Clicker Resource Guide - cwsei - University of British Columbia
Contents
1. This guide was prepared by staff amp associates of the Carl Wieman Science Education Initiative CWSEI and The Science Education Initiative at the University of Colorado CU SEI CWSEI CU SEI University of British Columbia University of Colorado Vancouver Boulder http www cwsei ubc ca http www colorado edu sei document last modified J une 1 20092. In dealing with this situation the most important thing to keep in mind is that it happens so be prepared for it and don t panic Recognize that it is not entirely A good clicker question and discussion generates far more and deeper questions from students than encountered in a non clicker class negative it indicates that students are taking much more responsibility for their learning and setting higher expectations for learning than in a traditional course Chastising the class for being unprepared stupid or inattentive even if some of this is true produces quite negative reactions If you find yourself unable to figure out in real time how to clarify the point by presenting it in a different way try to find a student in the class who can clarify and or address their confusion If that fails then just admit to the class that you are stuck and say you will return to this point in the next class after more thought Encourage the students to do the same Then make sure you do return to the topic as promised 2 You are asked a question that is sufficiently deep that you do not know the answer A good clicker question and discussion generates far more and deeper questions from students than encountered in a non clicker class so this is a much more likely occurrence when using clickers 17 Deal with this as in case 1 Admit you do not know the answer say that you will research the subject to try to figure out the answer by
3. 7 How much do clickers cost Clickers usually cost students 25 65 to purchase new Often they can be resold at the end of the term Many publishers have clickers bundled with a textbook in those cases the student does not see a separate fee for the clicker but there is an additional fee 10 20 to register for a specific course Be sure to ask your publisher about clicker rebates this can often be included for very little additional cost Most institutions have a set brand of clicker so students may use them in several courses Mila 8 Are clickers any better than simpler technologies such as students raising hands or coloured cards to answer question Andrea Bair and colleagues of the CU SEI conducted a study comparing use of identical questions in two sections of the same course but using clickers in one and raising hands in the other She found substantial differences all favouring use of clickers We have also observed a number of courses where coloured cards were used and then the same instructor switched to using clickers Although there were very clear benefits to using questions posed to the class and requiring students to respond using their coloured cards attendance and student engagement was significantly higher when clickers were used Research has also shown that when points marks were attached to active learning practices student learning improved In interviews and surveys students make it very clear that they
4. have an exceptionally unruly class where even these steps are not sufficient to quiet 26 them down It is not clear whether such classes are made worse or better with clickers A reasonable approach we have seen for that case is if class is not quiet after the gong signal simply stand there looking at them and wait If they continue to talk make it clear that students will be responsible for material not covered because of the time you spent waiting for class to quiet down and then when there are subsequent disruptions just continue to wait them out and rely on student peer pressure to deal with the noisy students 11 How do I respond if technical problems arise during class Reassure students that technical problems in no way impact any grading scheme you have implemented Then pose the question anyway and have discussions as originally planned and ask for the show of hands approach to answering Results can be tallied even if roughly on paper the blackboard or an overhead projector 12 Should I post answers to clicker questions after class or not There are varying opinions about this and no data that indicates one way or another However the work in reference 2 shows that when people have the answer explained to them after they have thought hard about how to answer the question they learn a large amount from the explanation On the basis of that research our inclination is that it is probably better to post the answers 1
5. that we have seen the largest direct impact on learning and the uses that students report they find of most value Not surprisingly these reflect the deepest mastery of a subject and hence have been shown to be the most challenging for students to learn We recommend that the majority of questions fall into these bolded categories 2 RECOMMENDED APPROACH TO USING CLICKERS For questions of the bolded type we believe it is best to usually follow the following steps Step A Question Instructor poses the question often with some remark about its purpose Step B Peer Discussion Students have time to think about the question individually possibly answering individually with clicker and then discuss the question in pairs or small groups peer discussion Step C Vote Students submit answer using clicker Step D Whole class Discussion Instructor and students have follow up discussion usually emphasizing the why of correct options and why not for incorrect options The instructor should also make sure that any residual issues or student questions from the discussion are explicitly addressed before moving on Each of these steps plays important roles in students learning processes Step A Question By posing a question to the students several good things happen i Focuses students attention on what you consider to be the important ideas ii Allows students to try applying ideas they just heard or
6. as they This is great fun My worst day using clickers is about as good as my best day using standard lectures in the pasty introduced or refined the use of clickers into their courses several of us have used clickers extensively in teaching and we have observed a large number of classes both those which use clickers and those which do not Particularly relevant to this guide were our numerous observations of some expert clicker based instructors We have also carried out a number of studies on clicker use and their impact on students and on student opinions about their use The first point about clickers that must be emphasized is that clickers in themselves are not a solution to anything Like a chalkboard they can only serve to extend the capabilities of the instructor Although clickers can be and unfortunately often are used primarily to encourage attendance they are most effective when they are used expressly to facilitate intellectual engagement of the student and communication between student and instructor When used this way the amplification of a good instructor s capabilities can transform a classroom and result in dramatically improved student learning particularly in large classes In the words of one instructor known to be an exceptionally good traditional lecturer when half way through his first term of using clickers This is great fun My worst day using clickers is about as good as my best day using
