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Introduction
Timely feedback is crucial in effective teaching.
In many instances, student feedback exercises
are carried out only at the end of a semester. Till
now, an efficient and systematic way of soliciting
real-time classroom feedback is possible only
in classrooms built with costly state-of-the-art
infrastructure and equipment, and is usually
limited to small classes. Otherwise, the ‘quick
show of hands’ method has remained the only
way to obtain immediate ‘yes/no’ feedback
from a class. There are many scenarios where
students’ real-time responses need to be
analysed and consolidated, especially in large
classes. For example:
• Conducting an instant assessment during the
lecture/tutorial to assess
students’ understanding
of the material before proceeding to the next
part
of the course. Currently, this is not
possible unless each student is seated next to
a computer.
• During an interactive laboratory session
or field trip, where an instant assessment
of students’ understanding is crucial to
determine how the teacher should respond.
Our objective is to develop a mobile real-time
feedback system which can be utilised by all
students without incurring any noticeable costs
to students and the school, and without the
installation of expensive equipment.
The Technology: Short Messaging System
(SMS) on Mobile Phones
We used the Short Messaging System (SMS)
on mobile phones as a feedback mechanism.
The SMS system is usually based on the Global
System for Mobile (GSM) modem or SMS
Gateway as shown in Figure 1. We proposed
a hybrid configuration and developed a SMS
feedback web application based on the GSM
modem as shown in Figure 2 (Tay & Tan,
2008). Users are able to create, view and send
their feedback via SMS using either the Internet
browser or mobile phone. The educator does not
need to key in questions or surveys through a
computer; he can enter all the information from
his mobile device. The user is also able to access
the final data through his mobile device. This
expands the application of the feedback system
as there is no need to access the web portal
through a web browser, and student feedback
can be easily obtained even during outdoor
field trips.
Figure 1. The architecture of the SMS system
Figure 2. Key components of the SMS feedback system
Applications
The SMS feedback system (http://www.malresearch.nus.edu.sg:8080/) was developed
and tested in various modules and outreach
activities. Once logged on, the user can see the
SMS Feedback System Inbox (Figure 3) which
contains a list of replies and links to the survey
management system and so on.
Figure 3. Snapshot of SMS feedback system–Inbox
Sample Quiz in Small Group Teaching
A short quiz (Figure 4) was conducted on 27
August 2008 during a EE2010 “Systems and
Control” lecture to test students’ comprehension
of the class. Students were required to answer
‘1’ or ‘2’ for all five questions and send their
answers in the following format: ‘ee2010 x x x x
x’ to 82100082 via the system
Figure 4. Short-quiz questions from EE2010
37 of 41 (about 80%) students correctly answered
the first four questions (see Table 1). However,
only 20% of those who responded could answer
Q5 correctly as it was based on the extension of
a concept learnt during the lectures and details
were covered only after the survey.
Student feedback was positive; many said that
receiving instant feedback on their learning
was useful. Two of the few students who did not
respond did not have their mobile phones with
them.
The system was also used in EE3302 “Industrial
Control Systems” for conducting a survey to
check students’ comprehension of various topics
for subsequent revision.
Table 1. Survey results
Creating the Mobile Survey
Figures 5, 6, and 7 show how the mobile version
of the survey is created. The user interface on
the mobile phone (Figure 5) displays a list of
items available when the application is started.
Figure 6 shows the sequence for creating a new
survey. Users are also able to view the survey
results (Figure 7). Information is usually limited
by the screen resolution of the mobile devices.
However, with the availability of better and
cheaper mobile devices, such applications will
become more affordable.
Figure 5. SMS feedback mobile application—main menu
Figure 6. SMS feedback mobile application—creating a new survey
Figure 7. SMS feedback mobile application—viewing survey
Reference
Tay, A. & Tan, K.K. (2008). “Mobile real-time feedback/teaching system”. Presentation
at International Conference on Teaching and Learning with Technology, 5–6 August
2008, Suntec City, Singapore.
* This paper was presented at the International Conference on Teaching and
Learning in Higher Education (TLHE), 3–5 December 2008, Centre for
Development of Teaching and Learning, National University of Singapore.
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