ProfePlus

Apply peer instruction method in your class.

ProfePlus facilitates the implementation of the methodology "peer instruction" in the classroom of any course. This methodology was created by Dr. Eric Mazur (Harvard University) for more than two decades ago and has been widely adopted in many universities in different countries. Thanks to their contributions in improving teaching, Dr. Mazur was honored with the prestigious award Minerva in 2014.

Today, a session with this method through an application has been made feasible due to the growing trend of students who have smart phones or tablets; as well as many universities have wi-fi on their campuses.

Using the application is simple. For the teacher, should only download the application and press the "Ask the class" and then select the type of question you will. Subsequently, a number that represents the key of the class appears. This number must be given to students so they can join the session and send their answers. Thus, the teacher can see on your screen, in real time, the results of the classroom in a graph. After this first step, the teacher should invite students to work in teams (applying peer instruction) and then, they can send their answers.

This application for smartphones began in 2015 at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru as a joint effort of several university professors from the fields of science and engineering, who collaborate with Entrepreneurial Network E-QUIPU. They received support from the grant fund "Innovation in University Teaching" of the Professorate Academic Board ; as well as the Peruvian Network of Universities.

Also, the National University of Trujillo was the first to cooperate strongly with this initiative, from the Academic Department of Physics. Thanks to this strong enthusiasm, there are university professors over seven Peruvian universities (renowned in the Peruvian regions), who from 2016 use this application in their classes.

Finally, we deeply appreciate the guidance and comments made by Dr. Eric Mazur, who from the beginning was aware of this joint effort to implement, in Peruvian universities, peer education methodology.

Also, from E-QUIPU, we extend our recognition to teachers who use this tool in their classrooms, thus showing that offer a "plus" to the traditional method of teaching, and that is why initially we call this effort with the name "Profe-Plus", then "Profe Plus" and now "ProfePlus". We hope it will be very useful in the use of "peer instruction" or other methodologies, such as "flipped classroom" or "out of class" learning processes.

Welcome to ProfePlus!