Use Of Clickers Research Articles

The Use of Classroom Clickers to Support Improved Self-Assessment in Introductory Chemistry

The Use of Classroom Clickers to Support Improved Self-Assessment in Introductory Chemistry

Efficient Use of Clickers: A Mixed-Method Inquiry with University Teachers

With the advancement of information technology and policies encouraging interactivities in teaching and learning, the use of students’ response system (SRS), commonly known as clickers, has experienced substantial growth in recent years. The reported effectiveness of SRS has varied. Based on the framework of technological-pedagogical-content knowledge (TPACK), the current study attempted to explore the disparity in efficiency of adopting SRS. A concurrent mixed method design was adopted to delineate factors conducive to efficient adoption of SRS through closed-ended survey responses and qualitative data. Participants were purposefully sampled from diverse academic disciplines and backgrounds. Seventeen teachers from various disciplines (i.e., tourism management, business, health sciences, applied sciences, engineering, and social sciences) at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University formed a teacher focus group for the current study. In the facilitated focus group, issues relating to efficient use of clickers, participants explored questions on teachers’ knowledge on various technologies, knowledge relating to their subject matters, methods and processes of teaching, as well as how to integrate all knowledge into their teaching. The TPACK model was adopted to guide the discussions. Emergent themes from the discussions were extracted using NVivo 10 for Windows, and were categorized according to the framework of TPACK. The survey, implemented on an online survey platform, solicited participants on teachers’ knowledge and technology acceptance. The close-ended survey comprised 30 items based on the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework and 20 items based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT). Participating teachers concurred with the suggestion that use of clickers is instrumental in engaging students in learning and assessing formative students’ progress. Converging with the survey results, several major themes contributing to the successful implementation of clickers, namely technology, technological-pedagogical, technological-content, technological-pedagogical-content knowledge, were identified from the teacher focus groups. The most and second most frequently cited themes were technological-pedagogical-content Knowledge and the technological knowledge respectively. Findings from the current study triangulated with previous findings on TPACK and use of clickers, particularly, the influence of technological-pedagogical-content Knowledge and technological knowledge on successful integration of innovations in class. Furthermore, the current study highlighted the impact of technological-pedagogical and technological-content knowledge for further research to unfold technology adoption with these featured TPACK configurations, as well as rendering support to frontline academics related to integration of technology and pedagogy.

EL USO DE LOS SISTEMAS DE RESPUESTA INTERACTIVA COMO HERRAMIENTA PARA FAVORECER EL APRENDIZAJE PROACTIVO EN INGENIERÍA

El desarrollo de las tecnologías de la información y la comunicación (TIC) ha permitido el surgimiento de herramientas didácticas en el campo de la educación, proporcionando herramientas prácticas para apoyar a las clases presenciales. En este contexto, los sistemas electrónicos de respuesta estudiantil pueden ser útiles para introducir un elemento tecnológico motivador en las lecciones, así como una nueva metodología. En este estudio, además del uso de los sistemas de respuesta interactiva o clickers, se ha introducido la tecnología de aprendizaje móvil mediante la elaboración de una metodología de uso de las herramientas Kahoot y Telegram en la asignatura "Fundamentos Físicos en la Ingeniería II" del Grado en Ingeniería Electrónica Industrial. El Departamento de Física Aplicada de la Universidad de Córdoba tiene una amplia experiencia en el uso de Clickers en clases teóricas con grupos grandes para diferentes grados universitarios, pero ahora el uso de tecnologías móviles de aprendizaje se ha introducido en grupos de tamaño medio para clases prácticas. Usando esta nueva metodología, los estudiantes de grupos medianos realizan un cuestionario durante la lección de resolución de problemas, donde utilizaron sus conocimientos adquiridos durante la clase. La realización del cuestionario permite a los profesores evaluar en tiempo real el nivel del estudiante y utilizar la retroalimentación para abordar los problemas iniciales y los malentendidos. Los resultados muestran que los sistemas de respuesta interactiva son altamente valorados por los estudiantes, que lo perciben como una herramienta para mejorar el aprendizaje y aumentar la competencia en el aula.

