Time Aspects of using audience response systems

Audience response systems represent an important class of tools for improving lecture interactivity. Although they can provide a lecturer with valuable and timely data about his audience's opinions and understanding of the lecture, one of their main disadvantages reported in the literature is the additional time required for their usage within a time-constrained lecture. In this paper, the time aspects of using an audience response system are investigated. Using the data obtained through the usage of AuResS, a web-based audience response system, we investigated the time needed for the audience to answer questions posed by a lecturer on a live lecture, as well as audiences' general perception of the audience response system's advantages, disadvantages, and influence on the course of a lecture.