Evaluation of an audience response system in library orientations for engineering students

While interactive hands-on instruction is usually considered the best approach for engineering students for both their academic courses and for library instruction, the size of the engineering student population compared to the number of instructors and the available classroom space means that engineering librarians, like engineering faculty, may have to use a lecture format. One way to inject some interactivity into engineering library orientations is a new instructional technology popular in university science and math classrooms called an "audience response system." This article will describe and evaluate the success of the use of an audience response system for first-year engineering library instruction at Rowan University.