A mobile tool for classroom use

Your students are distracted during lessons because of the phone? Instead of making this device away from the classroom, LectureTools proposes another solution: the phones are part of learning . Perry Samson, professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Michigan (USA), designed the tool as a way to improve the interaction and retention of students in large lectures. "The key is to 'catch' students through their laptops or mobile phones so they do not go to social networks , "said Samson, who has had good results with their students so far. This fall more than 4,000 students from the University of Michigan than twenty different classes will test the tool, which among other things allows to take notes , ask questions (and answers), display the contents of the class with slides , and that teachers pose to interactive tasks students . The questions answered are visible, albeit anonymously, for all students in the class, and stored in a file of questions from students. The mobile phone thus become learning aids rather than distracting devices .

In fact, a study by the Center of the University of Michigan for Research on Learning and Teaching about the version LectureTools research has shown that its use significantly increases participation and students' attention . Now Samson and his colleagues have commercialized the technology. "It really makes large classes seem smaller, this tool increases the interaction, too, the old style," explains Mika Lavaque-Manty, another teacher who has been tested. " More students raise their hands , "he adds.