Using Poll Sheets and Computer Vision as an Inexpensive Alternative to Clickers

Classroom Response Systems, colloquially known as Click- ers after the predominant hand-held input device, are widely used because they allow students to respond in class to questions posed by the lecturer. This improves active learning and interaction in large classes—students are more involved, and lecturers can assess understanding and even take remedial action. Unfortunately, Clicker systems are relatively expensive, particularly in a developing-world con- text. They typically cost $200–700 for a base station and$30–50 per Clicker. In this paper we present an inexpensive alternative to Clickers. Poll sheets with coloured blocks printed on a white background are held up by the students and a camera- phone is used in panoramic mode to photograph the class. This image is then processed using computer vision to count and classify the students’ responses. While the 85% recognition rate we achieve is certainly not as accurate as Clickers, this approach nevertheless has many of the same benefits for active learning at a fraction of the cost: $0.20 per poll sheet, assuming a laptop and camera-phone are already available

Using clickers in a large business class: examining use behavior and satisfaction

YesAs more and more institutions are integrating new technologies (e.g., audience response systems such as clickers) into their teaching and learning systems, it is becoming increasingly necessary to have a detailed understanding of the underlying mechanisms of these advanced technologies and their outcomes on student learning perceptions. We proposed a conceptual model based on the technology acceptance model to understand students’ use behavior and satisfaction with clickers. The valid response from 138 second-year business students of Digital Marketing module taught in a British university, where clickers are extensively used in the teaching and learning process, made the basis for data analysis. The results provided a strong support for the proposed model with a reasonably adequate variance (i.e., adjusted R2) of 67% on behavioral intentions and sufficiently high variance on use behavior (i.e., 86%) and user satisfaction (i.e., 89%)

A review of literature on the use of clickers in the business and management discipline

YesClassroom response systems (clickers), in their various forms, are widely used across disciplines, demonstrating effectiveness across a range of different educational settings. However, only a few literature reviews on this technology have been undertaken in general, and no review has yet been performed on this topic in the business and management context. Realising the existing research gap, this article reviews 33 clicker-related studies from the business and management discipline that are largely focused on student perceptions and outcomes. The purpose of this paper is to provide a critical and balanced review of articles from the business and management discipline on various themes such as learner's engagement, performance, learning, participation, satisfaction, feedback, attendance, enjoyability, motivation, and interactivity, to name a few. The review also provides a brief account of lessons learned from the literature published in other disciplines and recommendations provided by studies from the business and management discipline

Enhancing colour-coded poll sheets using computer vision as a viable Audience Response System (ARS) in Africa

Audience Response Systems (ARS) give a facilitator accurate feedback on a question posed to the listeners. The most common form of ARS are clickers; Clickers are handheld response gadgets that act as a medium of communication between the students and facilitator. Clickers are prohibitively expensive creating a need to innovate low-cost alternatives with high accuracy. This study builds on earlier research by Gain (2013) which aims to show that computer vision and coloured poll sheets can be an alternative to clicker based ARS. This thesis examines a proposal to create an alternative to clickers applicable to the African context, where the main deterrent is cost. This thesis studies the computer vision structures of feature detection, extraction and recognition. In this research project, an experimental study was conducted using various lecture theatres with students ranging from 50 - 150. Python and OpenCV tools were used to analyze the photographs and document the performance as well as observing the different conditions in which to acquire results. The research had an average detection rate of 75% this points to a promising alternative audience response system as measured by time, cost and error rate. Further work on the capture of the poll sheet would significantly increase this result. With regards to cost, the computer vision coloured poll sheet alternative is significantly cheaper than clickers

Considerações sobre a implantação efetiva de um sistema de baixo custo de resposta em sala de aula

Orientador: Eduardo Alves do Valle JuniorDissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Elétrica e de ComputaçãoResumo: Defendemos que a efetividade da implantação de um sistema de resposta em sala de aula depende da superação de uma série de restrições, tanto infra-estruturais quanto psicológicas, intimamente relacionadas com a tecnologia utilizada e com o público alvo pretendido. Demos sequência à investigação da criação de um sistema de baixo custo de resposta em sala de aula, o paperclickers, que requer um único dispositivo móvel para o professor capturar respostas em sala de aula, fornecidas pelos alunos através de cartões com códigos impressos. Mantivemos o objetivo de fomentar a adoção de técnicas de aprendizagem ativa em países em desenvolvimento, oferecendo uma ferramenta de fácil implementação e associada a uma metodologia de ensino específica ¿ a Instrução pelos Pares. Mas acrescentamos o enfoque de analisar e atuar sobre as possíveis barreiras de adoção, considerando como público alvo, professores de ensino médio de escolas públicas brasileiras. Compilamos os resultados dos testes de usabilidade realizados durante a pesquisa original, e descrevemos como a interpretação desses dados afetou a usabilidade da versão atual do software. Tratamos dificuldades de detecção e decodificação dos cartões de respostas, decorrentes do novo e dinâmico cenário de uso dos TopCodes, a codificação escolhida para nossa solução, muito diferente das suas condições originais. Propusemos e experimentamos melhorias de robustez no processamento dos TopCodes, analisando como a aplicação dessas melhorias afetou a usabilidade global da solução. Disponibilizamos paperclickers para o público em geral, numa versão inicial e de código aberto. Projetamos também a primeira parte de uma série de tutoriais em vídeo, para treinamento tanto no uso do paperclickers quanto da metodologia de Instrução pelos Pares. Com isso, ilustramos o material a ser criado para nosso público alvo, com a intenção de reduzir as barreiras psicológicas de adoção, focando na efetividade de implantação da nossa soluçãoAbstract: We propose the effective delivery of a classroom response system (CRS) has to overcome a series of infrastructural and psychological restrictions, intimately related to the technology used, as well as to the intended target audience. We carry on the research to create paperclickers, a low-cost CRS system, which requires a single mobile device for the teachers to capture students responses during a class, provided through paper cards with printed codes. We kept aiming at broadening the adoption of active learning techniques in developing countries, offering a tool for straightforward implementation and associated with Peer Instruction methodology; our specific goals are to analyze and reduce the existing adoption barriers, focusing on Brazilian public high school teachers. We compiled and analyzed the results of the first usability tests round, performed by the paperclickers initial research; we then described how the findings affected the tool usability. We tackled new challenges on the TopCodes machine encoding, the solution applied on the answering cards, related to the detection and decoding procedures in the classroom environment, very different from TopCodes original usage scenario. We proposed additional processing steps to improve the detection and decoding robustness; we then performed experiments to evaluate how those changes affected the overall solution usability. The resulting paperclickers version is currently available for the public at large as an open-source release. We also designed the first part of training video tutorials, covering both paperclickers and Peer Instruction usage, illustrating the material to be created for the selected target audience, aiming to reduce the psychological adoption barriers, towards an effective delivery of our solutionMestradoEngenharia de ComputaçãoMestre em Engenharia Elétrica e de Computaçã