Vote & discussions

Initial situation

At the beginning of each session, the teacher often wasted time going over concepts seen last time that students asked to revisit. As is the case for courses in a related discipline, the mass spectrometry section introduces many new concepts for pharmacy students. The teacher’s main request was for ways to reduce the amount of time spent in class rehashing the concepts seen in the last course.

Project implementation

To overcome this difficulty, the teacher set up regular polls at the beginning of the session using Votamatic, an online voting tool developed by the University of Geneva. This system allows students to answer simple or multiple choice questions from their smartphone or any other electronic device. Voting is anonymous and allows students to answer without fear of getting the “wrong answer” in front of the rest of their classmates. The system automatically produces the response rate for each of the proposed options, which allows an immediate visualization of the errors shared in the group or, on the contrary, the notions well acquired by a majority. In the latter case, the teacher could move on, leaving the students who did not have a correct answer to get up to speed. When gaps were identified in the group (e.g., a majority of incorrect answers), the teacher gave the students the opportunity to discuss the correct answer in small groups or in pairs. After this peer exchange, the teacher gave the floor to the students for an argumentative discussion on the answer to be given.

Thoughts and advice on implementing a similar project

The teacher noted a marked improvement in the interaction between the students and him during the course. The initial problem, which often saw him give a long monologue on the previous lesson, was transformed into a moment of debate and discussion where the students were led to argue their answer. In the end, this is what the teacher valued during the exam. Voting in class thus became a valuable tool for preparing for the exam.

To successfully engage students in peer-to-peer interaction, careful questioning and familiarity with “false friends,” those decoy answers that resemble the correct answer and open the door to argument, are necessary. If you want to use voting to promote peer-to-peer learning, the use of these decoys or distracters is highly recommended for in-class polls or quizzes using Votamatic or any other online voting system.