Formative teaching: A Conversational Framework for evaluating the impact of Response Technology on student experience, engagement and achievement

There are two compelling constraints on the delivery of effective engineering mathematics education at university: Decline in the mathematical preparedness i.e. confidence and ability of engineering students, and the predominance of the passive learning-leaning traditional lecture mode of instruction. In this paper, we present a formative teaching paradigm, consisting of the use of specific question types and implemented via the use of response technology systems, whose adoption could help overcome these constraints. To evaluate the impact of this paradigm on student experience, engagement and achievement, we adopted a mixed-methods research protocol, consisting of multiple surveys, interviews, and observations. This evaluation process was guided by the application of the Laurillard learning model, designed for evaluating learning technologies. The evaluation results show that the paradigm facilitates meaningful behavioural and cognitive engagement, provides a richer and more learner-centred atmosphere, and contributes to a reduction in the number of students failing. However, the impact on student attendance and overall mean academic grades is negligible.