Digital technologies have gained much popularity in education thanks to the cost efficiency they gain through scalability. While the acceptance of some of these new digital technologies has been investigated, there are few direct comparisons. The most established model for measuring acceptance is the technology acceptance model, which can predict…

Maintaining student engagement in online and recorded lectures is a challenging aspect of higher education. In light of this, active learning through in-lecture question activities was investigated using a pre-teaching focus group (n = 12) and student evaluations (n = 43) after an in-class trial. Data analysis was underpinned by flow theory, which…

Lectures in higher education often address audiences that consist of over one hundred students. In this setting, it is arguably difficult to take into account individual interests of each participant. This may result in low motivation, decreased learning outcomes as well as an overall low effectiveness of lectures. Self-determination theory…

The technology acceptance model (TAM) uses perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use to predict the intention to use a technology which is important when deciding to invest in a technology. Its extension for e-learning (the general extended technology acceptance model for e-learning; GETAMEL) adds subjective norm to predict the intention to…

The coronavirus disease 2019 epidemic has prompted all universities to completely change their teaching in a very rapid way around the world. In France, most of the university courses for the year 2020 had to be delivered at distance. This can be an opportunity for some to rethink the place and the form of distance learning (DL). We present here…

The purpose of this study was to assess the impact, and students' and teachers' perceptions, of using smartphones as clickers during formal lectures. This was an observational study based on a qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews. Forty French dental students received conventional lectures, and 40 additionally used the Socrative®…

The aim of this repeated measures study was to examine an anonymous student feedback system (delivered using clickers) versus a public student feedback system (delivered using flashcards) on 52 graduate learners' metacognition and academic achievement scores. Three dimensions of metacognition were examined in a large lecture setting, including…

The effectiveness of incorporating an audience response system (ARS) in improving the learning environment and student performance was assessed in a didactic biomedical science course at a large US dental school. Instructors and students were surveyed for their experiences of using Top Hat-based ARS in a multi-disciplinary biomedical science…

One of the most challenging aspects of teaching anatomy and physiology is using teaching tools that enhance active learning and keep students actively engaged during the lecture courses. This study explored the use of a student response system that was easy to use, cost-efficient, and re-usable for multiple anatomy and physiology courses. More…

This study investigated the characteristics of peer discussions used to support formative assessment in lectures, facilitated by a student response system, in an undergraduate qualitative methods course for psychology students. The intent was to examine the characteristics of peer discussions in which student response systems are used to…

Contribution: This article describes and evaluates a novel undergraduate communication skills course for engineering students. The course focuses on improving student communication skills by using interactive lectures and authentic assessment activities in a scalable manner. Background: Published studies and reports suggest communication skills…

A digital lecture with motivating experiments--how can this be done in practice? This question shall be answered in the context of a case report from the field of material science. A digital experimental lecture as a substitute for a lecture with student experiments was evaluated by students to provide information on whether an adequate substitute…

Cell phones have long been known as a potential distraction from attention intensive activities such as studying and driving. Many, however, are developing the cell phone as a powerful tool to augment some of these same activities. Audience response systems (ARSs) are a type of teaching tool that allows educators to poll audience members in real…

We discuss an implementation of the research-based Pathways precalculus curriculum in a large-lecture format supported by recitations, clickers, and online homework. We describe our approach to adapting the implementation of Pathways precalculus from a small class to a large lecture instructional format. We report data on student learning and…

Active-learning approaches have recently been broadly promoted on many campuses, but research is limited on how varying levels of interaction impact student success. The aim of this study was to compare student success between two sections of an introductory biology course that used classroom response systems (i.e., clickers), but were taught with…