Chances and Risks of Using Clicker Software in XL Engineering Classes – From Theory to Practice

Teaching and learning in XL-classes is a huge challenge to both lecturers as well as students. While lecturers face the difficulty of speaking to a mostly loud and very heterogenic audience, students often lack the opportunity of being an active participant in class. To counteract these difficulties and give the opportunity of immediate feedback, an audience response system has been introduced in the class of information technology in mechanical engineering at RWTH Aachen University. In a previously published paper [1] the theoretical background has been outlined and presumptions have been drawn. The described redeployment of a lecture of the mentioned size was expected to bring about an enhancement of the quality in teaching of professional knowledge. It was also supposed to foster the often desired shift from teaching to learning. Now, after a first trial and evaluation of the method, these presumptions can be tested. In this paper clicker questions from the lecture and their results are the groundwork that allow for a review of the evaluation of the first trial using clicker software in class. Results shall then allow for a comparison of the intended goals with the actual outcomes from the students’ point of view. In addition to that, feedback and ideas for improvement through the evaluation of the “further comments” section by the “users” themselves can be gathered. The results of the analysis will then allow for an adjustment and improvement of the concept and may in the future give support to lecturers of other XL-classes that intend to implement an audience response system in their own lecture.