Millennial's perspective of clicker technology in a nursing classroom: A Mixed methods research study

BackgroundNursing education is facing challenges and a shift in paradigm within the nursing classroom. Educators need to explore innovative strategies that engage students. Clickers are one tool that can enhance participation, protect anonymity, and promote learning of concepts. Methods/Data sourcesThis mixed methods study evaluated nursing student's perceptions of clicker technology during lecture. This study uses a 9-item questionnaire to explore perceived levels of student perception of the technology of clickers in a nursing classroom. ParticipantsThe sample consisted of ninety-nine sophomore and senior level nursing students. Participants were recruited using convenience sampling. ResultsNinety-one percent of the students agreed or strongly agreed that the use of clickers helped them to develop a better understanding of the subject matter when compared to traditional lecture based class. ConclusionThe findings portray a positive correlation of learning and an enhanced pedagogical approach for nursing students.

Prediction of Students’ Use and Acceptance of Clickers by Learning Approaches: A Cross-Sectional Observational Study

The student response system (a.k.a clickers) had been widely used in classrooms for various pedagogical purposes these years. However, few of the studies examine students learning approaches toward both technology and engagement. The present study adopted a cross-sectional study method to investigate the relationship between students’ user acceptance of clickers, learning approaches, and general engagement in the clicker classes. A group of 3371 university students were investigated by an online questionnaire that contained with Unified Theory of Use and Acceptance of Technology, Study Process Questionnaire, and National Survey of Student Engagement across a two-semester span in 2015 and 2016. A regression analysis had been adopted to examine the relationship between those variables. Results indicated that a deep learning approach significantly predicted all user acceptance domains towards using clickers and significantly predicted several engagement domains such as collaborative learning and reflective and integrative learning. We concluded that deep learners tend to share a constructive attitude toward using clickers, especially when their peers are also using the clickers. While deep learners prefer integration of knowledge and skills from various sources and experiences, we hypothesize that their willingness to integrate clicker activities in their learning process stems from seeing clickers as a medium for consolidation in the learning process. Future research is, therefore, necessary to provide more detailed evidence of the characteristic of deep learners on the qualitative arm or in a way of mixed research method.

Using Clickers for Data Collection for Enterprise Budgets

Audience response receivers, or clickers, provide a convenient and efficient way to collect data for developing enterprise budgets. The use of clickers allows the Extension specialist to ask growers for individual farm data while guaranteeing confidentiality and anonymity. In addition, setting up a session for collecting the data from a panel of producers is less costly and time consuming than conducting one-on-one interviews. But perhaps the greatest advantage of this methodology is that it allows for keeping up with the rapid pace of change in growers' practices.

The use of clickers in Instrumentation and Control Engineering education: a case study

ABSTRACTThis paper presents results from a small-scale study of third-year Instrumentation and Control Engineering (n = 37) at the University of Plymouth. The aim of the study was to enhance student learning and increase participation via the use of clickers. Clickers allow for student participation anonymously. The lecture content was modified to embed clicker questions at regular intervals to test knowledge, understanding and cognitive skills. Largely, the students preferred interactive lectures to traditional didactic lectures and using clickers increased student engagement and participation. Interestingly, compared to assessment results from the previous year, the increased level of engagement did seem to lead to an overall improvement in grades of approximately 10% in the subject of Control Engineering. However, in Instrumentation, the average fell by approximately 20%. One possible contributory factor of this drop could be the changed exam format for Instrumentation only. This year, the multiple choice section was removed from the Instrumentation examination paper. Furthermore, an analysis of variance showed that in addition to using clickers in the lectures, attendance plays a key role. Results of this small-scale study show that for a more complex subject like Control, student learning, engagement and attainment can increase by the use of clickers.

