Assistant Professor of Psychology
Area of Recognition: Teaching

Keith Williams is an outstanding teacher and mentor for students engaged in research in physiological psychology. Enrollments in his classes reach capacity levels very early in every registration session. Evaluations from both students and faculty who have observed his work in the classroom are uniformly positive. In addition to his outstanding performance in the classroom, Williams is currently conducting research designed to assist the department in exploring ways to enhance the quality of teaching activities. In collaboration with special lecturer Rich Linden, Williams is exploring the use of electronic audience response systems, such as the iClicker, as a tool for engaging students in classes with large enrollments in lecture style classrooms. The iClickers can be used to break up lecture segments with the intent of stimulating discussion and increasing student attention in class with polling and survey questions. By applying pedagogical techniques, the goal is to improve performance on assessment material and increase student preparation for class. The purpose of the study is to determine if the pedagogical method of using iClickers in introductory psychology classes will alter objective performance measures as well as subjective evaluations from students. The results will be shared with the university community when the analysis of data is complete.