Using interactive technology for lectures in higher education information technology

The demographics of the modern day student (shorter attention span, multimodal access to learning resources, growing reliance on technology) and highlighted concerns of the traditional teaching methods, such as a lecture, demonstrate a need for a more innovative teaching practice. The traditional lecture in higher education is often delivered in single-directional ‘transmission’ style with the information presented with little to no interactivity between teacher and student. This study looks at the utilization of interactive technologies within lectures, and looks at the effects that these may have on students' perceptions of lectures, lecture effectiveness, and preferences. Students completing an Information Technology degree at Deakin University, Australia, were chosen for the trial run of two different interactive technologies. To provide comparisons of student's opinions and expectations a subject within Information Technology that did not utilise interactive technology was also included as a site for data collection.