e-Voting

What is it?

e-Voting is the practice of using an ‘audience response system’ to make lectures, seminar and other presentations more engaging, enjoyable and effective.

Each student is given a small handheld wireless keypad. When a multiple choice question appears on screen (typically within a PowerPoint presentation) they use their keypad to submit their response. A USB receiver plugged into the presenter's computer collates the responses and instantaneously displays them graphically on screen for all to see for analysis, feedback and discussion.

In an e-Voting session students can be anonymous or identified by the system. Both approaches have advantages for different situations. At the end of the session, responses can be saved into the presentation and exported in Excel format for future analysis.

e-Voting is usually introduced into teaching practice with relatively minimum up-front investment of staff time and when used properly, there are genuine and immediate benefits for both lecturer and students.

There are many audience response systems available on the market but by far the most popular within Higher Education and at the University of Bristol is Turning Point due to ease of use and portability.

Why use it?

Reasons to introduce e-Voting into your own teaching include:

To make lectures and presentations more interactive and engaging for all the audience
To check students' prior knowledge or pre-lecture reading
To check students are understanding the lecture material in real time
To deliver formative assessment where results are immediately viewed for discussion and tutor feedback
To track individual or class progress
To provoke discussion on contentious or disputed issues within the topic
To track attendance
To collect student feedback on the unit and even one’s own teaching practice (departments who have used this system report much higher response rates than when using paper questionnaires or Blackboard)

How do I start using it?

A good place to start is to consult a colleague who has relevant experience. This might be a lecturer or e-learning support staff. Their experience will help you to develop your interest and ideas and highlight the things you need to consider. If you do not know of anyone, approach a relevant training contact on the e-Voting equipment page or email e-learning@bristol.ac.uk.

Next, identify the e-Voting equipment you will use. You will usually need to install the software, learn to use it and book equipment. We recommend using Turning Point – see the relevant page for further information.

What support is available?

The E-Learning Team can provide advice on effective and best practice using any type of e-voting system. Contact e-learning@bristol.ac.uk. However, in most situations we recommend using the Turning Point system, which is supported in various ways. See the relevant page for further information.

Useful links