By Jennifer Fusco

"And the survey says…" is a phrase commonly heard on game shows, but in the classroom? Universities across the country--including Montclair State--are using a new technology to "poll" students and tally the results right in the middle of a lecture.

Last semester, Irwin Badin of Psychology, who has been teaching Intro to Psychology since 1975, was looking for a way to breathe new life into his course. Through a contact at Thomson Media, the course book publisher, Badin was presented with a new, interactive PowerPoint tool that could turn his lecture class into an interactive experience.

"I was a chalk and blackboard guy," said Badin with a laugh. "I'd never used technology in the classroom before, but conceptually, this seemed like the perfect tool to try."

The JoinIn on TurningPoint technology, through a personal keypad that comes with the textbook, allows instructors to pose questions to a large group, gather results and display them to the class in real time.

Badin uses JoinIn to test his students' knowledge in mid-lecture by stopping and asking them to respond to questions. At the end of each class, he gives a brief quiz to wrap up the lesson and give them a sense of what they're coming away with while he sees what they've absorbed.

"It's a way to keep the students involved, not just passively taking notes," he said. "That's not learning, that's stenography. Plus, they don't have to worry about reading my handwriting."

With a large lecture class, often times only a handful of students participate, while others sit in the back of the classroom hoping not to be called on while text messaging their friends on their cell phones. With JoinIn, all students can feel comfortable responding anonymously and honestly.

Because the students are actively involved in the class they are able to pay attention longer. They also know that in a few more slides there may be another question so they'd better listen and learn. "This is the first time I've ever had a course with this type of technology," said freshman Lynda Spair. "I think it's making the class as a whole pay more attention to the lecture. After we finish taking notes for that particular class, we will always have questions to answer with our keypads. The questions we get right count as one point toward extra credit but the ones we get wrong do not count against us."

JoinIn allows every individual to be a part of the discussion. It gets the students actively involved in the presentation and they feel more comfortable participating. For example, if a student sees on a JoinIn chart that he or she is one of 35 percent of the class who chose the wrong answer, the student is much more likely to speak up and ask for clarification.

The instructor has the ability to see the percentage of the class that has answered a question correctly or incorrectly, which lets him or her know if a sufficient amount of the class understands the material and whether to move on to the next slide.

Many times students will leave a class believing they understand the material when they actually don't. The correct/incorrect feature allows a class to see the correct response. This helps to identify any incorrect paths of understanding and gets the students back on the right track. In doing so, the students don't have to relearn the material; they get it right the first time. "It provides students--and myself--with the opportunity to immediately see if they are understanding the material," said Badin. "There is a sense of 'we' among classmates who all root for each other to answer the questions correctly."

At the end of last semester, Badin used the technology to survey his students on their feelings about the new technology. Badin admits the results are interesting, given the fact that it took well into October before all the hardware and software worked well. Fifty-nine percent of his students responded that they found the use of the slides helpful; 41 percent said they paid more attention to the lecture material knowing there would be a keypad quiz at the end; and 38 percent felt more involved in the class because of the keypads.

The benefits were not limited to the students. "For this old guy, it was good because it made me look at the material in a different way. The new technology made it fresher for me," said Badin. "Now that I know I can get responses, I've started thinking how I can teach this material by asking questions, rather than by lecturing."