To experience this video with audio narration, please click here.

I&IT Learning and several members of the student and faculty community tested student response systems (a.k.a. "clickers") in their classes to see how the clickers would assist in providing an interactive and informative educational experience.

The Challenge

Faculty members often turn to technology for solutions for keeping their students engaged in course material. The way technology is used can depend on a number of factors such as the difficulty of the content being presented to the willingness of the students to participate comfortably in active discussions.

I&IT Learning has always played a role in supporting academic technology by assisting in a coordinated effort between the Faculty Center for Professional Development, Bronco Bookstore and various academic departments. However, in the 2007-2008 academic year, several groups joined together to form a learning community of students and faculty. The main challenge for I&IT Learning was to provide insight on the technological and pedagogical aspects of clicker use in the classroom.

The Solution

Working with faculty, the Faculty Center for Professional Development and several other departments on campus, I&IT Learning provided an opportunity for students and faculty to participate in a learning community with an outcome of identifying which clicker system best works for Cal Poly Pomona. Part of this learning community involved testing two different clicker systems to see if one had a technical or pedagogical advantage over the other: iClicker and TurningPoint.

Dr. Gilbert Brum a professor in the Biological Sciences department, tested TurningPoint in his class. Dr. Brum felt that both systems provided the same result - active discussion between he and his students. "I deliberately infuse into critical parts along the timeline of the lecture lots of interactive questions using the clicker system and that keeps students focused and gets them re-energized again and it keeps the energy at more or less the same level throughout the lecture."

Dr. Philip S. Beauchamp from the Chemistry department noted that he received more participation from students with clickers.

"I really got a lot more insight into what the students were thinking... usually, when i ask questions, I sometimes I'd ask for a vote [without clickers] and out of 40 students, I'd get 4 students responding... with the clickers, I got a response from all 40 students which was very insightful for me."

Behind the Scenes

The People Involved

I&IT Technical Support: Trevor Henderson, Daniel Smith

Instructional Design: Gil Brum, April McKettrick, Alex Rudolph, Daniel Smith

Learning Community Support and Coordination: Victoria Bhavsar, Peggy Perry

Learning Community Participants: Phil Beauchamp, Gil Brum, Mary Burkin, Tim Corcoran, Gerald Hackett, Barbara Hoeling, Sandy Kapoor, Kyu-Jung Kim, Dave Kopplin, Zhenxing "Eddie" Mao, Kathi McNair, Mark Meskin, Thuan Nguyen, Michael Page, Nancy Prince-Cohen, Laurie Roades, Fred Roth, Laurie Starkey, Vincent Turner, Edward Walton, Anne Wohlcke, Lan Yang