7. discussion groups so that all students must discuss the questions and student reasoning for their answer choices are elicited and analyzed following the question A significant portion of the class time is devoted to discussion of students thinking and questions that are revealed and raised during this process Under the best of circumstances clicker questions are designed so that student questions actually introduce the next intended topic and may even constitute the next clicker question posed to the class Students recognize that they must come to class prepared and must keep up with material throughout the semester as they must analyze and respond to questions on a daily basis USING CLICKERS IN THE CLASSROOM 1 TYPES OF CLICKER QUESTIONS Clicker questions can serve many purposes below are some common uses at Quiz on the reading assigned in preparation for the class Test recall of lecture point 3 Doacalculation or choose next step in a complex calculation 4 Survey students to determine background or opinions 5 Elicit reveal pre existing thinking 6 Test conceptual understanding 7 Apply ideas in new context explore implications 8 Predict results of lecture demo experiment or simulation video etc 9 Draw on knowledge from everyday life 10 Relate different representations graphical mathematical N While each mode can be useful in the right circumstances those in bold above are the uses
8. geologic formations correspond to an anticline or a syncline Red shale Sandstone Limestone A Formation ages rock compositions B Strike and dip measurements formation ages C Rock compositions fossil content D None of the above Why this works The above figure could be interpreted as either a syncline or an anticline types of folds in rocks synclines occur when rock layers curve upwards and anticlines are characterized by rock layers Eroded Anticline curving downwards and can t be k determined based only on the aai a eee given information This Sages formulation helps students identify their conception that topography follows structure A follow up example is given on the left which helps students solidify the use of correct reasoning identify types of geologic information necessary for solving this problem and gain experience interpreting different representations of geologic features References General references E Ribbens Case Study Why like clicker personal response systems J of Coll Sci Teaching pg 60 Nov 2007 Duncan D 2005 Clickers in the classroom how to enhance science teaching using classroom response systems San Francisco Addison Wesley and Benjamin Cummings 1 C H Crouch J Watkins A P Fagen and E Mazur Peer Instruction Engaging Students One on One All At Once Research Based Reform of University Physics 1 1 2007 E Mazur Peer Instru
9. is spent providing students with information that they can easily get elsewhere and in some cases repeating information students already know Clicker questions allow one to better gauge what students know and thereby avoid unnecessary repetition of coverage If used appropriately the questions can also compel students to read material to learn basic information before coming to class While these strategies can increase the amount of material covered in a course nevertheless we have seen that most instructors do end up deciding to cover less material in their courses after they have started using clickers effectively However this is usually a choice made as a result of their recognizing that it takes longer than they had realized for the students to achieve the desired learning This recognition is a result of the improved communication made possible through their use of clickers E 7 DEALING WITH UNEXPECTED SITUATIONS An instructor who has not used clickers before may encounter three novel situations These can be positive experiences if you are ready for them and respond accordingly but can be quite negative if you are not 1 You have given the clearest explanation you know how yet it is obvious from responses to a clicker question that students are not getting it When you try to give up and go on students respond assertively saying that it is obvious they don t understand this and you need to teach it right before going on
10. read about iii Allows students to build or make connections between ideas or representations iv Gives students an opportunity to analyze a new situation or context and v Gets students thinking about how to ask questions that is it explicitly models the process of analyzing ideas or conclusions by asking questions and figuring out the answers vi Prepares them to learn Schwartz and Bransford have shown that when a person tries to answer a question on a topic they do not know even when they are quite unsuccessful in obtaining a correct answer they subsequently learn much more from an explanation of the topic than if they hear the same explanation without preceding the explanation with a question they attempt to answer This means a clicker question can be valuable when it precedes discussion of a topic When posing a question you might experiment with different ways of providing the answer choices Often it can be good to have the students think about the answer before the answer options are revealed to them This can discourage them from using test taking strategies to eliminate possible multiple choice options rather than reasoning through the question as you intended We have observed in some cases that not seeing the answer possibilities results in students using their notes and making more of an effort to connect the question to prior material It can also be a good opportunity to make them practice drawing or diagramming somethin
11. see clickers as providing a more useful and legitimate way of determining student thought that clickers were understanding and hence more i valuable than using cards The helpful It made It easier for combination of anonymity and the teacher to see how many accountability is a major virtue of clickers In the words of one people actually understood student thought that clickers were helpful It made it easier for what we were talking about the teacher to see how many people without embarrassin g anyone actually understood what we were o Jio iD talking about without embarrassing and pl ckin gon them anyone and picking on them 9 Will there be student resistance and if so how do deal with it Some students will probably resist the change in classroom climate from a passive to a more active environment particularly as it penalizes absences and requires more effort Most respond well if the instructor explicitly and repeatedly talks with the class about the purpose of using clickers interactively and emphasizes the positive results seen in other classes and education research The implicit signals are also very important When the clicker responses show students do not understand something revising the lecture plan to examine their difficulties and address them rather than ignoring this sends a very positive signal Requiring students to spend money on clickers and then using them only once or twice per class
12. tone whistle or switching off the lights 6 Don t strong students just give weak students the answer if there is discussion Research suggests that this isn t a great concern and that both strong and weak students benefit from interacting in peer discussion However one study has suggested that the way credit is given for answering questions can impact this In a class with low stakes grading equal credit for any response with questions counting 12 5 of overall grade peer discussion was more balanced with both students in a pair contributing equally to No matter what the achievement level discussion and more fone oan of the student is encouraging them to In contrast a class with articulate their thinking is beneficial high stakes grading incorrect responses earning 1 3 the credit earned by a correct response questions counting 20 of total grade students earning higher grades dominated peer discussion and both students in a discussion pair more often voted the same In a small study we did in a different course we found the correlation between students clicker question answers and their course grade was surprisingly low indicating that as students were first learning new material there was little distinction between weak and strong students No matter what the achievement level of the student is encouraging them to articulate their thinking is beneficial
