I really like Interactive
voting systems. I was lucky enough to get one in my classroom a number of years
ago when the technology was still quite immature. There was even a write up on
the project in the Times
Educational Supplement (Scotland).
Over the past twelve months
I’ve been using a Promethean
ActiveExpression system, which I have always found to be a good solution
both in the classroom and at conferences. I spoke about using ActiveExpression
in the classroom at least years Scottish
Learning Festival. I should add that I don’t have any real experience of
other voting systems.
The problem with Interactive
voting systems is that they are expensive and difficult for schools to justify
in the current economic climate. One solution that I have always been
interested by is the ability for students to use their own mobile phones to
vote.
I was at a presentation by
Microsoft a couple of weeks ago where I was learning about some of the features
of Office 2010. As I understand it voting will be built into PowerPoint 2010
but not, unfortunately, from Windows Mobile devices. Again the voting capacity
will rely on an additional peripheral hardware. To be honest I think this was a
bit of a trick missed and I hope that the functionality will be there in
future. The ultimate aim being to create a multi platform app that allows
student to vote through a local wireless network or Bluetooth.
Moving on, I’ve noticed that
conference based texting is becoming more and more common and I wonder how long
it will be before we start to see more of this in the classroom. Systems like Audience Response
System may be the start. It’s particularly interesting because although it
allows people to vote by text message (cost of a message) it also allows user
to vote in real time over the web (free).
Many mobile phones are now
wifi enabled and some schools are moving down the route of open access zones,
which will make this system a real reality for some teachers. Regardless of
device phone, netbook, laptop, DSi, PSP etc… children will be able to vote in
real time via the web.
What makes the Audience Response
System particular appealing is that it’s free for small audiences (under 30
people) which means it would be useable with traditional class sizes.
Jaye Richards is currently doing
some research on the use of Interactive voting in class using the Turning Point System. As will
all of Jayes research I’m really looking forward to seeing what comes out of
her project. More.
I have been thinking along the same lines for some time now having used ActivExpression before and the colosest I ever got to an existing system which does what you describe (uses phones' bluetooth connections to vote interactively) is a system called UniVote (www.univote.co.uk) written as part of a Masters project. It has potential but I haven't had the time to pick it apart yet....
Posted by: Drew Crow | July 03, 2009 at 10:08 AM
If your budget won't stretch to a dedicated system, but your students do have web access, then a simple Google Form can work well for real-time surveys and quizzes. There's a one-minute guide here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VBGSaB3URs
Posted by: David Gilmour | July 09, 2009 at 01:25 AM