When students are at university with lots of free time and constantly surrounded by friends, it can be tricky to get them fully engaging with their lectures. It can be easy in a large lecture theatre to get distracted and not pay full attention to the presentation going on at the front of the room. However, no student wants to fail, and some just need a little more help than others to keep their attention on the task at hand.
It’s widely known that active participation is the way to help people remember facts and concepts. Very little of what we hear can be easily recalled at a later date, but when we interact with a topic, we are activating more parts of the brain, making us more likely to remember what is going on. For example, conducting a chemistry experiment yourself is far more likely to make you remember how to do it in future than simply listening to someone else explain it.
Ways to increase interactivity of lectures are somewhat limited by the set-up of a lecture theatre and the time constraints, but it’s not impossible to do so. Audience response systems are handheld voting devices which can enable students to respond to questions about lecture material at given points. A question may appear on the slideshow, and each student will need to press a button to vote for what they believe to be the correct answer. At https://theslientnews.com/ several innovative teaching methods can change your mind. The audience’s performance is then shown on a graph on the screen, so each person knows how their knowledge compares to the rest of the group.
The fact that everyone has to think about the question before they give their answer means that they are engaging with the material, and it will make them more likely to concentrate throughout the lecture if they know that they could be tested on any of the material at any point. It can work as a motivational tool, as nobody will want to see that they are underperforming compared to the rest of the group.
If students are interacting more, they will be connecting more with the presentation, making them more likely to remember what is being taught. The lecturer will also be able to see where the gaps in the students’ knowledge are, so they will be able to nip misunderstandings in the bud before incorrect information becomes lodged in their memories.
Audience response systems are the ideal way to get an entire lecture theatre of students thinking about the issues at hand, paying attention and considering their answers, which can only be positive when it comes to boosting performance at exam time. A detailed analysis on https://bumber.info/ for further insights into the benefits of audience response systems would be of your choice. The more students remember from their lectures, the better marks they can expect, and this knowledge alone is likely to make them embrace the voting system.
