Implementation of a visual raise hand function in PowerPoint(®)

Objective: Replacing face-to-face lessons by remote teaching due to COVID-19 led to a markedly reduced interaction between students and lecturers. In our opinion, one of the main reasons for this is the raise hand function of the respective web conference systems, which (independent of the system used) results in an unobtrusive signal that can easily be missed by the lecturer. Given the necessary focus on one's own presentation, questions can therefore only be perceived with a considerable time delay and can only be integrated into the lessons to a limited extent. Thus, the idea arose to display question requests of the auditorium by a clear visual signal in PowerPoint® itself. Methodology: With Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), Microsoft PowerPoint(®) holds an integrated programming language that extends its functionality. Accordingly, VBA was used to program a routine running in the background of the presentation, which periodically retrieves the contents of a web-based “signal file” in a cycle of a few seconds. The content of this signal file, in turn, can be modified by the students by calling up an URL (i.e. from any Internet-capable device) - this results in a (customizable) visual signal in PowerPoint® that is temporarily visible and does not further interfere with the presentation. Conclusion: With the concept presented here, a raise hand function was realized in PowerPoint®, which manifests itself as a clear visual signal independent of the web conferencing system used. This enables the lecturers to respond instantly to questions from the audience during live transmission of lectures.