The Daily Pop Quiz: Teaching and Learning with Clickers
18 Pages Posted: 20 Oct 2012
There are 2 versions of this paper
The Daily Pop Quiz: Teaching and Learning with Clickers
Date Written: October 18, 2012
Abstract
In recent years, technology has gained a firm foothold in higher education classrooms. Student response systems (AKA clickers) are among the most common teaching technologies incorporated into classrooms today (Immerwahr 2009; Winograd & Cheesman 2007).
Theory: Nearly every study identifies benefits gained by incorporating clickers into the classroom. However, evidence about the nature of the causal link between “clicking” and these claimed benefits is typically absent. To fill this void, we theorize that students benefit from using clickers in class, because: clicker quiz questions connect each day’s material to exams (and thus to students’ grades), and clicker quizzes may improve student attendance and engagement.
Data: Studying this relationship in a large class (i.e., nearly 300 students), we test competing explanations using opinion surveys as well as behavioral data.
Findings: We find that clickers may enhance students’ performance through a number of mechanisms: (1) more consistent class attendance, (2) “on the fly” formative assessment of student knowledge, (3) signaling high-priority course content, and (4) increased classroom participation and attention. These processes appear to operate simultaneously, although perhaps in different intensities for different students.
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