Using live interactive polling to enable hands-on learning for both face-to-face and online students within hybrid-delivered courses

Tertiary institutions are increasingly providing hybrid delivery options to students, requiring course coordinators to migrate formerly face-to-face curricula into frameworks that suit online teaching. However, there is a risk that the implementation of hands-on, engaging activities will decrease during hybrid sessions due to staff uncertainty of their effectiveness across the varied cohorts. This presents a need to identify engaging modes of instruction that can remain equally engaging for learning regardless of the students’ enrolled mode of delivery. Interactive polling has the potential to be used within a class in real-time and allow both face-to-face and online students to take part in an in-class activity at the same time. This study aimed to compare the effects of interactive polling within either a face-to-face or online delivery format. One-hundred and seventy-four participants studying first-year health science and medicine completed a live interactive poll using the Kahoot! platform in either a face-to-face (n=72) or online (n=102) hybrid-delivered subject. Experiences and perceptions were provided as written responses and a Likert scale survey. Participant responses were positive, with three themes emerging, including interactive polling being enjoyable, engaging, and valuable for learning. Across cohorts, participants rated interactive polling highly, and perceived that it offered an effective learning and revision tool. This study found that interactive polling using Kahoot! maintains its suitability as a method of instruction across both face-to-face and online learner cohorts. The finding that it remains equally effective across both delivery modes provides evidence-based support for its use in hybrid or blended subject offerings.