies as impactful on their engagement and learning ⁵ and ARS can lead to greater engagement and learning ⁶. 

ARS can be used to promote inclusive teaching practices, helping to ensure that not just the fast thinkers and extroverted students participate but that all students have a voice and the opportunity to think individually and respond to instructor-posed questions. Unlike traditional hand-polling or cold calling, which may induce anxiety, the anonymity of ARS responses may motivate contributions from introverted students, those with minority perspectives, and those that fear stating incorrect answers in front of their peers ⁷. 

ARS can be used to focus students’ attention and prepare them to engage with subsequent course material and activities (e.g., small group activities and whole class discussion or to gamify the classroom making class time more fun). It raises students self-awareness, can encourage them to own their answers, and become more aware of the thinking and perspectives of their peers ⁸.

Assessment of Student Learning

ARS can be used as a formative (or low-stakes) assessment of student learning ⁹. Instructors and students become aware of what students know and do not know. This information can be used by instructors to modify instruction in real time (or what is referred to as “agile teaching”¹⁰) to meet student learning needs, and provide feedback which is important to student learning (Anderson et al., 2010: 150 – 151). In responding to ARS questions students become more self-aware, can ask questions during class to better understand the material, and learn from the instructor and their peers. 

How does ARS work?

Instructors can post open-ended questions (short answer, fill-in-the blank, etc.) or close-ended questions (multiple choice, true/false, etc) to an ARS online application. They then project one question at a time on a screen, and invite students to respond to the question via a browser, an app, or text messaging on their own web-enabled mobile devices. 

Responses are automatically collected and can be shared back visually on screen for all students to see. While responses are anonymous to students, instructors have the option to see how many students have responded to a question or to see individual student responses by saving and downloading responses or sending them to CourseWorks (Canvas), Columbia University’s Learning Management System. 

Ways instructors can use ARS 

ARS can be used on its own or coupled with in-class activities, such as peer instruction ¹¹ and case study teaching ¹². 

Instructor can ask content or process questions using ARS. Below are a few ways that ARS can be used to promote learning and inform instruction.

• Check for understanding / students prior knowledge, which can affect student learning, (Anderson et al., 2010: 31), by asking concept questions and providing feedback / correcting misconceptions before moving on. 
• Encourage students to apply what they learned outside of class ¹³ through assigned readings, online module (in the case of a hybrid or blended course), or other homework assignment they completed before coming to class. This also holds students accountable for their learning. 
• Ask students to make predictions about course material they will be exposed ¹⁴. 
• Engage students in peer learning by asking students to pair up and explain their ARS response to a peer^{15 16}.
• Capture multiple perspectives present in the classroom which students may be more comfortable sharing anonymously. 
• Gauge what and how students are learning by asking questions that get students reflecting on their learning and their process. 
• Collect feedback on how students are experiencing the course and instruction, or do an real-time temperature check to see how students are doing, and adjust teaching accordingly. 

How Do I Get Started with ARS? / Getting Started with ARS

Effective ARS design:

• Articulate the goals of using ARS. Plan how you will use ARS and communicate about it to your students. 
• Align ARS use with the objectives of a given class session. 
• Draft questions that elicit the desired learning. 
• Familiarize yourself with the technology and test it out.
• Determine when in class you will use ARS – at the beginning of class, when presenting a case or problem, or to close class (see Lang, 2016 for a distillation of the science of learning). 

Effective ARS implementation:

• Talk to your students about ARS. Communicate the purpose of using ARS in your classroom and how you will use it (e.g., informally or will it graded). 
• Pose a question, invite students to think individually and respond, and share back results all at once or as they come in. 
• Unpack the responses as a whole class or have students discuss in pairs or groups their responses, and share out.  
• Make time to debrief and provide feedback – instructor ensure that students do not leave with misconceptions and that the desired takeaways are achieved. 

Poll Everywhere

Poll Everywhere is the Audience Response System licensed by Columbia University Information Technology (CUIT) and offered for free to all Columbia instructors for classroom use.

