Using Audience Response Systems in Teaching – Enhancing Interaction and Student Engagement in Seminars and Lectures

Would you like to interact with your students during lectures despite large class sizes? Would you like to identify students’ learning difficulties in seminars or encourage interaction and collaboration among learners? Audience Response Systems (ARS) enable you to actively engage students regardless of class size and make teaching more flexible and interactive.

ARS are digital live polling and feedback tools (e.g., particify, tweedback) that allow educators to easily integrate various question formats—such as knowledge checks, discussion prompts, decision-making questions, feedback questions, and activation tasks—into both face-to-face and online teaching. These systems offer a wide range of possible applications; however, their effective use requires purposeful didactic planning and alignment with learning objectives.

In this workshop, participants explore different didactic scenarios for using ARS, reflect on their educational potential, and learn about methodological approaches for integrating these tools into teaching practice, such as Peer Instruction.

Participants are introduced to various ARS tools and have the opportunity to experience their functions hands-on. Together, the group discusses advantages, challenges, and practical considerations when using ARS in higher education.

The course provides an introduction to the use of digital polling and response systems for interactive teaching.

After the workshop, participants may optionally design an asynchronous didactic concept for an ARS activity and submit their planned teaching concept together with an implemented ARS scenario (e.g., survey, quiz, test, or feedback activity) to receive an additional 4 contact hours.