13. 3 Do clickers work in upper level courses or are they only good for introductory We have several examples of instructors who began using clickers in large introductory courses and then tried them in smaller upper level and even graduate courses They are very enthusiastic about the results and students in upper level clicker courses strongly supported this use on our surveys In summary we have found the effective use of clicker questions and discussion can have a transformative impact on both teachers and students particularly in large classes Students end up being far more actively engaged in the material and they learn more and both students and instructors find the course much more rewarding as a result If you are currently using clickers we hope this guide will give you ideas on how to use them more effectively and if you have not yet tried them we hope this will provide you with the encouragement and assistance to use them effectively f Appendix Examples of good practice General Ex 1 Question that encourages good discussion The first question the instructor asks is a question where all the answers are partly right This produces a nice spread of answers and students are confident to discuss with the instructor and argue with their peers about the correct answer because they were all right and about what parts of the other answers are incorrect because they were all partly wrong General Ex 2 Use of student p
14. Clicker Resource Guide An Instructors Guide to the Effective Use of Personal Response Systems Clickers in Teaching Which of these External Factor mportant in causing landslide edu shear stress that closed the Sea to Sky Highway the most in the last 6 months A heavy snowfall B earthquakes C heavy rainfall D construction E volcanic eruptg Prepared by staff of the CU Science Education Initiative and the UBC Carl Wieman SEI Connecting students in an interactive classroom experience important in causing landslides and reducing shear stress A High slope angle B Undercutting C Overloading D Vegetation E Climate Layout and Design Michael Wong Cover Design Stefanie Wudel Cover Photos and Inside Cover Photos Zack Lee TABLE OF CONTENTS Executive Summary 2 Introduction 3 Using Clickers in the Classroom 6 1 Types of clicker questions 6 2 Recommended approach to using clickers 6 3 Writing effective questions 10 4 Introducing students to the use of clickers 14 5 Logistics 15 6 Coverage of material 16 7 Dealing with unexpected situations 17 Multiple Goals of Using Clickers 19 Frequently Asked Questions about the Use of Clickers and Clicker Questions 20 Appendix 28 References 33 Carl Wieman Katherine Perkins Sarah Gilbert Life Sciences CU Francoise Benay Sarah Ken nedy and Kate Semsar Jenny Knight Jia Shi and Michelle Smith Life Sciences UBC Tamara Kelly J
15. TICS Grading and timing issues and recommended approaches are described in the Frequently asked questions at the end of this paper Student peer groups There are three main ways of setting up student peer discussion groups Instructors have discovered pros and cons for each method with respect to set up ease and quality of student discussions and student response summarized below In typical theatre style lecture room maximum group size should be no more than four students in adjacent seats Discussion involving 3 or 4 people is often more substantial than with only two With formal groups it can be effective to announce on some questions that groups are required to reach consensus thus voting the same This strategy substantially increases the amount of discussion and being able to do this is one of the primary virtues of formal groups This works even if one never checks if group actually did reach consensus Formal group instructor defined Good student conversation Takes time to set up Focus of discussion more on topic Minor student complaints major if not done early in term and reasons doing not explained first day Early discussions may be sluggish as they get to know each other Formal group self assembled Few student complaints Can be more off topic discussions Little hassle computerized signup Better discussion than no formal groups Informal neighbours only Few st
16. Which of the following illustrations looks most like your own drawing or looks correct now that you see it A Outside Inside c Outside Inside of cell of cell of cell of cell B inside Outside D Outside Inside of cell of cell of cell of cell Answer C Physics course 1 You have a ring with a hole in it and a cylindrical plug that is exactly the same size when both are at room temperature If you heat the ring the plug will A Fit through the hole more easily B Be exactly the same size as before C No longer fit through the hole This question can be followed by a demonstration involving actual ring that you heat if you choose 2 When you close the switch bulb 2 will l y y 2 3 A Get brighter B Get dimmer C Stay the same brightness D Go out entirely zene Geology course example Using learning difficulties includin misconceptions in teaching Students often have difficulty identifying structural features which have undergone erosion and with visualizations that are different than the standard textbook block diagrams One common misconception is that structural features will follow topography additionally students generally don t understand what kind of information is necessary to distinguish types of folds Here s a faculty developed clicker question that promotes student examination and explanation of their own reasoning What additional information would you prefer in order to determine if the exposed
17. ared Taylor Harald Yurk and Gulnur Birol Chemistry CU Laurie Langdon Tom Pentecost Chemistry UBC Jackie Stewart Geological Sciences CU Leilani Arthurs Andrea Bair and Jen nifer Stempien Earth and Ocean Sciences UBC Brett Gilley Francis Jones and Ben Kennedy Physics CU Stephanie Chasteen Computer Science UBC Beth Simon EXECUTIVE SUMMARY e Clickers are not a magic bullet they are not necessarily useful as an end in themselves Clickers become useful when you have a clear idea as to what you want to achieve with them and the questions are designed to improve student engagement student student interaction and instructor student interaction e What clickers do provide is a way to rapidly collect an answer to a question from every student an answer for which they are individually accountable This allows rapid reliable feedback to both you and the students e Used well clickers can tell you when students are disengaged and or confused why this has happened and can help you to fix the situation e The best questions focus on concepts you feel are particularly important and involve challenging ideas with multiple plausible answers that reveal student confusion and generate spirited student discussion e A common mistake is to use clicker questions that are too easy Students value challenging questions more and learn more from them Students often learn the most from a question that they get wrong e For challenging q
18. arity that the protein made in bacteria still works Answer A 3 Which of the following statements is true All the somatic cells the cells that do not contribute to the next generation in your body contain A The same DNA sequences and the same proteins B Different DNA sequences and different proteins C The same DNA sequences but different proteins D Different DNA sequences but the same proteins Answer C 4 If an organism makes an abnormal protein the error that led to this abnormality most likely originated A during replication of the corresponding gene B during transcription of the corresponding gene to make the corresponding mRNA C during translation of the corresponding mRNA to make the protein Answer A 5 Which of the following is a FALSE statement about bacteria and viruses A Viruses are cells B Viruses replicate inside human cells C Bacteria can replicate their own DNA D Viruses can have RNA as genetic material Answer A 30 6 Should you take an antibiotics if you have a viral infection A Yes an antibiotic could kill the virus B No an antibiotic can only kill bacteria Answer B 7 Draw a representation of the plasma membrane using circles and lines to represent the two ends of the phospholipids that comprise the membrane Indicate the inside and outside of the cell with respect to the membrane Allow students to work on this drawing for a few minutes Then ask the following question
