What do students really think about clickers: Survey resultsElizabeth HodasDirector of Educational Technology and Media ServicesHarvey Mudd College

What are clickers?

Personal Response System

We chose the iClicker system, which the Pomona Physics department was also using

Simple, easy to use, only 5 buttons for multiple choice questions, on/off button

Radio frequency, not infrared so doesn’t depend on line of sight

Background

Pilot program in Spring 2010 with 3 faculty

Very successful so went into production mode in Fall 2010 with 8 sets of 50 iclickers

Purchased an additional 3 sets for Spring 2011 for a total of 11 sets

Chemistry department liked them so much they decided to require the freshman class to each purchase their own iClicker for Fall 2011 semester.

ClassesFall 2010 Spring 2011 Fall 2011

Biol 81 Biol 101 Chem 23D

Chem 23 Chem 23D Chem 23E

Chem 51 Chem 52 Chem 23S

CS 5 Engr 82 Chem 51

CS 42 Engr 85 Engr 59

Engr 11 Engr 85A Engr 82

Engr 82 Engr 106 History 82

Phys 111 Phys 24 Math 187/Engr 190C

Quantitative Questions

Did use of the technology increase:Retention of course material

Reflection on course material

Your participation/engagement in the course

Overall performance in course

Likert scale from Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree

Results: Fall 2010

Results: Spring 2011

Results: Fall 2011

Qualitative Questions

What did you like about using this technology?

Was there something that could have been improved? Do you have suggestions for other ways this technology could be used in the classroom?

Analyzed this data by looking for common themes in the responses.

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Fall 2010: Themes from what do you like about the iClickers: 210 responses

Test

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Spring 2011: Themes from what do you like about the iClickers: 132 responses

Test

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Fall 2011: Themes from what do you like about the iClickers: 150 responses

See

how y

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to re

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Themes from what do you like about the iClickers

Fall 2010Spring 2011Fall 2011

Quotes

It provides an anonymous way of checking your understanding compared to that of the other students in your class; and provides the professor a way to determine what information is easy and what might require more explanation before we understand it well enough to replicate later.

The iClickers were fun to use both personally and because everyone else was so engaged. Near the end of Chem23D there was one time that the entire class got a clicker question right and we were so excited students took pictures and I still have a copy somewhere I think.

Quotes cont’dThis was a great way to practice working on problems or think about concept questions. Then, we can see the distribution of choices that the entire class has, and then discuss why each chosen answer is correct or incorrect. Good way to get everyone interactive.

It let me be engaged in the class and try answering problems I would never have tried answering otherwise without having to worry if I know the right answer.

I thought iClickers were a great way to add variety to the class format. They were lots of fun, easy to use, and helped me to stay on track/not fall behind in class. They help me to find out how well I understood the material being covered.

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Fall 2010: Was there something that could have been improved? 210 responses

No an

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0

5

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Spring 2011: Was there something that could have been improved? 132 responses

No an

swer

Cost

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ken

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usly

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Fall 2011: Was there something that could have been improved? 150 responses

Inst

ant F

eedb

ack

for s

tude

nts a

nd fa

culty

Test

und

erst

andi

ng

Incr

ease

eng

agem

ent/k

ept m

e fro

m fa

lling

asle

ep in

clas

s

Easy

to u

se/q

uick

See

how y

ou com

pare

to re

st o

f cla

ss Fun

Incr

ease

inte

ract

ivity

Anony

mity

Prac

tice

prob

lem

s/re

view

mat

eria

l

Incr

ease

par

ticip

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Ince

ntiv

e to

com

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cla

ss

Save

d pa

per

Earn

ext

ra p

oint

s0

10

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Themes from what you liked about the iClickers

Fall 2010Spring 2011Fall 2011

QuotesThe professor should have more questions scattered throughout the class instead of concentrating them in the front. That way, late students will still be counted for attendance, and sleeping students might be penalized.

Never ever ever ever ever should these clickers be associated with grades in any way. Ever. Not even once.

It wasn't that useful in CS5. We always had in class quizzes but changing them to a multiple choice format in order to use the clickers really wasn't beneficial. They might be useful in other classes, but not really with the format of this class.

Quotes cont’d

A lot of the questions weren't written in a way that made sense for the iclicker.

I liked in CHEM23S with Professor Maloney when she would ask a "how are you feeling?" question, with answers that ranged from "great! let's move on!" to "I am totally lost, what just happened again?". This was a great way to gauge how the class was doing as a whole, and to better pace the next material.

I had a problem with the fact that each student needed to spend $50 on the "newest" model of IClicker this year when I've heard that in previous years CIS provided the older models for free.