It’s a rather brave thing to raise your hand in class, speak your mind and express yourself … its difficult to do, especially at a typical university students age. How do we get past honesty and the insecurity of speaking in class?  

I’m relatively new to lecturing and one of my biggest fears was ‘is what I’m doing right? Is what I’m saying getting across to my students?’, I wanted to be more effective and grow my confidence. I would ask my students if everybody gets it and they would just nod their heads and so you continue on, but didn’t believe this was the honest answer.  

My teaching goal is to share information, but following a didactic approach, making learning a marketplace of ideas. If we really want to understand we need to create an open and free economy to speak about our subject. Students have a wealth of information that they don’t know they have, their experiences and knowledge adds so much to the educational experience and they need to share that. Education is a two-way street, not one person with a PhD injecting knowledge.  

In 2017 I started using Vevox as I wanted to find a way to create more discussion and a more inclusive environment. Vevox delivered the 2 things my classes were lacking… 

1. a voice for those that are afraid or have anxiety issues 

2. and for me access to honest feedback (be it on my module or understanding and comprehension of elements of it) 

The main benefits of Vevox for me are …  

• Inclusivity - I teach mid-large sized classes of 60-70 undergrad students, using Vevox gives a voice to every single one of my students, rather than the normal selected few. Vevox adds to the economy of my classroom providing a voice for people to share and a safe space for them to communicate. My students can speak out in greater detail and express themselves 
   

• Improving my teaching/materials and getting student buy in - Its not about asking questions to ask questions – you need to use the information and make changes if needed. Use it as constructive feedback and by making adjustments based on what your students are feeding back they know their instructor is compassionate and listening to what’s being said this gets their buy in. They will not only understand their assessment better but be more engaged with it. 
   

• Know which topics need more selling - I ask questions like ‘what is your interest level in this topic’, this allows me to get feedback and see if I need to push the topic more, sell it a bit harder!  
   

• Get student feedback and improve - Gathering student feedback is important to us as lecturers but also feeds into NSS and module evaluations – feedback allows you to correct potential issues. 
   

• Building a community – I often start a class by asking my students a simple word cloud question ‘How are you feeling today?’ it enables them to connect and share, feeling a sense of community. I can also react directly to what’s going on, to their emotions.  
   

• Engaging my students - Its important for students to feel engaged in their education, that their voice is heard, especially when everything’s online right now. Having something to answer and participant in means they can’t hide under the duvet! Students have fed back at the end of online Zoom classes that they really enjoyed being asked questions on Vevox and feel much more engaged in the lecture, they really enjoy it. Tools like Vevox give you an edge in keeping people engaged. 
   

• I can react directly to what’s going on - Multiple choice polling is a key way I achieve this but also the word cloud is a really nice way of getting a group understanding of a topic. 
   

• Provoking discussion - Vevox changes student engagement, and spurs them to speak afters, breaks the ice, then they want to explain it. For example we were covering a topic on pay gap issues and gender opportunities in business, I asked the students ‘Do you think your gender makes an impact on how you're treated?’ then we revealed the results, students could see what the group thought and it gave them something to talk about, opened them up and created conversation. They feel surprised about the results and they want to explain themselves, they are happy to identify themselves once they know what the group think. That’s what we want, it creates that didactic environment. You could not have started that conversation without Vevox and that initial poll to share opinions. 
   

• A voice for the class – The best thing about using Vevox for me is that it provides a voice for the class, getting an idea of what they are thinking, be that through polling or Q&A.  

Lindsay’s top tip - Make sure you have a reason why your including a question, it needs to have a purpose, how are you going to use it?  i.e. to spur conversation, gain information, to improve your practice.  

There’s a difference between classrooms that say nothing and a classroom that talks. That’s a way of measuring success – ‘does it create conversation? does it make people ask questions? does it qualify or explain things?’ – if your goal is to do that then there is a definite advantage of using Vevox.  

LJMU staff can start using Vevox now, just go to login.vevox.com and sign in with your university credentials. To find out more about Vevox visit Learning Technology at LJMU   

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