by Jocasta Williams
Discover how Dr Alyssa Van Dreumel at The University of Western Australia is combining EchoPoll with a Think-Pair-Share approach to create richer discussions, immediate feedback and more meaningful learning in every workshop.
For Dr Alyssa Van Dreumel, the goal wasn’t simply to make classes more interactive, but to make every workshop count. As International Programme Coordinator in the School of Molecular Sciences at The University of Western Australia, she and her colleagues wanted to put the value back into face-to-face learning. With students increasingly engaging with learning materials before class, workshops became an opportunity to unpack challenging concepts, encourage discussion, and give students the chance to actively apply what they had learned.
That thinking led to a flipped classroom model, where students complete their preparation before class while workshops focus on exploring the concepts they find most challenging. Polling sits at the centre of that approach, giving both students and academics immediate feedback that shapes what happens next.
Dr Van Dreumel explains, “We decided to use polling as our core structure of our face-to-face classes, and this was for the benefit of both the students and the academics. The students were able to get that immediate feedback on what they had grasped and what they were still confused on, and the academics had that live feedback as to which areas the cohort needed deeper assistance in understanding. So polling was really that core part of our face-to-face workshop structure.”
Every workshop begins with a poll question – but it’s not simply a matter of asking a question and collecting responses. Students first answer independently, drawing on their pre-class preparation, before discussing their thinking with the people around them. Only then does the class come back together to reveal the answer and unpack the reasoning behind it.
The structure follows the Think-Pair-Share model, and for Dr Van Dreumel, an education-focused academic, that’s where the real value of polling lies. The most important learning happens between asking the question and revealing the answer. Those conversations give students an opportunity to articulate their thinking, test their understanding against their peers and identify gaps in their knowledge in a safe, supportive environment, while also strengthening their communication and critical thinking skills.
The process has become much more than a way of checking understanding. It’s a way of helping students develop the habit of explaining their reasoning – something Dr Van Dreumel believes prepares them not only for assessment, but for the increasingly complex thinking they’ll need as they progress through their studies.
One of the most striking outcomes of the approach has been the atmosphere in the room. Instead of students quietly working through questions on their own, workshops are filled with discussion as they compare answers, justify their reasoning and learn from one another. For Dr Van Dreumel, those conversations recreate something that’s often taken for granted in laboratory classes: a sense of community. Students begin to know one another, work together and build confidence through regular interaction, bringing that same connectedness from the laboratory into their theory classes.
Polling also makes those conversations more accessible. Not every student is ready to speak up immediately, but even listening to the discussions taking place nearby becomes part of the learning experience. Students have also told Dr Van Dreumel they value being able to answer questions anonymously before discussing them with their peers. She says that, “We surveyed students when we first started using EchoPoll, and they said it reduces their anxiety when they don’t have to share their answer in front of the whole cohort. The anonymity allows them to privately reflect, and they are often able to see that they are not the only one who made that mistake or didn’t quite get that question.”
While the workshops create a more engaging classroom experience, they’re also designed with a much longer-term goal in mind. Each polling question gives students another opportunity to revisit key concepts, identify misconceptions and reinforce their understanding. Rather than leaving revision until the weeks before exams, they’re continually checking and strengthening their knowledge throughout the semester.
It’s an approach that helps students build both knowledge and confidence incrementally, rather than relying on a last-minute period of revision. By regularly retrieving information, testing their understanding and addressing misconceptions as they arise, students stay connected to the content across the semester. By the time exams arrive, they aren’t encountering concepts for the first time in months – they’ve been revisiting, discussing and applying them week after week. It’s a steady rhythm of learning that helps students walk into high-stakes assessments knowing they’re prepared.
Introducing a new way of teaching also meant supporting the academics delivering it. Because the unit is taught by multiple academics, Dr Van Dreumel quickly recognised that everyone would have different levels of confidence using a new digital tool. Rather than expecting immediate adoption, she focused on helping colleagues build confidence at their own pace. She explains, “Each academic had to get on board with using this new digital tool, and each one of them came with their own digital literacy or digital confidence.”
Supporting those academics looked different for different people. Sometimes it meant sitting alongside a colleague and walking them through the platform. Sometimes it meant revisiting the process the following semester, or being present in the classroom during those first workshops to help everything run smoothly. It’s an approach that mirrors the philosophy behind Dr Van Dreumel’s teaching. Whether supporting students or colleagues, meaningful learning happens when people are given the confidence to engage, ask questions and build understanding together. For Dr Van Dreumel, polling isn’t simply a classroom activity – it’s the framework that underpins every workshop, helping students think more deeply, connect more readily with their peers and stay engaged with their learning from the first week of semester through to their final exam.
