Promoting Active Learning using a web-based Audience Response System

In this paper we present a Perception Analyzer that incorporates computational intelligence in order to adapt to the audience's needs. It consists of a web-based Audience Response System (ARS) which provides synchronous communication services for the students of the Hellenic Open University. For the development of the proposed ARS tool, open source technologies were exclusively used, so that it can be adopted by any educational institution with no financial effort. In our application the students use their own tablets and smartphone devices. Our proposed system aims to assist the educational process by enhancing students' participation through the Active Learning model. The tutor can post questions to the students and get their response in real time, thought their smart devices. The system ensures high participation of the audience, anonymity and interactivity of the participants, and immediate and accurate data, suitable for further statistical analysis and educational data mining.