Audience response systems (ARS) permit students to answer electronically displayed multiple-choice questions using a remote control device. In higher education, more and more lecturers use ARS to engage their students more intensively, especially when it comes to mass lectures. This paper deals with the questions how ARS as an innovative technology can foster the feedback of students during ex-cathedra teaching and how this feedback can contribute to quality assurance in academic teaching. The examination of advantages and challenges of using ARS as well as of their didactical and technical potentials combines theoretical considerations with an online survey among the more than two hundred students enrolled in a mass lecture held in winter term 2015 at the University of Innsbruck. Additionally, the responsible lecturers were asked to share their experience using an ARS for the first time. In closing, the paper provides some answers if and how ARS are valuable instruments to enhance quality assurance in higher education.

1. Audience Response Systems as an instrument
of quality assurance in academic teaching
Ortrun Gröblinger
Michael Kopp
07/03/2016

2. • Audience Response Systems?
• Innovative teaching technology?
• Quality Assurance Tool?
• Mass lecture as case study
• Conclusions
What this is all about

3. • Interaction during mass lectures is very limited
• Students do hardly ask questions
• Opportunity to give feedback with the help of multiple choice
questions
• Using WiFi technology
• “Bring Your Own Device“ approach
Audience Response Systems

4. • Shift from a behaviorist concept to a constructivist approach
• ARS foster student´s participation and attract their attention
• ARS support the understanding of the provided content
• ARS assist lecturers in assessing student comprehension
• Misconceptions can be identified and instruction strategies can be
altered
• Giving, receiving and analyzing feedback is a very important part of
quality assurance
Innovative teaching technology

5. • Preparing adequate questions is a lot of work
• The right amount of questions has to be planned carefully
• ARS-votings may be stressful for students
• Students may be concerned that their responses are being
monitored and saved to the system
• Technical infrastructure (e.g. WiFi) may not work properly and
students may refuse to use their own devices
Challenges in using ARS

6. Case study

7. • ARS was used in the lecture “Fundamentals of Management”, held
in winter-term 2015 at the University of Innsbruck
• 550 enrolled students, 392 logged in the ARS
• 3 lecturers, 2 of them involved in the use of ARS
• 4 questions displayed in the first lecture
• Displayed questions were part of the questions of the final exam
• ARSnova was used as ARS
• 82 students filled in the questionnaire
General settings

8. Didactic dimension

9. • 65% felt adequately informed about the system before the first use
(n=82)
• 82% coped well with the first use of the system (n=82)
• 58% would have preferred more questions (n=80)
• 67% assessed the available response time as adequate (n=80)
Didactic dimension

10. Technical dimension

11. Students´ perspective

12. • Students´ response about the use of ARSnova is generally positive
• Students liked to participate in the lecture in a more active way
• Students could verify their knowledge regarding to the lecture´s
subject
• Immediate feedback from lecturers after answering the questions
was highly appreciated
• Students got an impression what the final exam will look like
Students´ perspective

13. • Qualitative interviews with responsible lecturers
• Lecturers found ARSnova easy to use, it took them 2 hours to get
used to the system
• Lecturers appreciated technical support in the lecture hall
• Quantitative feedback is preferred over qualitative feedback
• Lecturers share the impression of students that ARSnova fostered
the understanding of the lecture´s content
• Using ARSnova is seen as a big didactic challenge
• Both lecturers would use ARSnova again
Lecturers´ perspective

14. • Students and lecturers cope well with the use of ARS
• ARS are very suitable to give and receive feedback
• ARS foster the engagement of students and lecturers
• Concerning didactics, ARS create an additional benefit
• As an efficient feedback tool ARS are a valuable instrument of
quality assurance
Conclusions

15. DI Ortrun Gröblinger
University of Innsbruck
ortrun.groeblinger@uibk.ac.at
Dr. Michael Kopp
University of Graz
michael.kopp@uni-graz.at
Twitter: @koanmi
Presentation on Slideshare: http://goo.gl/JuhYUF
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