Read, D. (2010). Happy Zapping in the Classroom: Enhancing
Teaching and
Learning with electronic voting systems. School Science Review, 91(336). 107-111.
Learning with electronic voting systems. School Science Review, 91(336). 107-111.
Summary:
The author
of this article, David Read, wrote about an electronic voting system (EVS) used
in the UK called TurningPoint RF. The
article was mostly anecdotal evidence about the success of the EVS in a
secondary school setting.
David Read
starts out by explaining that there are many different kinds of electronic
voting systems (EVS). He emphasizes that
one should do research to find the one that would work best for them and their
students. There have been many
improvements with EVS equipment and software that no teacher should feel
overwhelmed by using them in their classrooms.
TurningPoint
RF uses the software TurningPoint 2008 and integrates fully into
PowerPoint. As Read stated, as long as
the teacher knows how to use PowerPoint then they will have no issue
implementing TurningPoint RF into their lessons. When using an EVS teachers insure that all
students in the class are participating and not just the few students that
always raise their hands. After looking
at the anecdotal evidence, Read found one drawback to using electronic voting
systems. That drawback is the fact that
the questions must be multiple-
choice. If not
careful, the teacher may only use simple recall multiple-choice questions. However, with a little creativity in the
design of questions a teacher can ask a multiple-choice question to test
higher-order thinking.
What Read
found when looking through the anecdotal evidence was that there was
substantial evidence that the EVS engaged the students more during the lessons
and helped the students learn the content better than just listening to a
lecture. Teachers liked the EVS because
they could ask some of the same questions at the beginning of a lesson as at
the end of the lesson to see the growth of learning that happened in their
class. Teachers also liked that it was immediate
feedback to their students and to them as to what the students know or need
more help with. The students liked the
EVS because it kept them more engaged in the lessons. It added a bit of competition to the class. The students also said that they liked the
immediate feedback on if they understood the content or not. It was also mentioned by the students and the
teachers that if students got the answer wrong and no one stopped to explain
why they were wrong and what the correct answer was; then it was not a meaningful
task and there was no improvement with test scores at the end of the unit.
Reflection:
My district
offers teachers an electronic voting system called Mimio Vote. This system works well for our district
because we use Mimio Teach as our smartboard technology. Not all of the teachers in my district have
an EVS. However, those that do and use
it often have noticed the same things that the teachers in the article noticed. I have been in workshops where an EVS was
used and as an adult it helped me become a better learner. I knew that I needed to pay attention to the
content because questions were going to be asked throughout and I couldn’t rely
on someone else to raise their hand to answer the questions. I was accountable for my learning and I had
to answer every question. I feel that
more teachers should be using an EVS in their classrooms to insure that all
students are engaged in the content being taught.
