Sharing Session on use of Student

Response System (web-Clickers) to

Promote Active Learning

Dereje Engida Woldemichael (PhD, CEng MIMechE)

Mechanical Engineering Department
dereje.woldemichael@petronas.com.my

15 January 2016

Outline

What is active learning?

Active learning techniques

Framework of teaching and learning activities

Clickers in Scopus & Google scholar

Student response system Clickers

A quick starting guide for using the web clicker system

Accessing Webclicker.org

Hands-on Exercise on webclicker

Sample Student feedback

References on clickers

Q&A

What is Active Learning

Active learning is a process whereby students engage in

activities that promote analysis, synthesis, and evaluation of
the content.

Active learning is anything course-related that all students

in a class session are called upon to do other than simply
watching, listening and taking notes.(Felder and Brent 2009)

Active learning is any instructional method that engages

students in the learning process where the students are
required to do meaningful learning activities and think about
what they are doing. (Prince 2004)

Active Learning Techniques

Think-pair-share (TPS)

Role playing, simulations

Cooperative learning

Two minute papers

PBL and case studies

Concept tests

Concept maps

Closure review

3-2-1

Framework of Teaching and Learning Activities

Lecture
Active Learning
Think-Pair-Share (TPS)
Concept Questions
Web Clickers
Pre-Lecture
In-Class
Post-Lecture
Two-minute papers
Guided Learning Activities

Tutorial
Formal Cooperative Learning
Team Formation
Weekly Activities
Closure Review

Clickers

Clickers

What is clicker/Clickers ?

Clickers are small handheld devices/transmitters about

the size of a television remote control used by students to
transmit their answers by pressing the clicker buttons.
(Caldwell 2007)

Clickers are an interactive technology in which students

use a hand held devices to provide electronic responses
to promote active learning in a classroom.
Once students have submitted their answers,
automatically-generated graphs anonymously illustrate
the distribution of their answers.
Commonly used type of questions include

multiple-choice
True/False questions
Short answer questions*

Student Response Systems Clickers

Clickers : (Synonyms)

Audience Response System (ARS),

Classroom Response System (CRS),

Personal Response System (PRS),

Student Response System (SRS)

Student Response System Clickers

Clickers provide a mechanism for students

to participate interactively in learning activities anonymously,

to express their own views and ideas without peer pressure,

to explore and reflect on alternative ideas and develop their

own reasoning,

to obtain self-reflection and evaluation as formative feedback to

their learning.

to improve engagement in active learning among students.

It help in strong level of communication for clarity and critical

thinking (DeBourgh, 2008).

Common uses of clicker questions (Caldwell 2007)

to increase or manage interaction, through questions that

to find out more about students, by:

start or focus discussions (Jackson and Trees, 2003)

require interaction with peers (Knight and Wood, 2005)
collect votes after a debate (Draper, 2002)
surveying students thoughts about the pace, effectiveness,
style, or topic of lecture
polling student opinions or attitudes
probing students pre-existing level of understanding

to assess student preparation and ensure accountability,

through:

questions about reading or homework (Knight and Wood,

2005)
prelab questions

Common uses of clicker questions (Caldwell 2007)

formative (i.e., diagnostic) assessment, through
for
questions that:

assess students understanding of material in lecture

reveal student misunderstandings of lecture (e.g.,Wood, 2004)
test students understanding of previous lecture notes
assess students ability to apply lecture material to a new
situation
allow students to assess their own level of understanding at the
end of a class (Halloran, 1995)

to guide thinking, review, or teach, including questions

used to:

review at the end of lecture

give prelab tutorials (Draper, 2002)
review for a test (Jackson and Trees, 2003)
lead students through a multistep process

SRS using Web Clickers

Pre-lecture Response (n = 36)

In-class Response
After lecture(n = 81)

Student Response System Clickers

Alternative options

iclicker https://www1.iclicker.com/

The simplest version costs $ 45 *

REEF Polling
1 Semester $9.99
2 Years $21.99
1 Year $15.99
4 Years $31.99

web>clicker https://webclicker.iclicker.com/

student prices: 1 semester: $10.00, 1 year: $16.00, 2 year:

