Clickers versus Plickers: Comparing Two Audience Response Systems in a Smartphone-Free Teaching Environment

Abstract

This study compared the performance of two audience response systems (ARSs) without students requiring smartphone technology or Internet access during problem-based learning (PBL) activities. Clicker handsets linked to a radio frequency (RF) receiver and paper voting cards, known as Plickers, which display a QR code (two-dimensional barcode) that can be captured by the instructor using a standard camera on a tablet device, represent two audience response platforms that allow students to vote in classrooms where smartphones are prohibited. Following regular usage of both by 157 first-year undergraduates, the proportion of the cohort voting with each polling platform was compared across 65 polling events as a measure of student compliance and engagement, and by deduction ARS performance. Results from this study showed that both clickers and Plickers achieved satisfactory cohort compliance rates of 87.22% and 78.26%, respectively. Anonymous student survey data overwhelming favored the clicker handsets over the Plicker voting cards, which was, in part, justified by clicker usage being more self-explanatory than that of Plickers; however, from an instructor’s perspective, both voting platforms adequately captured the level of students’ understanding during interactive sessions where problem-solving opportunities were embedded while maintaining a smartphone-free environment.