Experience with a multiple-choice audience response system in an engineering classroom

This paper presents results and observations from using a multiple-choice audience response system (ARS) in an engineering class with enrollments averaging approximately 60. The system consisted of student-registered infrared transmitters, receivers daisy-chained to an in-class computer, and an associated software. The system allows the students to answer multiple-choice questions, with the software processing the students´ answers. We discuss this system´s use for ungraded in-class questions intended to provide active learning for students and feedback to both students and instructor regarding how well students are assimilating new concepts and techniques. We also describe the system´s use for weekly multiple-choice quizzes. These quiz scores are found to be significantly lower than scores on traditional exams with partial-credit grading, and there is wide individual variation of scores in these two assessment formats. We conclude that an ARS can be a very effective teaching/learning tool and that multiple-choice quizzes can complement traditional assessment techniques