Using EVS and ResponseWare to Enhance Student Learning and Learning Experience

A significant body of literature has made the case that Electronic Voting Systems (EVS) have a positive effect upon students' learning and their learning experiences. After a successful pilot study in a final year unit at the University of Bath, in which we used EVS systems to promote deep learning, we expanded upon the use of such systems and applied this technology to other units within our undergraduate Computer Science degree programme. This expansion enabled us to adopt a range of techniques and approaches to our teaching with a view to enhancing our students' educational experience. Examples of this development include the application of EVS systems to revision lectures for a first year unit and asking final year students to reflect upon their learning and use this reflection to develop EVS questions as a component of their coursework. We also used such systems as an alternative mechanism to obtain unit student evaluation. It was in this context, in the absence of support for free form answers, that we considered the use of web-based ResponseWare systems with a view to enhancing and complementing the work that we had undertaken in adopting EVS systems. This paper reports on our and our students' experiences using both of these technologies.