1. Using Clickers to Assess Learning & Promote Student Engagement
Presented by:
Maura Matesic
Sophie Bury
Mar. 4th 2009

2. Introduction to Clickers
What are clickers and what do they do?
Clicker hardware & software (PRS/Turning Point)
How to use them
York’s web site: Other Resources: Video: What Are Clickers? (Norther Illinois University)

3. Clickers in Action… How many years have you been a librarian?
Over 20 years
10-19 years
5-9 years
1-4 years
Less than one year
Doesn’t apply

4. Clickers as a Tool to Promote Student Engagement
Maura Matesic

5. Library Component - Goals
Promote not Teach
We employed the technology not to transfer actual skills, but to advertise the existence of online library guides and promote the use of the library within the context of the course itself.
We used the PRS technology to quiz students on library use and research styles, and “market” library resources interactively.
Provoke not Tell
Sessions were quick, focused, and aimed at piquing the students’ interest in library research.
The Library sessions reflected the instructor’s teaching pedagogy and “modus opporandi” of provocation.
Wanted to investigate actual student research practices
To this end we quizzed students regarding library use mid-way through the term and at the end of the term.

6. Library Component - Design
Series of questions
To explore current research practices.
To provoke thoughts of different avenues for research.
Used humour to engage.
Created tag - “dog”, as a reminder.

7. Study
400 students (2 groups of 200 each) were asked a series of questions regarding research practices and library use.
Research and library related questions were asked three times during the 2006 Fall term – at the beginning, middle (wk 8), and end.

8. Initial Results The majority of students do their research in the
library (30-33%), or by consulting with friends
(23-25%).
Students begin their research by reviewing course
materials (33-44%) or by consulting with friends
%)‏
While over half of the students have not used the
business library, 39-46% believed they could do so
effectively
After this introductory session 63-69% planned to use
the library for their research and 56-59% wanted more
information on business research.

9. Mid-term results By the mid-term, close to half of the class had
not started their research and 70-78%
were NOT using library resources.
The vast majority were finding the research
process either “very difficult” (27-33%)
or “hard but not impossible” (29-31%)‏

10. Final Results
The majority of the students did their research by asking questions of friends or asking a librarian.
The overwhelming majority of students did use the library.
Only half of the students actually asked a librarian for help finding information and 50-75% found this information useful.
After this experience a large majority of the students plan to use the library in the future.

11. Moving Forward Actions:
Explore peer learning initiatives (follow-up study)‏
Involve additional librarians to provide online assistance
via classroom software (moodle)
Provide additional library instruction at mid-term workshop
Note:
Reiterated the importance of reminding students of the
library and the help of librarians throughout the term,
not just at the beginning of classes.

12. What do you perceive to be a key finding in this study?
The importance of peer learning
Student’s use (or lack of use) of the library
The need to remind students about the library throughout the term
The need to revamp IL instruction

13. Using Clickers to Assess Learning & Understanding
Sophie Bury

14. Clickers and Assessment
Quick way to assess students’ grasp of concepts
Depending on results you may change points of emphasis, spend less or more time on specific themes.
Skills-testing questions
May or may not be task based, may be discovery-based
Survey Experiences/Opinions
This can help you pitch session effectively
Way to gauge who is in your audience e.g.
Demographics, program of study etc.
Way to gauge students’ library experiences to date e.g.
Previous library instruction
How often they visit the library and why
Students’ opinions on value of libraries or information literacy competencies
Student feedback on value of library session

15. ADMS 3520. Lecture Classroom. Required Accounting Course
ADMS Lecture Classroom. Required Accounting Course. Used to explore knowledge of topic and promote discussion CHOOSE ALL THAT APPLY You can use the York University Libraries’ catalogue to:
Find articles on a topic owned by York University Libraries
Find books available at York University Libraries
Find government publications available at York University Libraries
Find videos available at York University Libraries
Determine reliably whether York University Libraries own a specific journal, e.g., Harvard Business Review, in electronic format
Determine reliably if York University Libraries own a specific journal, e.g. Harvard Business Review, in hardcopy format
Wait a second…I’m not sure

16. MGMT1040. Required BBA Course. Small Classroom with Computers
MGMT1040. Required BBA Course. Small Classroom with Computers. Pretest result for this question type = 14% correct. Used to test understanding of a concept after it has been explained. CHOOSE ONLY ONE ANSWER To find the following citation you could search E-Resources Quick Search box at using: Matten, Dirk. (2003)“Symbolic Politics in Environmental Regulation: Corporate Strategic Responses”. Business Strategy and the Environment. 12.4:
Article title = Symbolic Politics in Environmental…
Author = Matten, Dirk
Journal Title = Business Strategy and the Environment
Wait a second…I’m not sure.

17. Fostering & Assessing Higher Order IL Competencies
Standard lecture format should be heavily revised when clickers introduced to facilitate discovery learning (Fies & Marshall, 2006), e.g.,
“Question Driven Instruction” (Beatty et al., 2006)- > core of in-class instruction. “…making question posing, pondering, answering and discussion the vehicle of learning”.
Peer Instruction (Mazur, 1997): Individual responses & group discussion.
DeBourgh (2008) describes how clickers can be used to foster advanced reasoning skills.
Strategic Instructional Design.

18. Designing Good Clicker Questions (Beatty et al., 2006)
Specific pedagogic purpose:
content goal
process goal
metacognitive goal
Four complementary mechanisms:
direct students’ attention
stimulate cognitive processes
communicate information to the instructor and the students
facilitate the articulation and confrontation of ideas.

19. Gauging Retention of Concepts Taught Using Clickers: Role of Post-Test
Questions reinforced using clickers

20. Significant Retention Evident
Question 6: How to find a journal article online when given an article citation
Pre-Test: 14% Post-Test: 66%
Question 7: Knowing that OR broadens search results
Pre-Test: 35% Post-Test: 75%
Question 8: Appropriate use of truncation
Pre-test: 28% Post-Test: 86%

21. Assessing Students’ Reactions to Clickers: Highlights from MGMT1040 (Fall 2008) Student Evaluation

22. Assessing Students’ Reactions to Clickers: Highlights from MGMT1040 Student Evaluation
Over 70 positive comments and less than 15 students who had reservations.
Heightened student engagement & participation.
“I believe that the clickers encouraged students to be more involved in the session and pay more attention…”
“It was a very interactive experience”
Easy and efficient.
“They're easy and surprisingly very efficient and hassle free”.
Value of learning from peers.
“It was interesting to find out what other students were thinking. It was fun”.
Valued anonymity.
“Made it easy to express what you think with no fear of being embarrassed by getting the wrong answer”. 22

23. So what are your impressions of clickers
So what are your impressions of clickers? Having attended this session, do you think you’d like to use clicker technology in some of the classes you teach?
Yes No
Abstain

24. References
Beatty et al. (2006)“Designing Effective Questions for Classroom Response System Teaching”. American Journal of Physics DeBourgh, G. A (2008). “Use of Classroom “Clickers” to Promote Acquisition of Advanced Reasoning Skills”. Nursing Education in Practice. 8: Fies, C. & Marshall, J. (2006). “Classroom Response Systems: A Review of the Literature”. Journal of Science Education and Technology. 15.1, Mazur, E. (1997). Peer Instruction: A User’s Manual. Prenctice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ.

25. Discussion Time
Questions or Comments?