Use of Clickers in class:
Effects on Student Attendance
and Performance
Master Teacher Guild
Mike Fennewald, PhD (SGPDS)
Daniel Bareither, PhD (SCPM)
Lecia Apantaku, MD (CMS)
Roberta Henderson, PT, PhD (CHP)
Fred Sierles, MD (CMS)
John Becker, PhD (SCPM)
November 29, 2011
Uses of Clickers
•
•
•
•
•
Attendance
Formative Assessment
Summative assessment
Homework collection
Question-driven instruction
Benefits
•
•
•
•
•
•
Maintain student attention
Promote discussion
Encourage participation from every student
Safe space for unsure students
Check for understanding during class
Add a little drama
Electronic voting to encourage
interactive lectures: a randomised
trial
Paul M Duggan, Edward Plamer and Peter Devitt
BMC Medical Education (2007), 7: 25
Methods
Two groups of 64 and 63 students
Received two 40 minute lectures
Breast cancer screening
Cervical cancer screening
Cognitive skill measured with two 15-question
multiple-choice questionnaires
Before
After
8-12 weeks later
Student Opinion
Standardized student experience of learning and
teaching questionnaire for each lecture
Lecturer Opinion
Ease of preparation, Ability to keep on time
Satisfaction, Educational value
Likelihood of continued use of EVS
Mean percentage (95% confidence interval) values for the repeated multi-choice tests categorized by lecture type and topic. The differences
between baseline, post- lecture and delayed testing are statistically significant (p = 0.037). The difference in baseline for the two topics is
statistically significant (p < 0.001). The difference in delayed testing between attendees and absentees is significant (p < 0.001). Trad =
traditional lecture; EVS = EVS lecture; Cx = cervical cancer topic; Br = breast cancer topic; Pre = test sat immediately before lecture; post = test
sat immediately on completion of lectures; Del = delayed test 8–12 weeks after lecture; Absent = students who did not attend lectures but sat
the delayed test.
Student Questionnaire
The cervical cancer lectures showed higher ranking in favor of
EVS in all domains
Effectiveness, organization, concern,
enthusiasm, participation, stimulation, clarity
The breast cancer lectures showed higher ranking in favor of
the traditional lectures in 5 of seven domains
Effectiveness, organization, concern,
stimulation, clarity
Results of lecturer evaluations
EVS lectures difficult to prepare
Able to keep to the time
Educational value similar
Neutral to slightly favorable to use EVS again
Encouraged student participation
Showed student difficulties
Showed flawed MCQ distractors
Conclusions
EVS encouraged active learning
EVS lecture requires substantial investment of
lecturer’s time
No difference in scores for students attending
traditional or EVS lectures
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Title: Using Clickers to Improve Student Engagement and Performance in an
Introductory Biochemistry Class
By: Stephen Addison, Adrienne Wright and Rachel Milner
University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education(2009) 37: 84-91
Medical Microbiology and Immunology
1. Students get a grading bonus for using the clickers in 65% of
the sessions
2. About 60% of the students get the bonus
3. Students take a “shelf” or national test in Micro and Immuno
at the end of the course
4. About 180-190 M2 students
5. Attendance is better than in other courses without clickers, but
maybe about an extra 40 students. This is not a hard number.
Comparison of 2011 Shelf Exam Scores
and Final T-Scores
1000
800
Shelf
Scores
600
400
200
0
-200
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
-400
T-Scores
Passing: 340
Nat’l Mean: 490
Class Mean: 578
Students: 184
Clicker Use vs Average % and Shelf Score
Avg % before bonus
Avg Shelf score
Clicker Use
10-11
09-10
08-09
07-08
06-07
10-11
09-10
08-09
07-08
06-07
> 65%
85.3%
85.6%
84.6%
N/A
83.6%
562
618.7
586.2
555.5
537.3
< 65%
85.1%
83.2%
84.0%
N/A
80.6%
612
598.3
572.7
517.9
478.7
123.6
136.6
136.9
108.0
Standard Deviation : 129.3
Conclusion for the use of clickers in
the Biochemistry and Med Micro
courses
• No clear cut benefit in terms of test scores
• Liked by students
• Can stimulate attendance, but maybe only if a
bonus is used.
Please rate the likelihood of your using
clickers in the future.
1. Already use them
2. Likely to use them
3. Somewhat likely to
use them
4. Unlikely to use them
29%
29%
29%
14%
1
2
3
4