Interdisciplinary Journal of E-learning and Learning Objects Teaching and Learning with Clickers: Are Clickers Good for Students?

Student response systems (clickers) are becoming very popular in classroom instruction. The majority of the published papers investigate how students feel about clickers. There is limited research regarding clickers’ influence on student learning. The purpose of this study is not only to evaluate students’ experiences and perceptions about the use of clickers, but also to find out whether they have a positive impact on student learning. Data from student surveys supplemented by exam grades were used to analyze these goals. Students in two undergraduate courses in the spring of 2011 utilized clickers for review and practice question sessions. Overall, students gave high approval ratings for this technology, particularly in increasing their participation and engagement in lectures. We found no significant difference in the class mean final examination scores for students taught with clickers (treatment group) compared to those taught in a traditional class setting (control group). However, the range of final exam scores and final course grades were smaller for the class with clickers compared to the class without clickers. The treatment group had also smaller variances in terms of both final exam scores and final grades which suggest that the spread of their scores was much closer to the mean compared to the class without the clickers. Based on the findings from survey responses, interviews, and analysis of final grades we found that the use of clickers appears to increase student engagement and achievement compared to traditional lecture format instruction. The implications for using clickers to improve active teaching and learning are discussed.