Student response systems: a cure for lecturalgia?

Resumo

The most frequent cause of lecturalgia (painful lecture) is students’ inability to maintain attention (McLauglin and Mandin, 2001). In order to address this problem many universities have turned to the student response system (SRS) to facilitate student interaction. The most frequently reported benefits of a SRS are that students perceive lectures to be more interactive, engaging, and enjoyable. However, little research has been conducted with large sections of education students. The general motivation for this study was to determine whether the ailment of lecturalgia can be cured by using SRS to facilitate increased interaction and engagement in large lecture classes of pre-service teachers. The results support previous findings. In addition, for instructors who are already using interactive teaching techniques, this study suggests that the use of a SRS offers greater efficiency and accuracy.