Building a culture of interactive learning: University of Edinburgh’s journey with Wooclap

At the University of Edinburgh, innovation isn’t just a word, it’s a tradition. When the Learning Technology team realized their existing polling tool was slowing down engagement rather than inspiring it, they decided to rethink how interaction happens in class. The goal was simple yet ambitious: make participation effortless for teachers and empowering for students.

That’s how Wooclap entered the picture. Within just one semester, the university saw a 30% rise in participation and a surge in confidence among students who previously stayed silent. Behind this success was not just a new tool, but a thoughtful approach to community, training, and inclusive teaching.

To better understand how this transformation unfolded, we spoke with a member of the Learning Technology team at the University of Edinburgh who shared the story behind their successful adoption of Wooclap.

Can you briefly introduce the University of Edinburgh and your role within the Learning Technology team?

The University of Edinburgh, is one of Scotland's ancient universities known for its research and teaching excellence. We offer a wide range of undergraduate and postgraduate programs across various disciplines including medicine, science, and the humanities. The university has a rich history of innovation, attracting students from around the world.2. 3. I work within the centrally supported service team as a Learning Technology Advisor.

Here I provide technical and pedagogical support and advice to staff and students on learning technology enhanced learning tools provided by the University for learning in class, online and hybrid teaching activities.

What challenges or needs led you to explore Wooclap, and how were you addressing these before? 

In academic year 2021/22 we ran a polling service replacement project where we worked with our users to determine their requirements within their teaching activities to help us carry out market research to determine features of a new tool.

One of the main challenges was that our old tool was difficult to ‘pick up and play’ resulting in low usage and producing a number of support calls. With Wooclap, we found that ease of use when accessing and creating events was built-in for. Our users found this very intuitive, resulting in an increase of usage from our previous tool. The Wooclap service tends to be self-supporting, for example the heavy use of Wooclap since its launch has generated minimal support calls or calls for additional guidance.

How did you roll out Wooclap across the university and ensure its successful, institution-wide adoption?

As this was a replacement tool, we were able to work with our users to help with the transition to Wooclap. We had a small team of interns to help with the migration of content in time for the 2023/24 academic year.

We embarked on a big engagement drive to make our user community and others within our institution aware of the new tool and its features. As part of this we ran three different types of training session:

• Wooclap Orientation: This session was aimed at users with experience in using electronic voting systems to get them up to speed with creating and managing content within Wooclap.
• Introduction to Wooclap: This session is aimed at users that may have not used a voting system before. We give some background on the pedagogy of using voting systems and the different question types that they can use.
• In-Class Polling for Student Interaction and Engagement: This session is aimed at any user of voting systems looking to develop their use beyond multiple choice questions and knowledge checking. It includes some techniques that can be used to encourage peer and class discussion.

To support our users with using Wooclap, we built and maintain a SharePoint page where users can find information and guidance on using Wooclap and all the different question types. This includes a ‘try it yourself’, self-paced session where we explain each question type and give an example of its use so that presenters can experience each question type as a participant. The resource can also be shared with participants so that they have experience of using the more unusual question types ahead of teaching.

How has Wooclap influenced classroom engagement, and what feedback have teachers and students shared?

Since implementing our in-class polling service, classroom dynamics and student interaction have been positively impacted by increasing engagement and participation. In the first semester of moving to Wooclap, we observed a 30% rise in responses compared to the same period the previous year. The interactive features such as polls, quizzes and open questions encourage students to contribute and share their thoughts, as well as its low barrier to entry and participant ease of use for joining via anonymous responses has enabled more of our educators to engage in these types of teaching activates.

One comment we received from our staff survey was:

This is fostering a more inclusive environment for students. Additionally, real-time feedback helps teachers adapt their teaching in response to student needs, leading to more dynamic and responsive learning experiences.

Being awarded Versatile Champions in the Wooclap Interactive Learning Olympics also highlights our users for using the most diverse question types over the 2023/24 academic year making their teaching activities more engaging.

What guidance would you offer to institutions implementing Wooclap, and what future enhancements would you find most valuable?

Based on our experience, it’s important to build a strong user community. We found this helped with communications when launching Wooclap. Also, by providing our own resources that are relevant to the institution has helped in its success. This included different types of training to cater to our users, whether they were familiar with electronic voting systems, were completely new to them or just looking for examples of teaching activities using the different question types to increase engagement.

We also recommend Wooclap’s own webinars and events, it’s been great to see how other institutions have been using Wooclap within their teaching activities. Looking ahead we would be excited to see enhanced institution reporting features. This would give us more of an insight in real time of how we are using Wooclap. This is something we are currently working on with Wooclap.

Today, Wooclap is more than a polling solution at the University of Edinburgh it’s part of a broader culture of active learning. From peer discussions to real-time feedback, teachers have redefined what classroom interaction can look like.

For institutions looking to follow their lead, the lesson is clear: engagement doesn’t start with technology; it starts with simplicity, support, and a shared belief that every student deserves to have a voice.