Can clicking promote learning?

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of factors such as attention, preparation, participation, feedback and engagement on the student learning performance.Design/methodology/approachStudents of an undergraduate business course of a British university took part in the survey. The survey questionnaire was distributed to students during the revision week of the course and a total of 61 valid responses were gathered from them. The linear regression analysis using statistical package for the social sciences was performed to analyse the data.FindingsThe results indicated the significant relationships for all six hypotheses. The model explains a variance of 43.2 per cent in learning performance, which indicates that independent constructs contribute significantly on the research model’s performance.Research limitations/implicationsFirst, the sample only provides the students’ views about the use of clickers in the classroom setting. Second, the sample size for the gathered data is small. Third, the variance explained by the research model is reasonably moderate and hence can be improved further.Originality/valueThis is the first study to explore the impact of factors such as attention, preparation, participation, feedback and engagement on the student learning performance in the UK educational setting.

In-class use of clickers and clicker tests improve learning and enable instant feedback and retests via automated grading

An audience response system (‘clickers’) was gradually incorporated into introductory physics courses at Worcester Polytechnic Institute during the years 2011–14. Clickers were used in lectures, as a means of preparing for labs, and for collection of exam data and grading. Average student grades were 13.5% greater, as measured by comparing exam results with a previous year. Student acceptance of clickers was high, ranging from 66% to 95%, and grading time for exams was markedly reduced, from a full day to a few hours for approximately 150 students. The streamlined grading allowed for a second test on the same material for the students who failed the first one. These improvements have the immediate effects of engagement, learning, and efficiency, and ideally, they will also provide an environment in which more students will succeed in college and their careers.

Pausing the classroom lecture: The use of clickers to facilitate student engagement

In a big classroom, it is not easy for instructors to be aware of whether or not all students are engaged in the lecture and who has difficulty understanding learning content. One way in which the engagement between instructor/lecturer and students in the classroom is via technology designed to facilitate this. A computer system, making use of clickers, was designed for students to do this. That is, students can request to pause the lecture when necessary. Two classes with 109 college students participated in this study. Students learned the subject matter by using the system for 2 weeks. This article describes the reasons why students choose to engage via this clicker-based system, the time when they do so and what factors influence students’ willingness to engage in this way. Furthermore, we investigated whether introverts would engage differently from the more non-introverted. The following main findings were obtained. Most students chose to engage via the clicker system. Results showed that students’ willingness to engage via this technology were because they found it difficult to remember or understand the lecture content. For instructors, there is a need to understand when, precisely, to pause the lecture so that an appropriate intervention might be made at that point. An optimal decision boundary for pausing the lecture is proposed. Finally, the article looks at whether or not the learning style of introverts influences student willingness to use such a clicker system.

Using audience response systems to enhance student engagement and learning in information literacy teaching

One of the key challenges in Information Literacy (IL) teaching in higher education is ensuring student engagement. As such, active learning approaches are encouraged in order to maximise student participation and interaction with the teaching. The use of audience response systems (ARSs) is one active learning approach which is being used increasingly in IL teaching. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of ARSs in terms of increased engagement and student learning. Previous research has explored the use of ARSs as an active learning approach in comparison to traditional lectures, but this study aims to specifically examine the effectiveness of these tools as part of an active learning pedagogy. Most existing studies have looked at a single ARS, usually clickers. With an increase in availability and functionality of online tools, and discussions at a university level about moving to a single system which makes use of students’ own devices, this study also aims to compare the effectiveness of clickers and online ARSs. A controlled study was carried out on two cohorts of medical students at Queen Mary University of London comparing the use of clickers, online response tools, or a mixture of the two, to teaching without ARSs. Class observation and student evaluation were used to measure student engagement, and quizzes and student confidence levels to measure student learning. Results of the study showed that ARSs, when used as part of an active learning pedagogy, are an effective tool in terms of increasing student engagement, and have a generally positive impact on student learning, with online tools being slightly more effective than clickers. The study provides evidence which can be used by IL practitioners to help integrate ARSs into their teaching as well as inform institutional decisions on the use of these tools.

