ResponseWare rant: an Audience Response System that doesn’t work

At my medical school we use ResponseWare, one of many audience response systems (ARS), during the preclerkship years to respond to questions during lecture.  The general idea of this type of system is that professors can embed questions into presentations that students respond to at specific times when “polling is open”. The answers from the audience are then made immediately available. The technology can be used in different ways. For example, it can allow professors to identify if the crowd understands the concept and address the knowledge gap if one exists or move on quickly if it does not. Or it can also be used a method to generate discussion about a controversial topic (ie poll the class anonymously on a reaction to an ethical scenario then use these results to probe the class). The value of ARS is hard to deny. Studies suggest that, when used correctly, an ARS makes classroom lectures more engaging and interactive with positive learning outcomes. Even in the specific context of medical education ARS seem to be a promising tool.

The catch is, IT HAS TO WORK to be of any value. This meme crossed our lecture hall during our professor’s 15 minute battle with Responseware, which was certainly hard fought but eventually lost.

My issues with ResponseWare have nothing to do with the educational concept but with the system itself. Let me break down the problem:

1. Students have to pay $50 for 4 years of use when there are free alternatives (i.e. mQlicker, twitter)
2. 100 students paying $50 = $5000… we have successfully used the technology 5 times. Quick math makes that $1000 a ResponsWare session. Yikes!
3. Our professors work really hard on lectures for us- I feel bad when they get to the front and they can’t get the system to work.
4. The tech rep, a med student with profound techonological capabilites, is a smart dude- I feel bad when he can’t get the system to work.
5. The tech guy working for the medical school, who can figure out every other piece of high tech equipment and solve all other problems for the technology challenged, is a smart dude- I feel bad when he can’t get the system to work
6. Instead of using a program to spend 15 minutes exploring important medical concepts, 3 smart dudes fight with ResponseWare- I feel bad when they inevitably give up and decide to use the traditional show of hands method
7. While these 3 feel bad about being defeated by ResponseWare the rest of the class feels bad about making fun of their efforts through the production of memes.
8. At the end of the day everybody has less money in their pocket, everyone feels bad and we are running 15 minutes behind schedule.

So what would the ideal ARS look like for me? One that is easy to use (for professors and students), one that is cheap (preferably free) and one that enhances (or at least doesn’t impede) the learning experience. Do you have any suggestions?