I became interested in conducting research on teaching and learning as I spent more time in the classroom in the instructor role and began to wonder how I could perform my job better and what factors influence students to learn more efficiently.
When my daughter was in middle school, she told me about the technology that her teachers had been using and I became interested in using this technology in my own classroom. I first started by using Nearpod, which is an online, interactive platform for teaching. Students are able to interact with the lecture slides by responding to poll questions, open-ended questions, and a variety of other engaging activities using their own devices.
I conducted a study in which I compared two sections of an upper level psychology class using two different methods of teaching the material. One section was taught using PowerPoint and traditional lecture methods, while the other was taught using Nearpod.
I found that device usage for off-class tasks is reduced when using Nearpod as a teaching platform compared to PowerPoint and lecture.
There is still data to be analyzed concerning this project. Interested students should contact me: juliecampbell812@gmail.com or jmcampb9@ilstu.edu