This document discusses the use of classroom response systems, also known as clickers, to promote active engagement in university courses. It provides an overview of techniques like peer instruction and thought questions that can be used with clickers. The evidence suggests that clickers help students learn and perform better on assessments by encouraging participation and concentration. While clickers are effective, the presenter emphasizes that pedagogical techniques are more important than the technology itself, and instructors should start small and focus on conceptual understanding over factual recall.

1. Name
School
Department
ACTIVE ENGAGEMENT USING
CLASSROOM RESPONSE SYSTEMS
@ CSU PUEBLO FACULTY DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP
DR. JEFF LOATS
DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS

2. THE TECHNOLOGY CHALLENGE
2
“The challenge is not simply to incorporate
learning technologies into current institutional
approaches, but rather to change our
fundamental views about effective teaching and
learning and to use technology to do so.”
(Higher Education in an Era of Digital Competition, Donald E. Hanna)

3. GUIDING PRINCIPLES
3
Technology is not an educational panacea
Seek tools that offer new approaches
As always, let evidence guide our attention

4. OVERVIEW
4
1. Motivation for change
2. Peer Instruction
3. Technology options
4. Question types
5. Practice writing questions
6. Evidence for effectiveness
7. Summaries

5. 5
In (roughly) what area do you teach?
A) Humanities
B) Natural sciences & mathematics
C) Professions & applied sciences
D) Social sciences
E) Teacher education

6. 6
Are you currently using clickers or another
classroom response system in your courses?
A) I have never used them.
B) I have used them before, but don’t currently.
C) I use them currently in at least one class.

7. PHYSICS EDUCATION REVOLUTION
Eric Mazur, Physicist at Harvard:
7

8. 8
“ALL SIMILARLY (IN)EFFECTIVE…”

9. 9
University of Washington
University of Colorado
University of Illinois
at Urbana-Champaign

10. FEEDBACK THAT WORKS
10
“Improvement of performance is actually a
function of two perceptual processes.The
individual’s perception of the standards of
performance, and her/his perception of his/her
own performance.”
The Feedback Fallacy – Steve Falkenberg (via Linda Nilson)

11. TECHNOLOGIES VS.TECHNIQUES
11
Clickers
Colored cards
Hands
Virtual response tools
Peer Instruction
Factual recall
Polling/survey
Poll-Teach-Poll
Thought Questions
Teach-Test-Retest
… adding metacognition

12. MAZUR’S PERSONAL REVOLUTION
12
(added) Pre-class reading, enforced
(removed) Most sample problems
(removed) Derivations
(modified) Lecture broken up into small bites
(added) Depth over coverage
(added) ConceptTests with Peer Instruction

13. PEER INSTRUCTION
13
Multiple choice questions
–Conceptual
–Hard
1. Students answer Individually
2. Discussion with peers
3. Students answer post-discussion
4. Class-wide discussion

14. Students have developed a robot dog
and a robot cat, both of which can
run at 8 mph and walk at 4 mph.
A the end of the term, there is a race!
The robot cat must run for half of its
racing time, then walk.
The robot dog must run for half the
racing distance, then walk.
Which one wins the race?
A) Robot cat B) Robot dog C) They tie
14

15. MAZUR AFTER 1YEAR
15

16. ELSEWHERE?
16

17. WHY CLICKERS?
17
Alternatives:
–Hand raising
–Numbered/colored cards
Anonymity + secrecy honesty
Inclusive
Fast
Credit for learning

18. STILL CLICKERS?
18
Hardware clickers are (basically) obsolete
Good options:
• PollEverywhere
• Top Hat Monocle
• LearningCatalytics

19. TECHNOLOGIES VS.TECHNIQUES
19
Clickers
Colored cards
Hands
Virtual response tools
Peer Instruction
Factual recall
Polling/survey
Poll-Teach-Poll
Thought Questions
Teach-Test-Retest
… adding metacognition

20. FACTUAL RECALL
20
Rated poorly by students
Usually requires high stakes
Good uses: Reading quiz or diagnostic?

21. What is the correct expression for the area of a
circle?
A) e ∙ r
B) e ∙ r2
C) π ∙ d
D) π ∙ r2
E) π ∙ r
21

22. POLLING/SURVEY
22
Share without risk
Comparison statistics
Controversial topics are engaging

23. Do you feel you were treated fairly at all
levels of review when you had your most
recent professional review (renewal, tenure,
promotion, etc.)?
A) Yes
B) No
First:Women only Second: Men only
23

