Turning Distraction into Engagement: How UTHM Uses Wayground in Large Lecture Classes
At Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM), the challenge wasn’t access to content, it was keeping students engaged.
In large lecture halls filled with students holding their phones, the question wasn’t whether technology should be used, it was how to use it meaningfully. Wayground became the turning point.
A Technical University with a Practical Mission
Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM) is one of Malaysia’s public technical universities, part of a national network of 23 institutions.
With over 17,000 students across two campuses and more than 1,200 academic staff, the university focuses on engineering, technical education, and vocational training preparing students with both academic knowledge and industry-ready skills.
Teaching here is not just theoretical. It’s applied, practical, and fast-paced.
The Challenge: Moving Beyond One-Way Teaching
Before adopting Wayground, many classes followed a familiar pattern: Lecture-heavy delivery, limited real-time interaction, and difficulty checking understanding during sessions. Even when lecturers tried to engage students, participation was inconsistent.
At the same time, students were already on their phones, but not always for learning. The opportunity was clear: Instead of fighting devices, why not turn them into learning tools?
Bringing Engagement into the Lecture Hall
Today, Wayground is used to transform how lectures are delivered. Instead of competing with distractions, lecturers now leverage them. Students use their phones to: Answer live questions during lectures, participate in interactive activities, and stay focused through guided engagement.
For large classes where visibility and attention are challenges, this shift has made a noticeable difference. As one lecturer described “it’s no longer about stopping students from using their phones; it’s about guiding how they use them”.
Real-Time Insight That Drives Behavior Change
One of the most impactful features has been activity reporting and monitoring. Lecturers can see, when students switch tabs, how often they leave the activity, who is actively participating. This visibility has led to something unexpected: behavioral change.
Students who were previously disengaged become more mindful once they know their activity is visible. Over time, lecturers have observed improved focus and reduced off-task behavior in class.
Supporting Blended Learning at Scale
Wayground plays a key role in UTHM’s blended learning approach. It is used for: interactive activities during lectures, supporting online learning weeks, conducting quizzes and assessments, encouraging student-led activities and peer learning
In some cases, students are even asked to create their own gamified activities and share them with peers, turning assessment into an active learning experience.
Driving Adoption Across a Large Institution
Scaling adoption in a university of this size comes with challenges. Not all faculty members are quick to adopt new tools. Resistance to change is real. To address this, UTHM has taken a structured approach:
- Conducting regular training sessions
- Assigning focal persons in each faculty
- Running weekly check-ins to identify support needs
- Collecting feedback through surveys to guide improvement
The focus isn’t just on introducing the platform, it’s on building confidence and capability among lecturers.
UTHM already has its own in-house learning management system. But Wayground fills a gap. While the LMS manages courses and materials, Wayground adds real-time interaction, engagement-driven activities, monitoring tools for assessments and more dynamic classroom experience. For a university that previously had no collaborative engagement platform of this kind, this represents a significant shift.
Redefining the Role of Technology in the Classroom
At UTHM, Wayground is not just another tool added to the system. It represents a shift in mindset: From delivering content to creating interaction. From controlling devices to guiding their use, and from passive listening to active participation In a world where attention is the hardest thing to earn, that shift makes all the difference.
