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.