The influence of flow on learning outcomes: An empirical study on the use of clickers

AbstractFlow is a state of total absorption and concentration in an activity that is desirable for students, as it enhances the learning experience. Due to the importance of flow for learning, this research investigates the influence of three flow preconditions—namely balance of skill and challenge, feedback and goal clarity—on students' flow, operationalized as heightened concentration, sense of control and autotelic experience, while using clickers—a type of polling device. The study also explores the impact of concentration, sense of control and autotelic experience on students' perceived learning and satisfaction. Based on a survey of 204 undergraduate students who use clickers in the classroom, the findings show that balance of skill and challenge has a positive influence on students' concentration, sense of control and autotelic experience. Both feedback provided by clickers and goal clarity have a positive influence on concentration and sense of control, but do not influence the autotelic experience. Findings also corroborate the positive impact of concentration and sense of control experienced by students on perceived learning. Finally, autotelic experience predicts both perceived learning and satisfaction.

International-Domestic Student Differences in Learning: Use of Classroom Response Systems in China Versus in Canada

ABSTRACTThis study compares the impact of audience response systems (clickers) on the learning experience and classroom behavior of Chinese and Canadian students. Based on differences in student learning styles, which are rooted in the differences in national cultures, we predict that clicker technology will result in a more positive learning experience, and have more impact on classroom behavior in Chinese students than in Canadian students. Our survey results show that, consistent with the findings of prior studies, both groups of students report a positive experience and improved classroom behavior with the use of clickers. Chinese students report a more positive learning experience, but no difference in classroom behavior changes than Canadian students. This study extends the research on clickers by considering the impact of cultural background and shows classroom technology such as clickers can potentially help mitigate the cultural barriers in international business education.

Comparing trainers’ reports of clicker use to the use of clickers in applied research studies: methodological differences may explain conflicting results

Clicker training refers to an animal training technique, derived from laboratory-based studies of animal learning and behaviour, in which a reward-predicting signal is delivered immediately following performance of a desired behaviour, and is subsequently followed by a reward. While clicker training is popular amongst dog training practitioners, scientific evaluation in applied settings has been largely unsuccessful in replicating the benefits of reward-predicting signals seen in laboratory animal studies. Here we present an analysis of dog trainers’ advice and perceptions, conducted to better understand clicker training as it occurs in the dog training industry. Twenty-five sources (13 interviews with dog trainers, 5 websites, and 7 books) were analysed using a deductive content analysis procedure. We found that, for many sources, “clicker training” referred not only to the technique, but also to a philosophy of training that emphasises positive reinforcement and the deliberate application of Learning Theory principles. Many sources reported that clicker training was fun, for both dog and handler, but that it could be frustrating for handlers to learn and sometimes cumbersome to juggle the extra equipment. In addition, while most sources recommended clicker training particularly when training new behaviours, many stated that it was no longer needed once the dog had learned the desired behaviour. When comparing industry recommendations to methods used in applied studies, different criteria were used for predictor signal conditioning. Inadequate conditioning of the predictor signal in empirical evaluations could partly explain the lack of learning benefits in applied studies. While future research is needed to verify the practitioner beliefs in a wider population, these results provide an in-depth description of what clicker training is, at least for the sources analysed, and a potential starting point for understanding methodological factors that could contribute to previous studies’ failure to demonstrate the benefits purported to exist by industry practitioners.