19. ass if let them talk so freely This is not as big a concern in practice as it is usually feared to be There certainly is less rigid control of the class but students also see the class as more supportive of their learning and so they are more on your side from the beginning It is helpful to lay out some ground rules clearly Along with the reasons for having clicker questions and discussion make it clear that discussion is supposed to be limited to the subject material even though it will not always be and that when you have signalled it is time for discussion to stop they should do so and any questions remaining at that time should be directed at you As the term progresses and students get to know each other better and become more comfortable talking to each other it usually does get more difficult to cut off discussion Training students from the beginning to respond to some signal like a gong or lights flashing markedly reduces the difficulties and is normally adequate If just a few students continue to talk ask them directly in front of the class in a non confrontational way if they have a question If they are discussing non class related material that will quiet them then and in the future If they are discussing the class material which is more typical they will ask a question which you can treat like a regular question and still send the message clearly that they were disruptive It is unlikely but not impossible that you may
20. ay for finding online repositories of questions is to type ConcepTests the label chosen by Eric Mazur who developed this method of instruction into Google This brings up listings of question collections in numerous fields A few specific examples are Mazur s site http galileo harvard edu a collection of links to question banks in physics chemistry and earth sciences is at http www mines edu Academic physics classroomcommunicators assets banks html A question bank for biology is being created at http cellbase ascb org SOE From in class observations of instructor lectures we have noticed several places to find good clicker questions You can try to pick up on these yourself or you might find it helpful to invite a colleague or graduate student to observe a few lectures A Questions professors pose to the students spontaneously during class These questions often cover the points they want to get across and or have an interesting example that can help students associate what they are learning in class with the real world for example a disease exercise aging To record these questions professors can have TAs sit in on their lectures and write them down along with any responses offered by students B Overhearing student discussions about questions posed in class Listening to students discussion and what they are thinking as they generate their answers often suggests good questions Also these discussions often sugg
21. ction A User s Manual Prentice Hall NJ 1997 2 D Schwartz and J Bransford A time for telling Cognition and Instruction 16 475 1998 3 D Beatty W J Gerace W J Leonard and R J Dufresne Designing effective questions for classroom response system teaching American Journal of Physics 74 1 31 39 2006 4 How People Learn Brain Mind Experience and School expanded edition edited by J Bransford A Brown and R Cocking NAS Press 2000 E F Redish Teaching Physics with Physics Suite John Wiley amp Sons NY 2003 R R Hake Interactive engagement versus traditional methods A six thousand student survey of mechanics test data for introductory physics courses American Journal of Physics 66 1 p 64 1998 Knight J K and Wood W B 2005 Teaching more by lecturing less Cell Biol Educ 4 298 310 S Freeman et al Prescribed Active Learning Increases Performance in Introductory Biology CBE Life Sci Educ 6 2 pp 132 9 2007 6 M C James The effect of grading incentive on student discourse in Peer Instruction American Journal of Physics 74 8 pp 689 691 2006 7 Poster available at http www cwsei ubc ca resources papers htm more references and other resources at www cwsei ubc ca resources clickers htm 33 For an electronic copy of this Guide plus information and resources including videos of clickers in action please visit STEMclickers colorado edu
22. ect If discussion focuses upon the thinking associated with right and wrong options then students will learn both about the reasoning underlying the correct answer and what is wrong with incorrect reasoning It is important to make sure this happens correct reasoning for an answer is NOT typically obvious to students even for many questions that nearly all of them answer correctly Finally this helps students recognize that understanding rather than merely getting a correct answer is what is important both in the course and in the use of clicker questions Data from our end of term student surveys on clicker use support this Can generate additional questions revealing difficulties that you had not recognized or introduce elements or applications of the topic that students find interesting and useful 3 WRITING EFFECTIVE QUESTIONS Once an instructor has embraced the idea of interactive teaching having good questions is the single most important element for having a successful class using clickers Ideally you would like a question that students will interpret properly and will see as interesting and challenging will stimulate students to want to hear and analyze the ideas of their classmates will shape student thinking in desired ways will reveal unanticipated student difficulties or interpretations and will accurately reveal whether or not students are mastering the material However a question can be more than adequate without achievi
23. est points that students are confused about and hence would be good incorrect answers to list and subsequently discuss Professors can wander during this time join a group discussion and have a TA record and move around the classroom C Questions students pose in class can also be turned into excellent clicker questions Although usually an instructor will make this a question in a subsequent class or term don t be afraid to do this in real time by taking a question that a student has asked and throw it back to the entire class to answer You can either create your own multiple choice answers on the spot or get suggestions from students This is a particularly good thing to do when you are pretty sure that most students can figure out the answer themselves D Dealing with connections We frequently observe that students fail to make connections between new and previously learned concepts as well as connecting material with general themes in the course as a whole Clicker questions can make these connections explicit E Analogies Professors have many great analogies they use in lecture These can provide a good basis for clicker questions While testing the question with students is the only way to find out if it is effective in terms of promoting student learning uncovering misconceptions and generating student engagement and discussion you can stack the odds in your favour by considering the following points 1 Define your learnin
24. g before presenting them with drawings to choose from Also listening to student discussions before possible answers are revealed can sometimes provide additional insights on student reasoning and or confusion Step B Peer Discussion Some instructors prefer that students always answer a clicker question individually without discussion before discussing in groups and answering the question again Other instructors only ask students to answer individually before discussion some of the time and other times will save time by simply encouraging students to think about the question but not to answer it via clicker before discussing with others There is no evidence as to the superiority of either approach We do recommend having at least some questions that students have to first answer on their own particularly at the beginning of the term so they do recognize they are expected to think for themselves and not simply depend on getting the answers from others around them By watching and listening to the class it is relatively easy to tell if most students are first analyzing the questions independently and expressing their own ideas instead of automatically accepting the answer of another student in the group Based on what you observe you can readily change how the responses are collected to ensure this happens We recommend never showing students the results before the end of the voting period and not showing students the voting results of the c
