Clickers in Classrooms

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Introduction

• Clickers (also called Student Response Systems) are a new technology, small hand-held devices which allows individual students to respond to questions posed to an entire class, with anonymous results immediately tallied and visible.

• Clickers can be used to engage students in active learning, such as applying key concepts, solving problems, comparing examples, analyzing case studies, and other critical thinking tasks. Having students explain their answers and convince their neighbors further deepens their learning.

• The immediate results provided by clickers also give faculty a quick assessment of how students are thinking and understanding, allowing faculty to adjust the lesson in progress to student needs.

• Faculty at WSU and elsewhere are exploring the many uses of this technology. The Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology [[1]] is available to consult with faculty and TAs, and to connect you with others who are also exploring use of clickers in their classes.

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Examples

• Short introduction/overview of how Harvard professor Eric Mazur uses clickers to promote and assess learning in his physics classes [[2]]

• Using Student Response Systems [[3]] Practical guidelines from the University of Missouri-Columbia

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Using Clickers as an Assessment Tool

Instructors can evaluate and get feedback on their performance in “real time” using “How am I doing?”questions where students choose between, for example:

• 1) The lecture is very clear so far, no questions.
• 2) I have a question or two.
• 3) I have a lot of questions.
• 4) I am so confused, I don’t have any questions.

Student responses to the last question enables the teacher to extend, repeat, or modify previous lecture topic discussions (From Burnstein & Lederman).

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Resources

• Declining By Degrees has a ten-minute video clip showing how one professor uses clickers to engage students in a large class. (This dvd is available for viewing at CTLT; contact 335-1355 for information.)

• Burnstein R. A., Lederman L. M. (2002). Using wireless keypads in lecture classes. Phys. Teach.; 39:8–11.

• Winerman, L (2006). The Wired Classroom. gradPsych; 4(4):22-23.

• Caldwell, J.E. (2007). Clickers in the Large Classroom: Current Research and Best-Practice Tips, CBE Life Sci Educ; 6(1): 9–20.

• Hatch J., Jensen M. Manna from Heaven or “clickers” from Hell. J. Coll. Sci. Teach. 2005;34(7):36–39.

• Peer Instruction, a user's manual, by Eric Mazur. Mazur's book offers many details and suggestions, with examples of reading quizzes and concept tests from his physics course. (A copy is available at CTLT.)

• Active Learning with PowerPoint: Ways to weave short activities into PPT lectures ... with or without clickers[[4]] University of Minnesota

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Questions