Report of the use of Keepads in theSchool of Biological Sciences 07/08

Background

In March 2007, the GENIE CETL obtained 2 USB receivers and 200 keepads forelectronic voting. The School of Biological Sciences purchased a further receiver and100 handsets for the academic year 2007-08.All first year students (BS/MB/MP/MG) were given a keepad within the first week of registration (2007-08) and asked for a £10 deposit (students were told about thehandsets in their induction packs posted to their home addresses prior to arriving atuniversity).A log of all the handset Ids was kept and linked to the student name. Thisrecord sheet was not used to identify students when voting, all voting was anonymous. Three laptops, supplied by the CETL, were made available for using with the votingsystem. An application to have the system added to CFS was submitted in June 2007.A new release of the software (turning point 2008) was used by Alan Cann as it gavemuch better cross platform performance (writing voting slides on Mac and displayingon PC laptop) than the previous 2006 version. The software was also installed on alaptop owned and used by the CSB library staff to provide key skills training (databasesearching and plagiarism avoidance) for undergraduates, medics and postgraduates inthe faculty.Support documentation was provided online by Jo Badgehttp://www2.le.ac.uk/Members/jlb34/electronic-voting. Equipment was booked using adiary system held in the CETL with the equipment.

Uses

The data collected focuses mainly on the use of the handsets by first yearundergraduates. The system was used by the GENIE CETL .BS1020 and BS1010 used the system most regularly. BS1020 used the system at leastevery other week in lectures. BS1010 used the system in the stats section of thecourse every week.Module Convenor /lecturer Type of useNumber of participants(where dataexists)

First year undergraduates

BS1020Jon Scott,Stuart Johnsonlecture break and plagiarismexercise63, 51, 50BS1002Clive Bagshawdry practical 2x 2hr sessions62, 70BS1010Alan CannStats lectures, three mathsquestion per lecture112, 63, 63MB1002Christine wellsformative assessmentfeedback session70

BS1005Pete Meacock,Cas KramerLectures and practical sessionsBS1008Chris Cane

Module Convenor /lecturer Type of useNumber of participants(where dataexists)

Other uses

Key skillsKeith Nockelsdatabase searching andplagiarism with medics/othersNo dataMSc Mol GenRichard Badgeone off lectureNo dataMSc Mol GenJulian Ketleyone off lectureNo data

Feedback

Staff

A short survey was conducted on plone with staff known to have used the system inthe first semester of 2007-08. In general the staff comments were very positive:8 staff responded

Which students did you use the voting system with?

first year7MSc2outreach/other3Did you experience any problems using the system?yes3*no5

*The main problem noted was the lack of the system being on cfs, leading to problemssetting up the system, being slow to register the handsets and lugging the equipment about.Do you think your students were more engaged in the material by using the votingsystem?

100% said yes

Would you use the system again?

100% said yes

General comments:

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Definitely helped in this exercise, but students might get complacent as thenovelty wears off

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The system did not have the impact on lecture attendance I had hoped for, butevidence shows that those students which did attend liked the use of voting inlectures.

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We asked students for feedback and some did say they found the votingunnecessary or slow. One of those did appreciate why we were using it. Butmore people said we should keep the voting.

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Has lots of potential, but must be careful not to overuse or students willprobably tire of it.