Researchers Win John A. Curtis Lecture Award at ASEE Conference

Five U-M researchers have won the 2011 John A. Curtis Lecture Award for the best paper in the Computers in Education Division at the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Annual Conference and Exposition, which took place June 26 – 29, 2011, in Vancouver, B.C.

The authors include Marcial Lapp, graduate student in Industrial and Operations Engineering; Dr. Jeff Ringenberg, Lecturer in Computer Science and Engineering; Kyle J. Summers, undergraduate in Computer Science at the College of Engineering; Ari S. Chivukula, undergraduate in Computer Science at the College of Engineering; and Jeff Fleszar, graduate student at the Ross School of Business.

The paper, entitled “The Mobile Participation System: Not Just Another Clicker,” describes an electronic student response system that reinvents student-instructor interaction through a web-based interface, mobile-phone applications, and text messaging, allowing students to respond to questions posed during lecture with cellular/mobile phone devices. The paper describes how the system is unique in its ability to allow instructors to interact with students during lecture, to allow students to use devices that they already own, to allow students to respond to not just multiple-choice, but also open-ended questions, and for it to be used to enhance distance-learning classes.

Dr. Ringenberg’s research interests include mobile learning software development, tactile programming, methods for bringing technology into the classroom, and studying the effects of social networking and collaboration on learning. He holds BSE, MSE, and PhD degrees in Computer Engineering from the University of Michigan.