Volume Two - Academic Conferences

Table 2: Overview of student reactions
Koos Winnips et al.
Student reaction Number of
reactions
Note taking 0
Sharing sources 1
Commenting 0
Making links 0
Reinforcement/moderation 0
Selftesting 0
Asking for clarification 13
Helping each other 0
Opinion/emotion 4
Suggestion to the lecturer 3
“Community building” 2
Opening up the classroom 0
Technical 9
Irrelevant 7
Total 38
Reactions that were not answered during the lecture were posted in the discussion forum on
Blackboard. These comprised 21 out of in total 123 discussion items (threads) on Blackboard. Of
these 21 threads, 16 were further responded, either by the lecturer, or by fellow students. Figure 2
shows an example of how questions were forwarded to Blackboard.
Figure 2: A reaction in the lecture, posted on to the discussion forum in Blackboard, with a response
from a peer student, and a final response from the lecturer
Student Evaluations
In total 113 students responded to the questionnaire. Below, their answers are summarized, along the
main evaluation questions.
Are students better motivated in lectures by being able to respond?
47.8 % of the students liked being able to respond via their mobile phone during a lecture.
They did not attend more lectures because of the possibility to react (50.5 % very much disagreed to
the statement to attend more lectures).
Do students understand course content better by being able to respond?
Students did not find they were better able to understand course content (34.8 %) However, they did
find the questions that were sent in and discussed during the lecture useful (47.8 %).
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