24. How large of an effect does bias have in the social
sciences? [Measurement was of faculty
responsiveness to prospective student emails.]
A) Women/minorities do worse by ~11%)
B) Women/minorities do worse by ~3%
C) No difference across gender/ethnicities
D) Caucasian males do worse by ~3%
E) Caucasian males do worse by ~11%
24

25. POLL-TEACH-POLL
25
1. Poll but don’t show results
2. Teach
3. Poll again (explore shifts in attitude)
Peer sharing for added metacognition
Insightful results for instructor

26. Which best describes your feelings about female
circumcision/female genital mutilation?
A) I am writing letters to theWHO to protest.
B) To each their own… we shouldn’t interfere
with another culture.
C) What is the big deal… males around the world
are circumcised.
D) I don’t know anything about it.
26

27. THOUGHT QUESTIONS
27
• Choose a relevant open-ended question.
• Small group discussion
• Presentation & defense by a single group
• Class votes: Agree/Disagree/Don’t know
• If threshold isn’t met… next group presents!
Repeat until majority agrees
Created byTeresa Foley & Pei-SanTai
from the CU Integrative Physiology Department

28. Endocrinology:
What would you predict would happen to the
ovulatory frequency if one ovary were removed?
Immunology:
Given that all blood cell types derive from the
pluripotent hemopoietic stem cell, why are there
so many different types of cells in the immune
system?
28

29. TEACH-TEST-RETEST
29
Skill focused questions
Diagnostic and formative assessment
Repeated testing beats repeated studying!

30. ADDING METACOGNITION
30
“… and I can explain why”
“… but I don’t know why”
Good for two-choice questions
Adds to formative assessment value

31. GOOD QUESTIONS
31

32. WRITE A QUESTION AND SHARE...
32
Imagine an introductory course and a topic early
in that course.
Write a question, then share
Peer Instruction
Factual recall (add metacognition?)
Polling/survey
Poll-Teach-Poll
Thought Questions
Teach-Test-Retest

33. THE EVIDENCE STANDARD
33
Quick/easy attendance in large class sizes.
Provides anonymity (Banks, 2006).
Every student participates (Banks, 2006).
Encourages active learning (Martyn, 2007).

34. THE EVIDENCE STANDARD
34
Improved concentration (Hinde & Hunt, 2006)
Improved learning and retention
(Moreau, 2010).
Improved exam scores (Poirier & Feldman, 2007)
Efficient use of class time
(Anderson, et al. 2011).

35. STUDENT FEEDBACK ON CLICKERS
315 students in 7 classes over 4 terms (roughly ±6%)
Rated on 5 point scale (strongly disagree to agree)
The use of iClickers, and activities
that used them have…
Agreed or
Strongly Agreed
…helped me to stay more engaged
in class than I would otherwise be.
93%
…helped me to learn the material
better than I otherwise would
83%
…been worth the cost to buy them 78%

36. WHAT MIGHT STOPYOU?
36
In terms of the technique:
Time, coverage, not doing your part, pushback…
In terms of the technology:
Learning curve, tech. failures, perfectionism…
In any reform of your teaching:
Reinventing, no support, too much at once…

37. BEST PRACTICES
37
Start small – 5 min of each hour of class
Sell it – Be explicit about why
Be consistent – Nearly every class
Engage students –Wait for explanation
Demonstrate value – Focus on wrong answers
Follow up – Assessments must change
Credit – 2%-15% for participation… mostly.

38. MY SUMMARY
38
Classroom response systems can be integrated
into most teaching styles and disciplines to good
effect.
From an evidence-based perspective, classroom
response systems addresses often-neglected
areas.
As with all reforms, be prepared to find that
students know less than we might hope.

39. YOUR SUMMARY
39
For yourself… or to share?
What part of using a classroom response system
is the fuzziest for you after this?
What is the biggest reason you thing trying a
classroom response system might work well?
Contact Jeff: Jeff.Loats@gmail.com
Today’s slides: www.slideshare.net/JeffLoats