Our microbiology course director decided that he wants lectures to be more interactive. So each medical student has been given a personal response device (a picture of mine above). The little card is an RF device. During lectures the professor will occasionally have slides with multiple choice questions based on the information covered thus far. We then have a short period of time to enter in our answers. After polling closes, a graph is produced and it shows the breakdown of how many in the class chose which answer.
The thing I don’t like about the device is that it’s linked to a student. So it isn’t exactly anonymous. But so far its been fun to use and see the results. The novelty of it might be the cause of the “fun,” though.
I remember watching America’s Funniest Home Videos when I was a little kid (the one hosted by Bob Sagat). I thought it was so cool how the audience all had their little controllers with which to punch in their votes.
Going to microbiology lectures is like going to a game show now. Except there are no cash prizes. Oh, and nobody really wins. And its not really as fun (as a game show). But we do have audience participation…
