It's a lecture and nobody is listening. Oldenburg professors have come up with a solution. Since the winter semester, they have been using "audience response systems". Students simply call them "clickers". The devices are familiar from quiz shows.
"Who has read the new book by Jeff Jarvis?" Such questions open the discussion in many a seminar. In a well-attended lecture theatre, this doesn't work very well: in order to make contact with the audience and increase their attention, the lecturer has to resort to other means. For example, audience response systems (ARS): small, handy devices that TV viewers are very familiar with - from Günther Jauch's quiz show "Who wants to be a millionaire?"
The remote controls are called "clickers", but their use at universities is still the exception. Business information scientist Prof Dr Axel Hahn has now introduced them at the University of Oldenburg. The advantages: Students answer questions anonymously using clickers. The technology prepares the "survey results" graphically so that the lecturer can use them immediately. However, the devices can be used for more than just questions and answers. For example, students can help decide whether an issue should be explained using another example or whether the teaching speed is too high or too low.
"While eLearning has often alienated teachers and students in the past, clickers are a good example of how communication in traditional lectures can be improved," says Prof Dr Gunilla Budde, Vice President for Learning and Teaching.
"Teaching can be better tailored to the students using the clickers. And every lecturer can use the devices," Hahn is also convinced. He introduced the devices as part of the Lower Saxony Network for E-Assessments & E-Examinations (N2E2) project, which is funded by the state of Lower Saxony and the University of Oldenburg, partly from tuition fees. "The project team was surprised by the great response from lecturers. The initial experience was so positive that the Schools are now purchasing more devices. The existing ones are in constant use". Further application scenarios are now being developed within the N2E2 project, says Hahn. "The ideas range from learning games to electronic examinations."
