A new learning platform called Top Hat Monocle is offering a new service to replace classroom clickers with cellphones.
Top Hat Monocle was created to improve student engagement in the classroom and allows students, including those at UF, to text or submit answers on their cellphone, tablet or computer to questions while they are in class, said Andrew D’Souza, chief revenue officer for Top Hat Monocle.
“Students are using technology they’re already familiar with. They’re using their own cellphone, their own laptop, tablet or whatever. It’s something they’re comfortable with,” D’Souza said, “and that they don’t ever forget.”
Top Hat Monocle was created as a graduate school project by its co-founders Mike Silagadze and Mohsen Shahini at the University of Waterloo in Canada, D’Souza said.
According to the website, they first created Top Hat Monocle as a simple polling system, and it has been evolving ever since.
With the platform, which was created in 2009, teachers can conduct polls or quizzes, run interactive demonstrations, upload and share files, and assign homework, according to its website.
The use of the different features varies by class, D’Souza said. The math and science faculties typically use the polls, quizzes and interactive demonstrations, while the liberal arts faculties use open-ended polls, questions and discussions more frequently.
Among the benefits professors have reported are significant improvements in attendance, retention and grades, he said.
Todd Palmer, UF biology assistant professor, started using Top Hat Monocle in 2011 in his Integrated Principles of Biology II class, which has about 900 students.
Since using Top Hat Monocle, attendance has increased by about 10 percent to 15 percent, Palmer said in an email.
“It has certainly given me an opportunity to establish how well students are grasping particular concepts, which in turn allows me to rephrase what I’m teaching in the moment,” Palmer said in an email.
Ainslee Juarbe, biology junior, has used Top Hat Monocle for two of her classes, Integrated Principles of Biology II and Fundamentals of Human Nutrition, and appreciates the convenience of Top Hat Monocle over a clicker.
“You can pretty much count on everyone to have at least their cellphones in class, so there’s no chance of accidentally forgetting your clicker at home and missing a point for class,” Juarbe said.
Juarbe has also noticed a change in attendance due to the use of Top Hat Monocle in her classes.
“I’m a nerd, so I always go to class no matter what,” Juarbe said. “But I know other students only go to class for the Top Hat questions.”