25. g goal or objectives What you want students to be able to do in terms of using content and skills etc 2 Identify the goal s of the clicker question 3 Choose type of question to use see below for some options under tactics 11 Example from Geology 1010 1 Learning goal What you want students to be able to do Explain and demonstrate how geologists determine rates of tectonic plate motion from data on seafloor age Skills calculating a rate reasoning like a geologist developing competence using geological data interpreting a representation commonly encountered but seldom explicitly explained in textbooks Concepts tectonic plates move the rate of past plate motion at spreading centers divergent plate boundaries is known from the age of oceanic crust making up the seafloor 2 Goal s of the clicker question Promote articulation discussion stimulate cognitive processes 3 Tactic or tactics to use Qualitative question analysis and reasoning interpret representation rank variants 4 Clicker question The resulting clicker question had students to look at a map of the earth showing the ages of the seafloors and students were asked to rank the relative speeds of the plates at various locations 2E Beatty et al 2 have discussed tactics to use in designing relatively advanced clicker questions These are primarily of use to instructors experienced at using clicker questions Question des
26. ges them in knowing the right answer They are vested in the outcome but in a peer anonymous way Provides feedback to faculty Have the students mastered this idea Should move on or spend more time on this topic Provides feedback to students Am I understanding this How does my understanding compare to the rest of the class Step D Whole class Discussion After voting the instructor leads a whole class discussion and provides wrap up for the question This wrap up vi Allows you and students to hear students reasoning for various answers Gives students the chance to hear and respond to each others ideas Gives you the opportunity to emphasize and support reasoning as important Why might someone pick B Why is that answer tempting or Why did your group choose B are both somewhat less threatening ways to get students to offer their thinking However also telling students they are expected to come up with reasons in their peer discussions and then calling on students in an obviously random manner to offer up reasons of their group has proven to be effective This further encourages students to share and critique their reasons during peer group discussions Allows you to give feedback to the students on their thinking that is both timely and specific the two elements that research has shown are essential for pedagogically useful feedback Promotes understanding of the reasons why an answer choice is corr
27. graded questions keep students attention p eee 3 How many clicker questions should I give in a lecture Most instructors find that between four and six questions that involve serious discussion and reflection in a 50 minute class period works well These should be distributed throughout the lecture rather than all clumped at beginning or end In general students attention often starts waning after about 10 minutes of straight lecturing If one is using other active learning techniques in a lecture period the number of clicker questions will likely be lower For a review before an exam it can often be more effective to fill the lecture period with many clicker questions rather than using other types of review 4 How do promote discussion between students Achieving good discussion between students is often the hardest but most important part to maximizing the benefit of clickers This is a change in the culture of the class and so you should not expect it to happen automatically You should not give up if it takes a little while to develop and you should actively encourage it and explain and model scientific discourse for them On the first day and a couple of subsequent days encourage the students to learn the names and shake hands with everyone around them in front and behind included Also giving the students permission to ask names they ve forgotten can be surprisingly helpful We may not be able to learn the names
28. h in Stages 2 or 3 after the following experience Stimulated by unexpectedly poor performance on an exam question or just by accident the instructor will create a question that is more challenging This question creates a large split in responses that is followed by a burst of discussion among the students as to which answer is correct and why Seeing such a response is often an aha moment for the instructor They realize how they might use clicker questions in a new way to better promote student thinking and learning They then move to the next stage of clicker question use Stage 2 Asking more challenging conceptual questions or questions where the answer is not obvious and critical points could be argued There is a substantial spread in student responses and significant student student discussion of the question is encouraged with follow up discussion by the instructor There are occasional changes in the planned lecture to address student difficulties that are revealed by the clicker question or in response to student questions generated in discussion Stage 3 Lecture is structured around a set of challenging clicker questions that largely embody the material students are to learn Students are required to prepare for class by reading or carrying out assignments ahead of time and little class time is spent in providing information to students that is accessible in the textbook or online notes Students are organized into 3 4 person
29. h the same policies applying as would be the case for turning in illicit written work SDE Equal credit for correct and Promotes balanced peer Less incentive to pay incorrect responses e g 2 pts discussion ideas put forth attention think through a per response or 2 pts total evenly from both partners question and commit to an per class Promotes a safe answer environment for students to answer what they honestly think rather than answering what they think the instructor wants More credit for correct More incentive to pay Students may feel pressured responses some credit for attention and actively work to get the right answer any response e g 3 pts out an answer if the less incentive to share correct 2pts incorrect question is graded own reasoning and answer honestly Promotes unbalanced peer discussion more knowledgeable students can dominate discussion Promotes memorization of answers from previous Terms Not appropriate for all types of questions Mixed Promotes process and More set up or post analysis Many participation only reasoning of figuring out to identify which are graded questions some graded answer and which are participation questions e g 2 pts per class Allows flexibility to grade only is fairly easy with for participation 1 pt on only questions that are some clicker software not graded questions if correct summative assessments with some others Having some
30. hinking and then address it e g probe prior knowledge probe current thinking uncover student misconceptions Listen to students ideas as they discuss and reason about the material Give students a voice e g survey what they want to learn about most when to have homework due some grading policies when and where to have homework study sessions if and how to review for exams Facilitate student accountability for attendance and reading textbook to prepare for class quizzes on reading Model the process of critical thinking through asking questions and figuring out answers in order to promote students doing this themselves Ensure instructors have not lost touch with what students are understanding and that pace of class is appropriate Get students to commit to an answer they are vested in the outcome Reaffirm learning positive feedback review material etc Survey students background Send a message that instructor s priority is student learning Frequently Asked Questions About the Use of Clickers and Clicker Questions 1 How much time should I give students to answer a clicker question This depends greatly on the type and difficulty of the question in most cases it takes students between 30 seconds and a minute to process a question and be ready to answer individually or discuss It then takes a few 1 4 minutes for productive discussion The level of student discussion and the number of
