Calling All ACTIVote Users

[michele.horsburgh]

I am interested in finding out different ways teachers have been using their ACTIVote/ACTIVstudioMV sets. Is there a particular lesson it has worked really well in? What has surprised you about the information gained from using the product ? How have pupils reacted to the technology ? Has it influenced the way you teach ? Looking forward to reading your responses!

[daverosthorn]

I am interested in finding out different ways teachers have been using their ACTIVote/ACTIVstudioMV sets. Is there a particular lesson it has worked really well in? What has surprised you about the information gained from using the product ? How have pupils reacted to the technology ? Has it influenced the way you teach ? Looking forward to reading your responses!

Currently at Training 2000, we are developing a set of ACTIVote questions for the end of every session. They are extremelly useful for us in testing what the students have found out from the session. We are now looking into developing additional sessions which will allow our learners to complete some of the Knowledge & Understanding required for their NVQ's :D

All in all, it's well worth the money. The learners love it and it's so each to run a session.

The only downside is creating the sessions - I've found that the Question Master isn't up to expectations as the text often overlaps. It's easier to create the session through AS2 than to use the Question Master, I've found.

Please find attached one of my sessions :)

[emmabird]

I've got just 10 of the old style devices. I'm trying to get school to get a new class set. My kids love them. A particular favourite is when I put them in groups and they play Mathonaire on the Count on Web site. They vote for the correct answer. If we get to a million the whole class get a lolly each. If we don't the group with the highest score get a lolly each.

All year groups 7 - 11 love it and are always nagging me to play. I even manage to get work out of year 10 last lesson of the day. I tell them they get to play at the end of the lesson if they work well during the lesson.

:)

[michele.horsburgh]

Many thanks for your responses. These are very useful. If you think of any more or have some particular golden moments worth sharing please share them in the ACTIVote forum. With regards the question master, have you tried the latest version of ACTIVstudio2 build 349 it might be a little better. I like you tend to write the question on the page this allows me to add what I want and position where I want it. Many thanks for the attached session most inspiring!

[daverosthorn]

I like you tend to write the question on the page this allows me to add what I want and position where I want it. Many thanks for the attached session most inspiring!

It always seems to look more attractive when you write the question on the page, doesn't it?!

[npastore]

A good use of the votes I have observed was in an algebra math class. It follows this:

1. Students come in with several completed homework problems

2. Instructor asks several students for their answers to the same problem. Inevitably, there are two to three different answers for the same equation.

3. Which answer is right? Well, write each answer on the board and assign it a multi choice letter.

4. CHECK FOR UNDERSTANDING.... each student will enter the letter of the answer they think is correct into the ACTIVote.

5. seconds later you know that X% of the class came up with the correct answer while Y% did not. You now know how much addtional classroom instruction time needs to be focused on that concept.

I hope this gives you an idea for the ACTIVotes. Checking for the understanding of a concept without dedicating lots of assessment time is often crucial in fast paced learning environments. You could almost call this type of ACTIVoting a "formative evaluation" of your instruction so far.

[sonya]

I have been using the activote system really successfully with my yr11 RE classes as part of their revision. They have the multiple choice questions and then we use the correct answers to build up a mind map of a particular topic. It seemed to prove quite a useful behaviour management tool. This was with the question master software - the students liked being able to see their overall performance. There was quite a lot of competition between the groups :)

I have also used it on an ad hoc basis with other year groups. Yr10 study moral issues from a religious perspective and the anonymous voting is a good way of starting discussion without anyone feeling intimidated.

As yet haven't had time to prepare much with my KS3 groups properly although I did use it as a successful starter and plenary on the topic of Martin Luther King & his life & achievements.

Are there any other RE users out there who can share their practice and maybe inspire me a little more? ;D