ANN ARBOR—LectureTools, a new interactive educational technology system developed at the University of Michigan, goes beyond “clickers” to connect instructors and students in large lecture classes.

Perry Samson, an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences, developed the tool to facilitate a more engaging and active learning space for his own 190-student class, Extreme Weather. Instructors used LectureTools in four other classes as well last semester.

LectureTools will soon be available as a stand-alone service to interested U-M faculty members. Faculty will be able to use LectureTools in courses, and they and their students can access it as a special feature through their CTools site. Interested faculty should contact Samson.

“LectureTools integrates lecture notes and student response systems,” Samson said. “Students learn better by being actively engaged in the lecture, offering their own feedback and discussing with their peers, as LectureTools allows them to do.”

In this new tool, students’ laptops serve as the clickers of a student response system. Laptops enable a wider suite of question types than typical clickers that essentially let students answer a poll question and post the results in real time.

Students using LectureTools can also take notes and make drawings directly on lecture slides, a unique feature. They can anonymously ask the instructor’s aide a question through a chat window during class. They can rate their own understanding of each slide, giving the professor valuable feedback. If available, they can also watch a video podcast of the whole lecture after it’s over.

“We’re utilizing all the students’ propensities and abilities to multitask,” Samson said.

Ultimately LectureTools will include the option of access to a new type of online textbook.

Samson believes laptops in class are the way of the future, despite that some professors still ban them out of a belief that they’re distracting. Preliminary findings based on student surveys show that laptops aren’t hindering learning in Samson’s class. Sixty-five percent of more than 140 students surveyed agreed that their attentiveness, engagement and learning in class increased because of laptop use with LectureTools.

“There’s no evidence that bringing laptops to class in the presence of a tool such as LectureTools is causing the students’ learning to suffer or attentiveness to wane, despite fears of some instructors,” Samson said. “Our findings are that LectureTools increased engagement significantly. However, laptops in class in the absence of tools that require student engagement may well lead to lower attentiveness.”

One of LectureTools’ newest features (produced by engineering undergraduate Matt Viscomi) allows students in the class to post profiles and identify where they are seated each day. This allows students to more easily find out who in the large class they live near, or share interests. They can subsequently create personal study groups, Samson says.

Samson recently received one of the inaugural Provost’s Teaching Innovation Prizes, which honors faculty who have developed innovative approaches to teaching that incorporate creative pedagogies.

Michigan Engineering:
The University of Michigan College of Engineering is ranked among the top engineering schools in the country. At more than $130 million annually, its engineering research budget is one of largest of any public university. Michigan Engineering is home to 11 academic departments and a National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center. The college plays a leading role in the Michigan Memorial Phoenix Energy Institute and hosts the world class Lurie Nanofabrication Facility. Michigan Engineering’s premier scholarship, international scale and multidisciplinary scope combine to create The Michigan Difference. Find out more at www.engin.umich.edu/.
For more information:
LectureTools: www.lecturetools.org/
Enriching Scholarship 2009: www-a1.lsa.umich.edu/es_conf/app/?confid=11
Perry Samson: http://samson.engin.umich.edu/

LectureToolsEnriching Scholarship 2009Perry Samson