31. ign goals and tactics Beatty et al 2006 Remove nonessentials Compare and contrast Extend the context Reuse familiar question situations Oops go back Direct attention and raise awareness Qualitative questions Analysis and reasoning questions Multiple defensible answers Require unstated assumptions Trap unjustified assumptions Deliberate ambiguity Trolling for misconceptions Promote articulation discussion Interpret representations Compare and contrast Extend the context Identify a set Rank variants Reveal a better way Strategize only Include extraneous information Omit necessary information Stimulate cognitive processes Answer choices reveal likely difficulties Formative use of response data P Use none of the above Apply to real world setting We add Connect to the real world Pose in terms of real world problem ee 4 INTRODUCING STUDENTS TO THE USE OF CLICKERS On the first day you should talk to your class about why and how you are using clickers and what the value is for their learning This is most important in a setting when students have never used clickers before You should discuss how clickers will improve your communication with them the well established value to learning when students actively engaged in thinking about the subject and figuring out answers to questions and how clickers make this much easier to achieve in a
32. lass before peer discussion unless the results show avery wide distribution of opinions with no answer being the obvious favourite Otherwise many students will simply change their answer to go with the majority On the other hand if there is a 50 50 split in votes showing students that the question has provoked a split response is an excellent motivator for productive discussion What does peer discussion do for students instructors and the classroom environment Peer discussion i Actively engages students in thinking about and discussing the concept skill idea ii Improves both their understanding and their ability to communicate technical ideas iii Gives students an opportunity to explain and defend their reasoning and analyze others reasoning to engage in scientific argument iv Gives you a chance to hear what students are thinking listen in on group discussions v Gives students a chance to voice their questions and hear those of others realize they are not alone in struggling to master the material vi Allows students to get help from others to clear up items of confusion for example misunderstanding of a technical term that they may have but others around them do not vii Builds collegial intellectual atmosphere among students which promotes learning viii Helps students learn technical terminology by using it in discussion Step C Vote Voting on an answer Gets students to commit to an answer and enga
33. lecture setting You could mention that extensive surveys of students who have completed courses that used clickers in this way have shown that students enthusiastically support their use in lectures One approach to making these points is to start with a Why do you think we use clickers clicker question in class as shown below Possible answers are all components of active learning and hopefully you will see a spread of answers The post question discussion can then allow you to bring out why these are all good reasons Clickers mentally engage students with the concepts so that the lecture is not just passive listening and note taking What do you think is the single most important reason that am using clickers Possible answers promotes your ability to communicate your ideas strengthens your ability to debate and defend your answers and to suggest improvements promotes peer discussion that is balanced with ideas put forth evenly from both partners promotes a safe environment for you to answer what you honestly think rather than answering what you think the instructor wants gives you feedback on how well you understand a topic gives me as your instructor feedback on what needs to be taught better or expanded upon encourages you to mentally engage with the concepts so that the lecture is not just passive listening and note taking h encourages attendance an Sono G mA NA 5 LOGIS
34. next class and encourage the students to do the same At start of next class see if any students came up with the answer and if not provide the answer you figured out It is particularly valuable if you are quite explicit in explaining what was challenging about the question and how you went about finding out or figuring out the answer This models expert thinking in a way students very seldom get to see and they often find quite memorable when it is displayed in cases like this Of course explicitly modeling expert problem solving in this way is also beneficial when answering clicker questions but it is seldom as memorable for students as when there is a question they saw you could not answer initially 3 There are so many good questions that you do not see how you can answer them and come close to getting through all the material you planned to cover that day Again this should be seen as a positive event The best indicator of a good clicker question is probably how many thoughtful follow up questions it generates For this case of too many questions the first thing you should do is analyze how many of the students are asking questions If it is a relatively small number and they are the students who frequently ask questions it is likely rest of class will be annoyed if too much time is spent on answering questions from that group Then it is best to tell those students you will talk with them individually after class or during you
35. ng all these goals and it is hard to predict which questions will be great until you try them so it is best not to spend too long agonizing over creating the perfect question By far the most common failing is to make questions that are too easy In this situation students often see the Students questions as simply a quiz to keep them awake and they are annoyed that they had to spend money on clickers overwhelmingly only for this purpose There is also some indication that p in the absence of any other form of feedback easy see challenging questions may mislead students as to the difficulty of the questions as the questions they would expect to see on the exam In extensive surveys of students in many different classes most useful for students overwhelmingly see challenging questions as the their learning most useful for their learning Our observations have also supported the conclusions that such questions result in greater learning Usually the best starting point for obtaining good clicker questions is to look and see what might already be available either from an instructor who has used clickers in the class previously or in one of a number of online repositories for such questions The instructor s guides to many textbooks now offer lists of questions These can be an easily accessible starting point for finding questions but these textbook questions unfortunately are often quite simple and factual The best w
36. of the whole class but students appreciate knowing someone knows their name Students need to feel that the classroom is a safe place to discuss questions and everyone can potentially be wrong without consequences Instructors can promote this by explicitly informing students of what they expect and why the interactive discussion approach helps students learn This should be done repeatedly during the term as opposed to just at the beginning We recommend that you also tell students that you ll be asking them to share their reasoning about the answer so they should discuss it and then have them share their reasoning at least some of the time in the follow up whole class discussion Some techniques for directly encouraging discussion are to require groups to submit consensus votes on a question Calling on students to ask them what reason their group gave for why an answer is correct or incorrect can also help Students find it less threatening to offer the reasoning for an answer the answer is seen as coming from the group rather than them individually If possible it s good to also require students to give reasons for answers on homework and exam answers a 5 How do get students to get back on task after a clicker question and stop talking A good signal that students are finishing their discussions is when the voting gets up towards 75 of the class Having an established signal for when discussion needs to end works well such as a gong
