Dr. Derek Bruff, Director of the Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching, has explained how student response systems (SRS) can be an effective method to collect students’ feedback and facilitate Agile Teaching (D. Bruff, 2009.)

Before starting a lesson, the instructor asks a knowledge-check question. Based on the immediate responses received from students, the instructor can gauge what students already know. Then, the instructor can quickly alter the lesson topic to better suit the needs and abilities of students.

PointSolutions has a range of features to help instructors incorporate Agile Teaching into their lessons. The first feature is called Anywhere Polling, which allows instructors to ask verbal questions with the option of polling on top of web pages, videos, documents or other applications. On-the-fly questions enable instructors to provide flexible instruction.

Another feature called “Conditional Branching” allows the instructor to control the order of slides in the PowerPoint presentations based on responses received from students. Conditional Branching is set up by defining a condition which, if satisfied, advances to a specified slide. This Conditional Branching allows instructors to change the lesson pace according to students’ comprehension.

Agile Teaching Video

How to Run a Quick Poll in Anywhere Polling

How to Add Conditional Branching to PowerPoint Polling

Source:

Bruff, D. (2009).  Teaching with Classroom Response Systems: Creating Active Learning Environments. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.