Lecture Participation using ParticiPoll

 

ParticiPoll is a Microsoft Office add-in which allows audience members to use their own mobile devices to interact with PowerPoint presentations. This typically takes the form of a lecturer displaying a multiple-choice question via PowerPoint, audience members then vote for their preferred choice, and the add-in displays the aggregate results on the presentation slide. Additionally, audience members are able to ask questions or make comments anonymously using their devices.

This audience participation software has been developed by Steve Hales (sjh16@le.ac.uk) from the Department of Mathematics who created the system prior to joining the University of Leicester a year ago.

 

Existing technology

Whilst it is recognised that the University currently has provision for lecturers to use TurningPoint technology, ParticiPoll offers a number of advantages:

• ParticiPoll is free for the University of Leicester to use.
• The system doesn’t require the use of proprietary hardware, and so there are no “clickers” which need to be administered.
• The ability to ask questions anonymously is profound for students who lack the confidence to engage verbally.
• ParticiPoll is very simple for the presenter to use – this has been a key design feature.
•  Audience members participate via their own web browsers, and so don’t have to be in the vicinity of the presenter. This has been useful for large classes where the lecture is streamed to another room.

It is not the intention to replace TurningPoint, but to offer a parallel system.

 

Testing

This system operates under the assumption that audience members have web-enabled devices. Whilst this may not be true for staff, it’s almost always the case for students. When a survey of 250 students was conducted, only four lacked connectivity.

The system has been extensively tested under the name of ParticipateNow. Feedback from this testing has been given to external developers who have subsequently created ParticiPoll. Further details can be found here, http://www.ParticiPoll.com/. 

Testing has been successfully conducted in a number of lecture theatres. Audience members connected to the internet via eduroam, or their own 3G provider (the data usage of the system is miniscule). The largest test of the system saw just over 100 students vote on a single question. During this same session, over 600 comments were registered and around 4,500 individual votes were successfully collected.

Moving Forward

LTAG are making a case for ParticiPoll to be installed as core software across the institution: a business case is currently being made in this respect.

In the meantime, if any colleagues would like to pilot the system in their own department, further details can be found through the link above, and Steve Hales (sjh16 @ le.ac.uk) is willing to provide training sessions/demonstrations as required.

Academic Practice and Technology Conference 2013 - Call for paper

This is a call for contributions to the Academic Practice and Technology Conference at the University of Greenwich.  This year’s conference is entitled "Next Generation Learning Places and Work Spaces” and takes place on 2nd July 2013 on the University of Greenwich World Heritage Campus.

The conference will explore themes around the complex interaction between post-compulsory education, technology and work, and aims to:

• Explore the impact of 'disruptive' technologies on the student and academic experience, and on learning teaching and assessment in post-compulsory education
• Share practices, tools and approaches that have enhanced the use of technology to support learner and employment engagement
• Explore the changing roles of employers and post compulsory education within an international digital workspace
• Present research into the impact of technology-led learning on employer engagement, curriculum design, and work based learning
• Create a platform for students’ perspectives on the benefits of graduate skills and attributes for enhancing international and local employability 
• Set an agenda for the on-going debate about the relationship between universities, colleges, new e-learners and globalised e-employers

Contributions to the conference programme are sought from practitioners and researchers and students in all education and training sectors that contribute to the discourses and sit within one of the following three key themes:

 

• The impact of ‘disruptive’ technologies on next generation learning places and work spaces, and the people who work and live in and around them 
• Enabling student learning and employability through next generation learning places and work spaces
• Curriculum design in a digital age

Closing date for submissions is: Monday 15^th April 2013

Papers:

Contributions may take the following formats: case study; practitioner-led inquiry; research paper/work in progress; developmental/research project report, posters.  We would particularly welcome innovative session formats such as round table discussions and workshops.

Posters

We also welcome the submission of posters, which can represent shorter or more preliminary projects or ideas.  These will be presented in a Pecha Kucha format.  The Pecha Kucha format originated in Tokyo in 2003.  Drawing its name from the Japanese term for the sound of "chit chat", it follows a presentation format that is based on a simple idea: each presenter has 20 slides, each shown for 20 seconds on a timer. Thus, each presenter has just 6 minutes and 40 seconds to explain their ideas before the next takes the stage. Conceived as a venue through which young designers could meet, show their work, exchange ideas, and network, the format keeps presentations concise and fast-paced

All abstracts (500 words for papers, 100 words for posters) will be double blind refereed.

All proposals must be submitted through our conference website. https://showtime.gre.ac.uk/index.php/ecentre/apt2013/schedConf/cfp

Successful contributors will be allocated one free place at the conference. The conference organisers must receive confirmation of acceptance, by registering by the presenter registration deadline (see important dates below). Additional colleagues wishing to co-present will be offered the ‘early bird’ discounted rate but must register by the same deadline as the main proposer. After this date all co-presenters will be charged the full rate. A maximum of one free place will also be given to a student presenter or student co-presenter for each presentation. Additional student co-presenters will be charged at the ‘early bird’ discounted rate. Reflective papers may be submitted to our teaching and learning journal Compass: http:// www.gre.ac.uk/compass by November 2013

http://www.gre.ac.uk/compass

For further details please see our conference website. https://showtime.gre.ac.uk/index.php/ecentre/apt2013

Successful proposals will be notified by May 2013:

Summary of important dates 2013

Deadline for submission of abstracts - Monday 15th April 2013

Feedback to authors on abstracts - Friday 7^th May 2013

Deadline for resubmission – Monday 20th May 2013

Deadline of registration for presenters - Friday 24^th May 2013

Close of delegate registration - Friday 14^th June 2013

Submit presentations for uploading to web site - Wednesday 24^th June 2013

BlackBoard RSS Widget for Module Pages

With the launch of BlackBoard 9.1 at the University of Leicester, this saw the introduction of the Module Page. These pages are made up of widgets for example course announcements, dictionary, calculator and information on how to use Blackboard. However one seemingly useful widget that hasn't yet been developed by BlackBoard is an RSS widget.

Fortunately IT Service have developed such a widget. At this stage it not openly available to insert and just drop in a feed URL, but can be requested if you get in touch with IT Services.

The example shown here is of the forthcoming Postgraduate Training populated by a feed from PROSE, this has been placed in a Research Essentials Online course.