Using Student Response Systems in Economics and Finance Classes Annual Meeting of the Academy of Economics and Finance Jean Snavely and Michelle Trawick

AEF – February 2008 What is a SRS (clicker)? Radio transmitter with unique student identification Easy to use Delivery is Power Point based 2

AEF – February 2008 Rationale for Clickers Student engagement Promote active learning Continuous improvement – Students – Faculty 3

AEF – February 2008 Rationale continued Proper use of technology Interaction Assess student understanding Apply material for better understanding Stimulate discussion 4

AEF – February 2008 Personal Experience Statistics Principles of Finance Small- to Medium- size classes 5

AEF – February 2008 Applications Attendance Survey Quiz In-class scoring Breaks 6

What is your experience with clickers? 7 1. I have used clickers in class. 2.I want to learn more because I might adopt clickers. 3.I am curious about this technology. 4.I have never heard of clickers before today.

AEF – February 2008 Statistics Examples Time considerations – definition vs. quantitative questions 8

AEF – February 2008 The standard deviation for the standard normal distribution 20 0 of 5 1.is always equal to one. 2.is always equal to zero. 3.can be any value. 4.can be any positive value

AEF – February 2008 X is a normally distributed random variable with a mean of 22 and a standard deviation of 5. The probability that X is less than 9.7 is 0 of

AEF – February 2008 Finance Examples Internalizing a concept 11

AEF – February 2008 You have the choice of a sure $500,000 or a chance of $600,000 or 0. 1.Take the $500,000 2.Take the gamble

AEF – February 2008 You are on a TV game show and can choose one of the following. Which would you take? 1.$1,000 in cash chance of winning $4, % chance of winning $10, % chance of winning $100,

Most managers are ________ since they require a higher return for a given level of risk. 1.Risk averse 2.Risk indifferent 3.Risk seeking 4.Risk free :

AEF – February 2008 Best Practices Incentives for student participation Appropriate use of timing Administer at beginning of class to allow time for discussion Use response tables Make sure signals are being received before assigning points – Icebreaker slide or polling test 15

AEF – February 2008 Best Practices continued Read the questions and answers; announce when the timer has started No solar powered calculators Remind students to bring clicker if they are not supplied Do not start exercise in normal or slide sorter view (reveals the answers) 16

AEF – February 2008 Best Practices continued Make students individually responsible for their answers – copying a neighbor’s response is cheating and will be punished 17

AEF – February 2008 Turning Reports 18

AEF – February 2008 Turning Results by Student 19

AEF – February 2008 Anecdotal Observations Students like the “friendly” competition MOST students respond well to the pressure of timed response. Though some blatantly DO NOT LIKE IT. There is a significant amount of communication between questions and after the exercise. The students have asked for the slides to be posted as a study tool. 20

AEF – February 2008 Comments from Students Nice break from taking notes Let’s us know if we “get it” Instant feedback on what we’ve been learning Extra practice on answering multiple choice questions and we need all the help we can get on that. Nice to have applications Change of pace These clickers are much better than the ones we had in geography. Those were a waste of time. I HATE being timed. 21

AEF – February 2008 Problems Eats up class time that had been devoted to lecture. Pace has slowed. – Solution: I’ve had to leave out some material that I would have tried to cover. NOTE: some semesters have gone this slowly without the clickers. More administrative duties are required. Two batteries have died. – Solution: Polling tests required at the beginning of exercise. Those students without response will get a replacement. Remote control mouse – Solution: Channels changed on all mice. Merging scores for students across sessions has been problematic. – Solution: The error is in the software. No neat way around it. The company is working on the problem. I’m not convinced that they are a better use of the student’s time. – Solution: pedagogical research idea 22

AEF – February 2008 If you plan to adopt, be creative. Answer the following question then return your clicker. 23

AEF – February 2008 Questions? 24