The Effects of Clickers With Different Teaching Strategies

Abstract

The aim of this review was to analyze the effects of instance response systems or clickers on students’ learning in different teaching strategies. A total of 128 empirical studies were reviewed; 80% of the studies were conducted in the context of lectures or collaborative learning. Further analysis of the studies using a quasi-experimental design revealed that clicker usage in traditional lectures may enhance students’ attention and participation. However, it is not more effective than low-technology methods such as hand raising or response cards in terms of learning performance. Clickers combined with collaborative peer-aided learning have shown positive results with large effect sizes. Furthermore, incorporating clickers into innovative teaching strategies appears to be promising. Finally, the use of clickers to promote high-order thinking is discussed.