37. olls What topics do you find most interesting Would you like exam review sessions Such questions are a good way to a demonstrate the diversity or similarities of opinion in the class b determine directions for future lessons or activities thus giving some measure of content ownership to students c demonstrate a match between opinions or interests and the course itself useful during the first week of the course We recommend making results of such poll questions visible to students and using the results in some fashion This could include referring back to those results in pre and post question discussions or making changes in response to type b questions with explicit indications how the survey results influenced the changes Examples of specific good clicker questions from range of courses Environmental Science course This question was presented during the class meeting AFTER students had completed and had returned to them a graded homework assignment in which they were asked to plot and interpret hydrologic data Clicker Question Who knows more about a set of data Answer choices results prior to discussion a the person collects it 70 b the person who plots it 90 This clicker question was used as spring board into talking about the HW assignment During the discussion students greatly changed their original opinion about who knew more about the data That discussion then acted as segue in
38. r office hours and move on However if you have a situation that is fairly unique to clicker classes where there are questions from many students including those who do not ask frequent questions you should remember that when a substantial fraction of the class is interested and asking questions they will learn much more from what you tell them in response to those questions at that time than anything else you can teach them Also remind yourself that their interest in and learning of the subject is more important than your covering the topics in the order and pace you had originally planned So adjust your lesson accordingly in real time 10 11 12 13 14 Multiple Goals of Using Clickers Engage students in active learning e Apply ideas skills problem solving immediately in class e Predict outcomes e Reason in new contexts e Draw connections between ideas Promote student student discussion e Create a collaborative spirit for supporting learning e Practice justifying a position responding to arguments e Practice monitoring their own thinking e Aid their learning of technical terminology by using it in discussion Provide feedback to the instructor about students understanding Provide feedback to the students about their own understanding both through their seeing the histogram of responses and in follow up discussion by instructor Use as formative assessment to guide teaching measure what students are t
39. rning and instructor and student feedback Regardless of grading scheme some clicker questions should NOT be graded for the correct response but are very useful in promoting discussion student learning and instructor and student feedback Examples of such questions are those with more than one potentially correct response and those intended to elicit student misconceptions or students prior knowledge We also highly recommend that whatever grading policy is used a certain number 2 3 of free days are allowed These are days for which the student will get credit even if there are no clicker responses recorded for them This greatly reduces the time student and instructor need to spend dealing with complaints excuses about clicker not working being forgotten missing class due to any number of catstrophic events beyond students control etc An alternative that is similar in concept is to set a certain percentage of questions students need to answer such as 80 or 90 and once above that threshold they receive maximum clicker credit We have also seen that when clickers count for more than 15 of the grade the amount of time spent dealing with student concerns about being sure they receive credit for clicker responses can get annoying Finally we recommend that at the beginning of the course you should very clearly announce that use of another person s clicker or having someone use your clicker is considered cheating wit
40. ssion as they learn to use clickers effectively Seeing the response from clickers is often an aha moment for the instructor They realize how they might use clicker questions in a new way to better promote student thinking and learning Students recognize that they must come to class prepared and must keep up with material throughout the semester as they must analyze and respond to questions on a daily basis Stage 1 Asking simple primarily factual questions as a starting point These questions are often simple quizzes on material just covered in lecture or questions derived from the textbook or textbook instructor s guide Little discussion amongst students about the questions is encouraged or needed and the great majority gt 80 of the students get the question correct There is little follow up discussion to the question by the instructor This type of question often appears to be driven by instructor s concern that asking more difficult questions would make students feel uncomfortable at missing the answer The primary impact of the clickers on lecture is improving attendance assuming students get points if they answer the questions On our surveys students indicate they see much less value to this type of use than clickers being used as in Stages 2 or 3 below We have seen some faculty members who are new to clickers suddenly switch from the simple usage of clickers in Stage 1 to the more effective approac
41. standard lectures in the past la An experienced insightful instructor when giving a traditional lecture can tell when many of the students are not engaged and can often tell when students do not understand the material However it is more difficult to know why they are disengaged and or confused and how to fix these problems Clickers when used well can provide the why and how to fix for experienced instructors For other instructors in addition to serving those functions clickers can also help them know much better when students are disengaged and confused It is essential to recognize that these benefits do not happen automatically when one introduces clickers to the classroom These desirable outcomes are only achieved when the instructor thinks carefully about his or her instructional goals and how clicker questions and related discussion can help achieve those goals In the remainder of this document we will discuss the use of clicker questions and how they can be used in educationally effective ways These questions are normally multiple choice questions posed to the class where each student in the class has their own clicker Students register their answer by pushing the appropriate button and a computer records their response A histogram of responses can be shown to the whole class It can take some time to tap the full potential of clickers in the classroom We have commonly seen instructors follow the following progre
