I haven’t seen this technology before. They’re mini-electronic voting gadgets. The lecturer asks a question – people vote on the answer, see the voting results on the interactive whiteboard and then get together in groups to argue their position. Then they can vote again.

I’m dubious about the expense here. I’ve seen exactly the same thing done in primary classrooms, only each pupil has a wipe-clean whiteboard on which they write their answer and hold it up for the teacher to see. Presumably, if they’d thought along these lines, the Victorians could have done it with slates.

The key element here is enthusiasm. The students are motivated, they pay attention, they enjoy the class and the lecturers enjoy the class. The technology adds a feel-good factor. One professor says it radically changes the whole dynamics of what happens in a typical large class.