Vevox has now been chosen as Aston’s institutional classroom response system (CRS) and is available to all staff who support teaching. There are other systems already in use by Schools, Departments and individual academics.
Aston Medical School is using Top Hat, a sophisticated system that can be used for in-class content delivery, polling, communication and interaction, as well as out-of-class revision and assessment. Ideally, curriculum planning is based around consistent use of the system, and all students need a suitable mobile device and good wi-fi in class. AMS have provided their students with iPads, and evaluation of the first cohort’s learning experience is ongoing.
Aston Engineering School use Turning Point, a market leading system whose ‘clicker’ handsets are still widely used. AES has just a few handsets but 500 licences for ResponseWare so that students can respond online using their phone or other mobile device. Turning Point has a great PowerPoint add-in, and some useful question types.
Individual academics use some of the free or free-trial systems available, all of which offer their own unique blend of features. (A summary of the main limitations of the free version in given in brackets)
Kahoot is very strong on gamification and team competition (no reports, includes adverts)
Mentimeter offers some really interesting question types (2 questions per session, no reports)
Poll Everywhere is a powerful and flexible system (40 students, no reports)
Socrative provides a good balance of features and gamification (50 students, one ‘room’)
For the latest updates regarding Technology-Enhanced Learning, follow us on Twitter