Considerations for using personal Wi-Fi enabled devices as “clickers” in a large university class

Interactive student response systems, commonly referred to as clickers, have increased in popularity in higher education classrooms as a means to improve engagement and enhance learning. Clicker systems come with handheld devices as well as a radio frequency receiver. A Wi-Fi connection to the receiver is possible, enabling students to use their personal smartphones, tablets, or laptops instead of the handheld device. The objective of this study was to determine the feasibility of students using their personal Wi-Fi enabled devices as clickers in a large university class. In addition, we sought to elicit student perceptions of clicker use in general. Overall, the majority of students preferred using their personal devices, thus saving several minutes of class time in distribution and collection. Students gave very positive feedback on the use of clickers; however, they did not like that clickers could be used to track attendance and participation.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Clicker Use in Education

Since the birth of clickers at Pennsylvania State University, there have been numerous arguments on its effectiveness. This study, aiming to review use of clickers in education, examined literature over around a decade on use of clickers, involving benefits and defects of use of clickers, peer discussion, use of clickers in learning, teaching and problem solving, the effectiveness of use of clickers among non-students. Besides, relationships between lecturing and learning aided with clickers, and current developments in use of clickers were also reviewed and discussed. It was concluded that clickers, as one form of modern technology, had gained growing popularity due to their advantages, such as peer discussion, anonymity and instant feedback although disputes still remained. More studies on clickers and other new technologies were still needed to further push forward levels of education. Cross-disciplinary cooperation between computers, education and psychology may be needed to design more advanced educational technologies.

Measuring clicker impact on student perceptions of course and instructor

Recent research has shown that students have positive opinions regarding the use of remote response devices ('RRD's), commonly known as 'clickers', in the classroom. Studies indicate that clickers are effective, help students engage, and improve the overall learning process. This research focuses on measuring the size of the impact of clickers, via the effect size index, on student perceptions of the instructor and course. Results indicate that student opinions of clickers are definitely related to student opinions about course and instructor. That is, the two concepts are not independent. Furthermore, the use of clickers has numerous small, medium, and large effects on various student perceptions about the instructor and the course. These results can be generalised to other studies via the effect size index and its standardised measurement scale. Some demographic differences in perceptions about clickers are also discussed.

Measuring clicker impact on student perceptions of course and instructor

Recent research has shown that students have positive opinions regarding the use of remote response devices ('RRD's), commonly known as 'clickers', in the classroom. Studies indicate that clickers are effective, help students engage, and improve the overall learning process. This research focuses on measuring the size of the impact of clickers, via the effect size index, on student perceptions of the instructor and course. Results indicate that student opinions of clickers are definitely related to student opinions about course and instructor. That is, the two concepts are not independent. Furthermore, the use of clickers has numerous small, medium, and large effects on various student perceptions about the instructor and the course. These results can be generalised to other studies via the effect size index and its standardised measurement scale. Some demographic differences in perceptions about clickers are also discussed.

Do clickers enhance learning? A control-value theory approach

The use of clickers in the classroom has gained popularity over the past few years. While significant work has been conducted on exploring clickers as drivers of learning outcomes, findings are still mixed and inconclusive. In addition, several recent reviews of this interactive technology highlight an important shortcoming of previous research: the lack of theoretical discussions that explain how clickers may help learning. To address these gaps, this research draws on the control-value theory of achievement emotions to explain how the use of clickers can enhance students' motivation, learning, and satisfaction. Based on a survey of 207 undergraduate students who use clickers in the classroom, the findings show that feedback provided by clickers has a positive influence on students' perceived academic control, self-efficacy, and value. Perceived academic control and self-efficacy positively predict pride, but do not influence the enjoyment experienced while using clickers. On the other hand, self-efficacy has a negative influence on boredom. Value has a positive effect on enjoyment and pride, and a negative effect on boredom. Enjoyment experienced by students while using clickers predicts both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Pride has a positive effect on extrinsic motivation, whereas boredom has a negative influence on students' intrinsic motivation. Finally, both types of motivation predict perceived learning and satisfaction.

The Effects of Clickers With Different Teaching Strategies

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.