LectureTools: An Advanced Student Response System for the Geosciences

LectureTools (http://www.lecturetools.org/) goes beyond "clicker" systems by offering a wider range of questions including image-based (think weather maps), ranking, association and free response questions. It also allows students to take notes synchronized to lecture slides, draw on and save the instructor's lecture slides, pose clarifying questions that can be answered asynchronously by a teaching assistant during class or after class and self-assess their understanding during lecture. Research results suggest laptops in class do lead to increased potential for distraction but that students feel more attentive, significantly more engaged and learn more with LectureTools.