Use of Clickers in class:

Effects on Student Attendance

and Performance
Master Teacher Guild

Mike Fennewald, PhD (SGPDS)

Daniel Bareither, PhD (SCPM)
Lecia Apantaku, MD (CMS)
Roberta Henderson, PT, PhD (CHP)
Fred Sierles, MD (CMS)
John Becker, PhD (SCPM)
November 29, 2011

Uses of Clickers

Attendance
Formative Assessment
Summative assessment
Homework collection
Question-driven instruction

Benefits
Maintain student attention
Promote discussion
Encourage participation from every
student
Safe space for unsure students
Check for understanding during class
Add a little drama

Electronic voting to
encourage interactive
lectures: a randomised
trial
Paul M Duggan, Edward Plamer and
Peter Devitt
BMC Medical Education (2007), 7: 25

Methods
Two groups of 64 and 63 students
Received two 40 minute lectures
Breast cancer screening
Cervical cancer screening
Cognitive skill measured with two 15-question
multiple-choice questionnaires
Before
After
8-12 weeks later

Student Opinion
Standardized student experience of
learning and teaching questionnaire for
each lecture

Lecturer Opinion
Ease of preparation, Ability to keep on
time
Satisfaction, Educational value
Likelihood of continued use of EVS

Mean percentage (95% confidence interval) values for the repeated multi-choice tests categorized by lecture type
and topic. The differences between baseline, post- lecture and delayed testing are statistically significant (p =
0.037). The difference in baseline for the two topics is statistically significant (p < 0.001). The difference in
delayed testing between attendees and absentees is significant (p < 0.001). Trad = traditional lecture; EVS = EVS
lecture; Cx = cervical cancer topic; Br = breast cancer topic; Pre = test sat immediately before lecture; post = test
sat immediately on completion of lectures; Del = delayed test 812 weeks after lecture; Absent = students who
did not attend lectures but sat the delayed test.

Student Questionnaire
The cervical cancer lectures showed higher ranking in
favor of EVS in all domains
Effectiveness, organization, concern,
enthusiasm, participation, stimulation, clarity
The breast cancer lectures showed higher ranking in favor
of the traditional lectures in 5 of seven domains
Effectiveness, organization, concern,
stimulation, clarity

Results of lecturer
evaluations
EVS lectures difficult to prepare
Able to keep to the time
Educational value similar
Neutral to slightly favorable to use EVS
again
Encouraged student participation
Showed student difficulties
Showed flawed MCQ distractors

Conclusions
EVS encouraged active learning
EVS lecture requires substantial
investment of lecturers time
No difference in scores for students
attending traditional or EVS lectures

You are asked what is the airspeed velocity of a

swallow. What is the most appropriate response?

What is the airspeed velocity of a

swallow?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

African
European
Laden
Unladen
11 meters/sec

Title: Using Clickers to Improve Student Engagement and

Performance in an Introductory Biochemistry Class
By: Stephen Addison, Adrienne Wright and Rachel Milner
University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education(2009) 37: 84-91

Medical Microbiology and Immunology

1.Students get a grading bonus for using the
clickers in 65% of the sessions
2.About 60% of the students get the bonus
3.Students take a shelf or national test in
Micro and Immuno at the end of the course
4.About 180-190 M2 students
5.Attendance is better than in other courses
without clickers, but maybe about an extra
40 students. This is not a hard number.

Comparison of 2011 Shelf

Exam Scores
and Final T-Scores
1000
900
800

Shelf
Score
s

700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

T-Scores

Passing: 340 Natl Mean: 490

Students: 184

Class Mean: 578

Clicker Use vs Average % and Shelf

Score
Avg % before bonus

Avg Shelf score

Clicker Use

10-11

09-10

08-09

07-08

06-07

10-11

09-10

08-09

07-08

06-07

> 65%

85.3%

85.6%

84.6%

N/A

83.6%

562

618.7

586.2

555.5

537.3

< 65%

85.1%

83.2%

84.0%

N/A

80.6%

612

598.3

572.7

517.9

478.7

Standard Deviation : 129.3

136.9
108.0

123.6

136.6

Conclusion for the use of clickers in the

Biochemistry and Med Micro courses

No clear cut benefit in terms of test

scores
Liked by students
Can stimulate attendance, but
maybe only if a bonus is used.

Please rate the likelihood of your

using clickers in the future.
1. Already use
them
2. Likely to use
them
3. Somewhat likely
to use them
4. Unlikely to use
them