Audience Response Systems in Higher Education

As technology progresses, new systems emerge to assist educators in preparing and managing courses. Audience response systems (ARS) are now used to facilitate greater interaction with participants engaged in a variety of group activities by allowing participants to express views in complete anonymity. These views are then grouped together to help support summative and formative activities with groups ranging in size from five members to as many as several hundred. The data can be used to help the facilitator adjust the pace of teaching to match the requirements of the learners, gauge understanding, or trigger discussion and debate. Audience Response Systems in Higher Education: Applications and Cases reveals some of the history behind these systems, explores current theory and practice, and indicates where technology may move in the future. Cases are used to present the work of educators in a wide range of subject areas, and with differing levels of experience with these systems.