$22.00, 4 year: $32.00.**

https://www1.iclicker.com/purchase/ *
https://technology.ku.edu/sites/technology.drupal.ku.edu/files/docs/iclicker/webclicker%20instructions.pdf **

Student Response System Clickers

Alternative options

Poll everywhere https://www.polleverywhere.com/

Student Response System Clickers

WebClicker.org (http://webclicker.org/ )
A Free Web based Personal Response System

Helps to flip your classroom and have students voting

in less than one minute at zero cost!

It works on any internet accessible devices (phones,

pads, PCs, Laptops) with a working browser.

There are no hardware purchases, no app downloads,

and absolutely no cost!

A quick starting guide for using the web clicker system

Note:
Teachers can pick a community channel from the front page at webclicker.org
and register for a teacher's account. UTP can apply to set up our own community
channel.
Each class has a unique class ID, which the teacher can give students so that
they can self-enroll into the class.

Accessing Webclicker.org

Preferred Browsers:

For back end class management and teacher frontend applications, please use any PCs or Macs with
Chrome, Firefox, Safari, IE, .

Please update to the newest versions to enable all

features such as drag-and-drop and copy-and-paste
pictures.

For student front-end applications, use any device that

has internet connection (WiFi or 2/3/4G) and a
browser that is less than 5 years old.

Accessing Webclicker.org

Login:

Choose your channel

Accessing Webclicker.org

Login:

Accessing Webclicker.org

After log in teachers can

modify user settings,

run a clicker session,
manage classes, and
create/edit questions for use with clickers.

Accessing Webclicker.org

Manage Classes

Creating a Question

Manage Questions

Accessing Webclicker.org
Sign up as students
Course code:
UTP-WebClicker-Demo-253

Lets practice

Sample Student feedback

What do you want me to continue?

webclickers, tutorials, in class exercises... everything is good and

very effective method of continuous learning
The usage of web clicker is good to learn the fundamental concepts
of the subject
webclicker.. tutorial and all of them..
Pre.&Post-Class quizzes; they really get the students to engage
with the subject.

What do you want me to stop?

Stop the webclicker. (Please,TQ)

stop depend on us to learn by ourselves in room before come
to class. you have to set in your mind that most of the student
dont really care about lesson before class. we come to class to
learn something new. i know that your technique is very useful ..
if it was implemented in our style of learning before enter the
university

References on use of clickers in classroom

Caldwell, J. E. (2007). "Clickers in the large classroom: Current

research and best-practice tips." CBE Life Sciences Education 6(1): 9-20.

Crossgrove, K. and K. L. Curran (2008). "Using clickers in nonmajorsand majors-level biology courses: Student opinion, learning, and longterm retention of course material." CBE Life Sciences Education 7(1):
146-154.

DeBourgh, G. A. (2008). "Use of classroom "clickers" to promote

acquisition of advanced reasoning skills." Nurse Education in Practice
8(2): 76-87.

Gauci, S. A., A. M. Dantas, D. A. Williams and R. E. Kemm (2009).

"Promoting student-centered active learning in lectures with a
personal response system." American Journal of Physiology - Advances
in Physiology Education 33(1): 60-71.

Mayer, R. E., A. Stull, K. DeLeeuw, K. Almeroth, B. Bimber, D. Chun, M.

Bulger, J. Campbell, A. Knight and H. Zhang (2009). "Clickers in college
classrooms: Fostering learning with questioning methods in large
lecture classes." Contemporary Educational Psychology 34(1): 51-57.

References

Felder, R. M. and R. Brent (2009). "Active Learning: An

Introduction." ASQ Higher Education Brief 2(4).

Prince, M. (2004). "Does Active Learning Work? A Review of the

Research." Journal of Engineering Education 93(3): 223-231.

THANK YOU
Q & A
Any suggestion or comment
is welcome