Interactivity & synthesis

Initial situation

For the 2nd edition of this course, the teacher wanted to react to the lack of commitment from the students, to their lack of motivation for the theory as shown in the evaluations, and to a rather high failure rate in the exam.

Project implementation

Since the course was given in a large audience, the teacher wanted to encourage student interaction and responsiveness, despite the large number of students. To do this, she introduced SpeakUp, a device that meets several objectives: to involve students who are less daring to speak in public, to check the comprehension of the readings done before the face-to-face session, and to carry out live polls during the course in order to energize it.

The readings proposed in the flipped classroom format are provided with a reading guide presenting the important points to pay particular attention to during the reading. The readings are discussed in groups of 3 or 4 students during the course. Only voluntary groups represented by a spokesperson share the object of their reflection.

At the end of some sessions, the teacher proposes a reflection in the form of a “one-minute paper”. For one minute, students are invited to spontaneously write a short text in reaction to what has been presented. This could be, for example, a reply to the questions “What is the main point of today’s lecture?”, “What are the most important elements?” or “What was the most difficult point to grasp? Students formulate their answers on Padlet and get feedback from the teacher, who puts ”+” on the most complete answers, validating the ideas developed on the Post-its. Students can use this as inspiration to check their own understanding of the course content.

Regarding the organization of the review session at the end of the course, the teacher replaced the wiki previously proposed to collect the students’ questions by another Padlet. Each topic discussed during the course is represented by a column in which students can pin their question. This then allows the teacher to build the review session.

The evaluation of the course, in the form of essay questions, is done in an e-assessment format using the SEB (Safe Exam Browser).

Thoughts and advice

The teacher strongly recommends that anyone who would like to use tools such as Padlet or SpeakUp take a training course or at least discuss them with colleagues who use them regularly.

She also notes that the use of the “one-minute paper” requires a lot of time investment in terms of proofreading, especially if there are many students. This format becomes more manageable if the teacher has the support of an assistant.

Student feedback

[Feedback freely translated from french] “The questions asked via SpeakUp help target difficulties if our answer is wrong or see that we got it right if our answer is right.” “I find that the readings help to better understand the material. There were times when reading the texts before class helped me because French is not my first language and the texts were in English. On the other hand, when I didn’t understand the texts, the course helped me to understand them better. So I can say that the resources and the teaching are complementary and go well together.” “The SpeakUp as well as the Padlet. You learn a lot when you make the effort at each class to summarize the important concepts you’ve learned. Also, the peer-to-peer exchanges allow us to build connections and at the same time get a different perspective than our own.” “The various tools the teacher uses (SpeakUp, group discussions) to make us understand theoretical and sometimes somewhat abstract concepts.” “The teacher’s teaching methods. I really appreciate the teacher’s efforts to engage us in class and use all kinds of tools (SpeakUp) almost playful to learn and share our knowledge/summaries/understandings. Also great to have access to a recording of the lectures because sometimes the information goes by very quickly and being able to listen to the lecture again is a good way to make sure you have understood.”