HiST’s ICT tool PeLe popular in Moscow 30.10.2013

HiST’s innovative and creative use of ICT makes its mark in the world! Pele (Peer Learning Assessment System) has been chosen as the tool of the month at Lumonosov Moscow State University (LMSU), which is the largest university in Russia. HiST is apparently in good company: Evernote, Dropbox and Google Earth are some other tools that have been chosen by LMSU earlier this year. You can read the explanation of the choice of the tool in English on the webpage of the Russian university. What is PeLe? Pele is a voting system used for answering different types of multiple-choice questions where students can use their own smartphones, tablets or laptops to answer questions. PeLe gives the teacher the opportunity to provide immediate feedback on exercises, tests and exams. It also provides the teacher with an immediate overview of what the students have (not) understood, so that the teacher can help the students learn instantly from their mistakes. PeLe helps the teacher focus their competences on problem areas of the test or exam. PeLe is a flexible tool for the teacher and cost-effective, too, as it only uses the school's wireless network. Why use PeLe in higher education? - Do you have students who do not attend classes? - Do students really understand the content of your course? - How do you give feedback to students on their assignments and tests?

PeLe has been developed with support from the European Commission’s KA3 program dealing with innovative and creative use of ICT, with John B. Stav, General Studies Program, HiST, as the coordinator. PeLe is currently included in several research projects that measure the effect of using immediate feedback. One of them is a project at Melhus secondary school, which is aimed at using PeLe in English instruction in general studies courses as well as in vocational training. On the project’s webpage (http://histproject.no/node/875 ) you can find 3 drawings that show how easy it is to use the system and a figure that illustrates the methodology behind it. Here you can also watch videos and find other info material.