Voting systems still working for Durham Psychology Department

The Psychology department were amongst the more enthusiastic adopters of classroom voting systems at Durham University. I'm pleased to hear that they are still making good use of the 'clickers' a few years on. The usage pattern followed the usual Gartner curve from enthusiastic adoption and early experimentation, before settling into a model of continued use. They found a range of uses for them, from seeding discussion to collecting data. One lecturer adds to their research data set every time they present their results by gathering more data from the audience in the course of the presentation. They are also using them in outreach activity to schools, and on Open days to show the range of teaching techniques they employ.

Pedagogically, they ensure interaction for the whole class, and helps the teacher to adjust teaching based on what the students know. For example, one lecturer asked a difficult question at the beginning of the course to see what the students knew. The answers ranged from those expected from a novice, to those expected from someone who had passed the course. To his surprise, most chose the response expected at the end of the module! he had to adjust his teaching for the rest of the course, following the same outline and towards similar outcomes, but in a different way more in keeping with the student's understanding.