Case Study: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign boosts exam scores and engagement with Top Hat

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign raises exam scores by 8% with Top Hat

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Professor David Guggenheim faced significant challenges with falling student attendance and declining exam scores in a Business Analytics course. To address poor comprehension and engagement, the educator had previously reduced exam difficulty, but student performance remained below pre-pandemic levels. He turned to the vendor Top Hat to implement an active learning platform with the goal of improving both attendance and assessment outcomes.

Using Top Hat's interactive polls and discussions during lectures, the professor incentivized attendance and participation by grading student responses. This solution provided real-time insight into comprehension and allowed for immediate clarification of material. As a result, attendance reached 100%, and exam scores improved dramatically. After implementing Top Hat, average exam scores increased from 78% to 86%, even after the professor raised the difficulty by increasing the number of exam questions.

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign