Motivating Factors and Barriers for Sustained Use of Audience Response Systems - "I would love to, but I don't have time ):"

Audience Response System (ARS) usage in lectures has grown in the higher education sector over the past decade with the evolution from hardware “clickers” to web and mobile-based systems due to the ubiquity of mobile internet and mobile computing devices. Benefits of ARSs for instructors include the capability to receive real-time feedback on student understanding, breaking up lecture time, increased student engagement and improved learning outcomes. The interest in, and understanding of, the perceived benefits of ARSs are often sufficient motivators for instructors to trial this technology. However, the sustained use of this technology presents a hurdle for some instructors, beyond the difficulties in initial uptake. This paper investigates the motivating
factors and barriers for sustained use of Audience Response Systems.

Engineering instructors were interviewed in addition to a university-wide survey using an instructor technology adoption framework. This framework was used to study participants' “pedagogical beliefs”, “knowledge”, “self-efficacy”, and the
institutional “culture” with respect to ARSs. The findings suggest that culture and pedagogical beliefs were the primary themes with respect to enabling sustained use, while knowledge and self-efficacy were secondary enablers. The major barrier for sustained use was “time”, which was an aspect that appeared in multiple themes. This identification and understanding of the motivating factors and barriers for sustained use for ARSs has helped advance the design and development of departmental support and a bespoke ARS software tool.