This paper is from Session 4B: Use of student response systems in teaching statistics at the university level

which comes under Topic 4: Statistics education at the post-secondary level

Personal response systems as a learning aid in an epidemiology course for postgraduate statistics students

Presenter

• Gillian Lancaster (Lancaster University, United Kingdom)

Co-author

• Andrew Titman (Lancaster University, United Kingdom)

Abstract

Personal response systems (PRS), also known as ‘clickers’, are most commonly used in large introductory lectures for undergraduate students to anonymously send responses to questions posed by the lecturer. We consider the use of PRS in a masters course setting where groups are typically smaller but where statistics students may be reluctant to participate interactively in lectures for fear of admitting they do not understand the problem, or even that they do understand. We use PRS at intermittent places throughout the Principles of Epidemiology module to check students’ understanding and knowledge of the topic using a variety of multiple choice questions within each lecture. Module design, choice and evaluation of questions, wait and response times and student feedback will all be discussed.