Using Poll Everywhere to Improve the Student Experience: Increasing Confidence and Encouraging

Abstract

As an associate lecturer at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan), I am what most in the business term an ‘early career academic’. Whilst this is true, in my two years working as a lecturer at the Lancashire Law School I have seen myself having to quickly adapt from being a postgraduate student and doctoral researcher to being an effective and innovative ‘facilitator of learning’ (the new buzzword for lecturers). Having been a university student since 2003, I have witnessed a shift in the teaching methods in higher education towards more modern methods. In an evolving world in which the vast majority of people live in a digital age, in which most people use a laptop, a tablet or a smartphone on a daily basis (if not hourly basis), and in which the answer to any question can be obtained with just a click of a few buttons, education too must evolve to incorporate modern technology into the learning process. Gone are the days of using chalk on blackboards, or even (once considered modern) overhead projectors.