New format is improving large-class performance
I’d like to share an article currently on UT’s website about classroom innovation that’s paying off. As part of our Course Transformation initiative, a new platform developed at UT Austin is helping find better ways to use online technology in higher education and increasing success in classes with 500 students or more.
Psychology professors James Pennebaker and Sam Gosling have been team-teaching Introduction to Psychology since 2006. With more than 1,000 students, the pair interacts with 12 percent of the University’s freshmen each year. Their effort to help students have meaningful, online discussions about the course materials has evolved into a system that uses a student’s own laptop or tablet to deliver personalized in-class quizzes, class exercises, small discussion groups, and online texts.
The results are higher test scores, increased attendance, and significantly fewer disparities in performance among students of different backgrounds. The benefits also appear to improve a student’s performance in his or her other classes. You can read the full story here. (http://www.utexas.edu/what-starts-here/transforming-education/classroom-quiz-show)
These are exciting times in higher education, and I’m proud UT is leading the way.
What starts here changes the world.
