Ben-Gurion University of the Negev: improving the learning experience with Wooclap
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev: a great learning experience with Wooclap
At Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, educators and learning technologists have embraced technology in the classroom, provided it enhances the existing learning experience. Starting from 2020, Wooclap has emerged as a pivotal tool within their digital ecosystem, not only enhancing remote classes but also facilitating meaningful interactions between students and professors. This partnership has proven to be highly successful. Let's explore the reasons behind the significant impact of Wooclap at Ben-Gurion University.
The university at first glance
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, situated in Israel, consists of 3 main campuses, with its primary campus located in Beer-Sheba. Serving as a bustling hub for more than 20,000 students, the university provides a wide array of academic opportunities across 6 faculties and approximately 90 academic departments and units.
These faculties encompass the Faculty of Engineering Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Guilford Glazer Faculty of Business and Management, and The Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research.
A story that started during the pandemic
In 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic forced everyone to stay at home, Ben-Gurion University was determined to provide its students with the best possible learning experience. To achieve this, they recognized the need to adapt their teaching methods.
Seeking a solution that would enable more engaging remote classes and maintain a vital connection between learners and lecturers, the university became intrigued by Wooclap. Following a successful pilot phase that lasted an entire semester, the university made the decision to implement Wooclap for all professors and students.
Over the course of a year of remote classes, a significant majority of the teaching staff, comprising more than 210 professors at the time, had already embraced the tool. They created close to 3,000 questions that were presented to over 6,000 unique participants, resulting in an impressive 93,000 answers during that period.
The success of Wooclap's implementation at Ben-Gurion University can be attributed to the teachers who wholeheartedly integrated the tool into their pedagogy and learning process. In addition to its ease of use, Wooclap's seamless integration with Moodle played a pivotal role in the decision-making process, further solidifying its position as the interactive tool of choice.
Still a strong collaboration 4 years later, with new use cases
Since October 2021, Wooclap has emerged as an integral component of the learning experience at Ben-Gurion University. 270 teachers have used Wooclap and have created over 1 500 interactive questions and activities.
This remarkable adoption showcases how teachers effectively capture their students' attention through the use of Wooclap's diverse question types and user-friendly interface. Furthermore, educators continue to discover new ways to leverage the tool on a daily basis.
Beyond its pedagogical advantages, Wooclap also offers an administrative benefit. Teachers employ Wooclap to conveniently record attendance in Moodle, taking advantage of the option to synchronize Wooclap grades seamlessly with the Moodle platform.
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Wooclap’s impact for teachers & students
The impact for teachers
Chen Avin, Professor at the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Ben-Gurion University says: “Wooclap gives structure to the class, it creates breaks that you plan ahead of time at certain spots, it allows more active participation. For me it’s a win-win.”
According to Niv Regev, Professor at the Psychology Department, The Zlotowski Center for Neuroscience, Wooclap enables a “constant interaction with the material allowing students to continuously gage their understanding of the material in relation to others in the class and in relation to an objective answer that I define in advance, thus allowing them to correct their knowledge in real time”.
The impact for students
Niv Regev adds that students “have to think in real time, interactively and be active, and we know that active studying improves learning and long-term knowledge retention”.
As a student, Tair Ra’am says that Wooclap “allows everyone to participate”, whereas “in standard lessons, it’s usually the same few students who participate and answer the teacher’s questions”. She also thinks that “the use of a nice technological tool makes learning more pleasant.”
High ambitions for the future
In recent years, Ben-Gurion University’s strategy has been to focus on digital tools that could improve the learning experience of its students. Wooclap really fits in with this focus as the tool is one of the most direct and easiest ways to add interactivity during a class.
Nevertheless, our ambition at Wooclap is to always make the tool better and adjust it to new challenges and issues faced by teachers and students. This is why we have recently set up a program to improve Wooclap’s use cases and features in collaboration with Ben-Gurion University’s teaching staff.
To many more years of interactions and pedagogical creativity with Wooclap at Ben Gurion University!
Ben-Gurion University and Wooclap in key figures
Number of students
20,000
Number of Faculties
6
Teachers using Wooclap
560+
Year of foundation
1969
Number of academic departments and units
90
Number of campuses
3