42. ted below Another approach is to give participation credit only most of the time but occasionally grade individual questions for correct responses There is no consensus view recommended by research or convention but our anecdotal observations lead us to lean towards this latter grading policy of always giving credit for participation and occasionally giving additional reward for the correct answer E20 Giving credit only for correct responses is not recommended as it distorts the discussion and student response strategies in undesirable directions and it limits the type of question that can be asked For example you cannot ask questions with multiple justifiable answers yet such questions can generate the most educationally productive discussions Similarly not having clicker questions count for any credit is not recommended This sends the message that questions and answers are not important and students will not take them seriously Although student responses will vary our observations suggest the specific grading policies do not make very much difference to students as long as one avoids the extremes that result in undesirable outcomes listed above As long as there are consistent implicit messages from the instructor that the questions matter students seem to take the questions reasonably seriously Some clicker questions should NOT be graded for the correct response but are very useful in promoting discussion student lea
43. to answer very simple questions sends a very different signal and can generate considerable student unhappiness D5 We have done extensive surveys of students in classes that use clickers In those classes where the clickers are used in a manner at all close to what we recommend the students overwhelmingly say they contribute to their learning and recommend they be used It helps both learning and attitudes if you ensure that the clicker questions homework and exam questions indicate in a consistent manner what is important and what the expectations and standards are for the course There can be a few very vocal students who strongly oppose clickers but our surveys have shown that when clickers are used well this view is never shared by more than a small minority If they are troublesome their complaints can be reduced by surveying the class to show that they are a small minority rather than representing the sentiment of all as they usually assume Also although most students say they like using clickers even those who do not often still recognize their value In the words of one such student we interviewed Using clickers is like broccoli I don t like it but it s good for me Finally the most effective way to eliminate student resistance ultimately is simply to use clickers to make the classroom an extremely stimulating place where students are highly engaged and learning a great deal 10 Won t I lose control of the cl
44. to the next lecture topic on using hydrologic data to predict flooding 3 Genetics course A series of clicker questions can reveal that although students understand parts of a topic they still have misunderstandings about it cell cell membrane membrane Sister Chromatids Homologous Chromosomes 1 Do they have the same set of genes 3 Do they have the same set of genes A Yes 100 A Yes 46 B No B No 54 2 Do they have the same alleles A Yes 100 B No 4 You grow sweet peas One of your clients wants purple sweet peas for her wedding Which two sweet peas should you cross in order to maximize the number of purple sweet peas in the next generation A Purple CcPp x Purple CcPp B White CCpp x White ccPP C Purple CcPp x White ccPP D Purple CcPp x White CCpp 98 Introductory Biology course 1 A plasmid containing bacterial DNA and the gene for human growth hormone is introduced into a bacterium Which growth hormone protein will be produced A A bacterial human growth hormone protein B A human growth hormone protein C A hybrid protein that is part human and part bacterial Answer B 2 The production of a human protein in a bacterium can occur because A Humans and bacteria use the same codons to specify each amino acid B Humans and bacteria use almost the same codons to specify each amino acid C Humans and bacteria use different codons to specify each amino acid but there is enough simil
45. udent complaints Many students not very involved No hassles More off topic discussions about weekend 25 6 COVERAGE OF MATERIAL Using clickers extensively will reduce the amount of content you can cover during class as will any classroom intervention promoting mentally active learning Clickers also typically result in far more and deeper questions from a broader range of students because they are more engaged in thinking about the material Responding to those questions takes additional time However while the coverage of material in class may be reduced there is good evidence that the learning will be considerably increased Multiple studies across a variety of disciplines show that students in courses incorporating active learning retain and can apply key central most important concepts better than students taught in traditional lectures Clicker use also promotes more in depth learning and understanding i This provides students with With clickers students are a greater capacity to cover ee topics on their own for more engaged in thinking about example they can be capable the material Clicker use also DE doing nomenoreduesholis i f on topics that were not covered promotes more in depth learning in class Having them learn d d di material outside of class in and unaerstan Ing this way can compensate for much of the reduced coverage in class Also much of the time in a traditional lecture
46. uestions students should be given some time to think about the clicker question on their own and then discuss with their peers e Good clicker questions and discussion result in deeper more numerous questions from a much wider range of students than in traditional lecture e Listening to the student discussions will allow you to much better understand and address student thinking Even though you will sacrifice some coverage of content in class students will be more engaged and learn much more of what you do cover e When clickers are used well students overwhelmingly support their use and say they help their learning INTRODUCTION Why is it that every faculty member who is experienced with using clickers effectively swears by them Why are the students in classes using well implemented clicker questions dramatically more engaged and asking more numerous and deeper questions Why do the students in these classes overwhelmingly recommend that clickers should be used in all lecture classes This guide was written to help instructors understand the answers to these questions and to help them use personal response systems clickers in their classes in the most comfortable and pedagogically effective manner The authors are involved in the Science Education Initiative at the University of Colorado and the Carl Wieman Science Education Initiative at the University of British Columbia We have supported many different instructors
47. votes in is a good guide as to when to move on When 3 4 of the students have responded it is often a good time to announce end is near then sound warning gong count down out loud or turn lights out to indicate that discussion should stop and students should click in Instructors who decide when to end the polling based on the discussion around them often wait too long While discussion around them will continue to focus on the question in the rest of the room discussion has often moved on to non class related topics making it harder to pull students back to class material It is useful to poll the class after several weeks to see if they feel you are giving them too little or too much time Using the timer in the countdown mode available with most clicker system software is usually distracting to students and instructors and can limit discussion It is better to set the timer to the maximum count down duration or in count up mode and then just stop the question manually when you think it appropriate 2 How should clicker questions be graded Most instructors make clicker questions a portion of the total course grade between a few and 15 is common although a wide variety of approaches are used The two most common grading schemes used are giving equal credit for correct and incorrect responses participation only and giving greater credit for correct than incorrect responses Some pros and cons to these grading approaches are lis
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