Are your students distracted during classes because of the mobile phone? Instead of making this device disappear from the classroom,LectureToolsproposes another solution:make phones part of learning. Perry Samson, professor of Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Michigan (USA), designed the tool as a way to improve the interaction and retention of students in long dissertations. “The key is to ‘hook’ students through their laptops or mobile phones so that they do not go to social networks,” says Samson, who has had good results with his students so far.
This fall, more than 4,000 University of Michigan students from twenty different classes will put the tool to the test, which among other things allowstake notes, ask questions (and answer them), show the content of the class withslideshow, and that teachers raiseinteractive tasks to students. Answered questions are made visible, albeit anonymously, to all students in the class, and saved in a student question file. Mobile phones thus becomelearning aids rather than distracting gadgets.
In fact, a study by the University of Michigan Center for Teaching and Learning Research on the research version of LectureTools has shown that its usesignificantly increases student engagement and attention. Now Samson and his colleagues have commercialized the technology. “It really makes big classes look smaller; this tool increases interaction, too, old-fashioned,” explains Mika Lavaque-Manty, another teacher who has put it to the test. “More students raise their hands?, Add.
