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Activating large groups of students

This is an example of a learning activity conducted at KTH that is based on activating students using the presentation and questioning tool Mentimeter. The built-in function for summarizing responses to open-ended questions makes it easy to use open-ended questions in large groups.

Discussing questions during lectures

The course has about 150 students and most of the scheduled sessions are lectures. To activate the students and get them to process the concepts being covered, the tool Mentimeter  is used. With the tool, students can use their phones or computers to answer a question, and the answers are displayed anonymously on the teacher's screen. There are several question types, such as multiple choice and open-ended questions.

Activity structure

  1. Lecture:
    1. The teacher explains a concept (about 15 minutes).
  2. Simple question:
    1. The students are asked to answer a simple question about the concept (multiple choice question).
    2. The teacher shows how the students answered. If a large number answered incorrectly, the teacher explains why the answer is correct and what may have caused the misunderstanding.
  3. Problem solving:
    1. The students are asked to solve a calculation example together with their table companion.
    2. They answer which option is correct (multiple choice question).
    3. The teacher shows the answers.
  4. Discussion:
    1. The students are asked to discuss how they arrived at their answer and write it down (open-ended question).
    2. Mentimeter summarizes the answers in different categories that the teacher shows and discusses together with the students.

Activate all students

In a lecture with a large group of students, it can be a challenge to get everyone to participate in discussions. Not everyone get a chance to speak, and many do not want to speak in front of a large group. The anonymity in Mentimeter therefore helps more people to participate. The summarizing feature makes it easier to engage students at a higher level, as the teacher can handle a large amount of students' own phrasings instead of being tied to different answer options. Formulating answers in their own words gives students the opportunity for deeper understanding.