Anonymous Polling in an Engineering Tutorial Environment: A Case Study

Abstract

As a means of improving student participation, an infrared remote based audience response system was trialled in a second-year introductory level engineering tutorial. This chapter presents a case study of the initial implementation that directly followed a semester that employed a traditional tutorial format. Student response was consistent and generally positive at both the beginning and end of the semester, and the opportunity for live (anonymous) assessment proved useful from an instructional perspective, despite some limitations of the system. Interestingly, the new tutorial format appeared to encourage discussion after each question was concluded, driven in part by the fact that a histogram of responses to the multiple-choice questions was displayed.