To get started using Poll Everywhere in your classroom, please log in using your UNI authentication to obtain your presenter account. Note: these accounts are to be used for teaching and learning purposes. For support with teaching and learning with Poll Everywhere please contact the CTL at ColumbiaCTL@columbia.edu

Watch a short video of Caroline Marvin using Poll Everywhere in her introductory neuroscience course to encourage discussion and engage students.

Resources

Columbia Resources

Center for Teaching and Learning

The Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) offers consultations for instructors learning how to integrate Poll Everywhere into their teaching practice. Whether you teach an in-person, hybrid, or online course, a CTL Learning Designer can help you purposefully integrate ARS or other instructional technology into your course. Email ColumbiaCTL@columbia.edu to set up a consultation or contact the CTL Learning Designer assigned to your school or department. Additionally, instructors can receive support by walking-in or calling-in during consultation hours.

Office of the Provost

The Hybrid Learning Course Redesign grant program from the Office of the Provost provides support for faculty who are developing innovative and technology-enhanced pedagogy and learning strategies in the classroom, including ARS. In addition to funding, faculty awardees receive support from CTL staff as they redesign, deliver, and evaluate their hybrid courses.

The Start Small! Mini-Grant provides support to faculty who are interested in experimenting with one new pedagogical strategy or tool such as ARS. Faculty awardees receive funds and CTL support for a one-semester period. 

Online Resources

• Access the CTL’s Knowledge Base about Poll Everywhere where you can find how-to documents about Poll Everywhere at Columbia University.
• Read the Poll Everywhere Guides: 
  • The essential Presenter guide
  • The unabridged Instructor guide
• Share the Poll Everywhere A brief Student Guide with your learners.  
• View how to Poll Everywhere videos. 
• Explore the Poll Everywhere Education blog for best practices, stories, and tips to improve student engagement in the classroom, and Poll Everywhere case studies to learn how instructors at other universities are using Poll Everywhere.

References

Ambrose, S. A., Bridges, M. W., & DiPietro, M. (2010). How learning works : Seven research-based principles for smart teaching. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.tc.idm.oclc.org

Bruff, D. (2009). Teaching with Classroom Response Systems: Creating Active Learning Environments. John Wiley & Sons. 

Burnstein, R. A. and Lederman, L. M. (2006). The Use and Evolution of an Audience Response System. In Banks, D. A. (2006). Audience Response Systems in Higher Education: Applications and Cases. Information Science Publishing. 

Caldwell, J. E. (2007). Clickers in the Large Classroom: Current Research and Best-Practice Tips. CBE-Life Sciences Education. 6, Spring 2007, 9-20. 

Han, J. H. and Finkelstein, A. (2013). Understanding the effects of professor’s pedagogical development with Clicker Assessment and Feedback technologies and the impact on students’ engagement and learning in higher education. Computers & Education. 65, 64 – 76. 

Herreid, C. F. (2006). “Clicker” Cases: Introducing Case Study Teaching Into Large Classrooms. Journal of College Teaching. 36(2), October 2006. 

Lang, J. M. (2016). Small teaching : Everyday lessons from the science of learning. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.tc.idm.oclc.org

Kay, R.H. and LeSage, A. (2009). Examining the benefits and challenges of using audience response systems: A review of the literature. Computers & Education. 53 (2009), 819-827. 

Mazur, Eric. (1997). Peer instruction : a user’s manual. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall. 

Petto, A. J. (2019). Technology Meets Pedagogy: Comparing Classroom Response Systems. Journal of College Science Teaching. 48(4), (Mar/April 2019): 55-63.

Schell, J. A., and Butler, A. C. (2018). Insights From the Science of Learning Can Inform Evidence-Based Implementation of Peer Instruction. Frontiers in Education. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2018.00033

Stowell, J. R. and Nelson, J. M. (2007). Benefits of Electronic Audience Response Systems on Student Participation, Learning, and Emotion. Teaching of Psychology. 34(4): 253 – 258.

Sullivan, R. (2009). Principles for Constructing Good Clicker Questions: Going Beyond Rote Learning and Stimulating Active Engagement with Course Content. Journal of Educational Technology Systems. 37(3), 335-347.