Incorporating Student Response Systems in mathematics classes

In the past decade, Student Response Systems (SRS) have been used more widely in higher education as advancement in technology makes them more affordable, easier to use and of compact design. This technology shows potential in enhancing the student experience, especially in traditionally hard subjects like mathematics. Major reasons for introducing the technology into classrooms include positive student perception, anonymity, active teaching and learning and providing a natural break from straight content delivery. There remain issues related to the integration of the technology within mathematics courses - in particular related to the time required during lectures to successfully embed SRS without impinging too greatly on the delivery of the syllabus. In this study the appropriate number of questions that should be posed during a lecture is investigated, as is the time interval that should be permitted per question and when each question is posed. It has been suggested that SRS are not utilized effectively unless questions used provoke deep learning but this can be problematic and impact on endemic math anxiety regardless of anonymity. It is proposed that questions involving higher order thinking may be better explored within a tutorial environment using a Team Base Learning approach.