Journal of Academic Development and Education JADE Issue 11 Summer 2019 | Page 50
Article #3
Web-based student response systems
and peer instruction: a review and case
study
Abstract
Web-based student
response systems and
peer instruction: a
review and case study
Cooperative learning and peer instruction are well documented
pedagogies that engage students in their learning process. The
means to implement cooperative learning in the classroom have
evolved from raised hands, colored flashcards, student response
systems or “clickers”, to web-based audience response systems
that work on any electronic device. This paper briefly reviews
available audience response systems and presents a case
study on Learning Catalytics, a system designed to enable peer
instruction and implement just-in-time teaching pedagogy.
Author: C.Cervato
DOI:
doi.org/10.21252/
41wc-kt98
Context
Contact:
[email protected]
Liberal arts education is the foundation of Western education,
and advocates for a curriculum that includes the study of arts
and humanities, social sciences, mathematics, and natural
sciences. Deeply rooted in the educational system in Europe,
liberal arts education is at the foundation of higher education
in the United States. This means that a student pursuing a
four-year Bachelor of Science or Bachelor of Arts degree will
earn between one third to one half of the credits required to
graduate through general education courses in each of the four
liberal arts components. The remainder of the credits will be
focused on the major discipline in which they are earning their
degree, and ancillary courses required for the major (chemistry,
physics, mathematics, English).
Keywords
Peer instruction,
student response
systems, Learning
Catalytics™
These general education requirements are usually fulfilled by
attending introductory level courses in a range of disciplines,
from sociology to psychology, from American Indian studies to
women studies, and from biology to astronomy, where the vast
majority of students are not pursuing a degree in the discipline
of the course. As a result, the challenge for the instructor is to
engage these students in a content in which they might have
little interest.
At large public universities with enrollment in the tens of
thousands, these general education courses have often
enrollments of hundred or even thousand students,
ranging from first-year students directly out of high-school,
non-traditional students returning to college after working or a
career in the military, to graduating seniors. Extensive research
shows that active learning techniques are more effective
at engaging students and increasing learning, particularly
non-science majors in science courses (PCAST, 2012; Prince,
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