[Abstract] 19. Empowering Faculty: Engaging Students with Interactive Learning

The purpose of this project is to improve adoption of innovative teaching with technology and demonstrate uses of various student response systems that provide opportunities for enhancement of interactive learning and student retention of information. Research on student response systems (SRS), including clickers, vpad, vboards, and PDAs, has shown an increase in student engagement and improved learning when they are implemented effectively in large and small classrooms. Faculty in many higher education settings, including biological sciences, physical sciences, humanities, medicine, dentistry, and engineering, have developed innovative strategies using various educational theories to encourage student interaction and group dynamics. Some faculty are reluctant to implement these devices due to technological or logistical challenges and cost. Research on the use of these systems in higher education has generally focused on specific applications, styles of interaction, and pedagogical methodologies. This project will demonstrate training of faculty to use an SRS, which empowers faculty to use innovative technology to enhance active learning and retention in dental education. It will provide a review of the literature on response systems and the relevant educational theories that support their use. It will provide a demonstration of the basic steps to set up an SRS, incorporate interactive slides into a presentation, use alternate response systems, display responses, and incorporate responses into learning management systems and pedagogical approaches to customize instruction based upon the responses. The project will report on the use of various response systems in a dental school. It will show how different teaching styles and disciplines can effectively incorporate this technology. It seeks to support teachers in engaging their students in an active learning environment.