Immediate feedback increases understanding
Over two thousand
years ago, Socrates realized that people understand more by
answering a question, than by being told an answer.
Now, science has helped to explain reasons behind this counter-intuitive
idea, and shown why it works so well.
But,
there is a problem with Socratic teaching: it works well only
in small classes. The ENJOY Audience
Response
System ameliorates this problem and makes Socratic teaching
effective in classes of any size.
Compared with
traditional audience response mode (e.g. hands vote, card reader,
carefully watching what the audience is doing and saying), this
way is much more quicker, more accurate and more
direct.
For example,
the instructor asks: do you understand? Every student presses
keys to response: A, Yes; I understand it very well;
B, not at all; C, not very clear. No one will be ashamed to
give his/her true answer.
The statistic
will immediately reported or presented, and provides indicators
to the instructor about the level of student understanding.
The ENJOY Audience
Response System will help the instructors tailor their teaching
to concentrate on the concepts the students find
difficult, without wasting time on concepts they have grasped.
For paper quizzes, it will take a lot of trouble
and time.
Teachers become
more aware of student' problems with the subject matter. This
will improve the teaching mode, teaching efficiency,
and educational research.