The Pros and Cons of Using Cell Phones as Clickers

Debora HeroldDina David

Martin VaughanMichael Yard

Lilly Conference on College TeachingNovember 16, 2012

Clickers in the Classroom

• Students report• Clickers improve their understanding of material• Lectures are more enjoyable and entertaining (Masikunis et al.,

2009; Shaffer & Collura, 2009)• Faculty report

• Incorporating clickers makes their lectures more interactive • Using clickers improves their teaching style (Masikunis et. al,

2009)• Findings are mixed as to whether using clickers improves learning.

• Clickers improve performance (Morling, et al., 2008; Shaffer & Collura, 2009; Shapiro, 2009)

• There is either no difference or even reduced performance when clickers are employed (Butler et al., 2010).

Clickers in the Classroom

• Price• Clickers can be expensive ($16-40)• Faculty may hesitate to require them • May want to use them only sporadically

• Cell phones as clickers• www.PollEverywhere.com • Gather live responses in the classroom using text, twitter, or

web browser

Previous Research

• Cell phones in the classroom• 98.1% of students bring a cell phone to class• 84.4% send text messages during class• 81.9% of faculty are distracted by student cell use• 60.7% of students are distracted by own cell use• 59.8% of students are distracted by other’s cell use• 28.1% of students believe their cell use is distracting

to others

How it works

Procedure

• Students enrolled in 5 gateway classes were asked to use their cell phones as a personal response system (PRS) to answer short question given to them during their classroom meetings.

• Questions were presented on PowerPoint slides and responses collected by Poll Everywhere, a web-based program that collects texts, in real time, from the students’ cell phones.

Procedure

• The procedure was repeated at three separate class meetings.

• A survey was administered at the end of the third cell phone session.

• Participation was completely voluntary. No compensation was offered.

• This study was approved by the Indiana University IRB (study #1112007563).

Participants

• 543 students (mean age: 21.5) enrolled in four

different introductory courses (Psychology,

Anatomy, Biology, and Communications)

• 96% had cell phones with them

• 90% choose to use them

Student Perception

Percentage of students marking agree or strongly agree for the following statements

Statement Percentage

I enjoyed using cell phones in class. 83%

Using cell phones in class increased my interest in the material being presented.

71%

Using cell phones in class increased my motivation to participate in class.

71%

Using cell phones in class helped my understanding of the material presented.

67%

Using cell phones would make me more likely to attend class regularly.

40%

Using cell phones in class takes too long. 26%

Using cell phones in class is a waste of time. 19%

Using my cell phone in class distracted me from the material being presented.

22%

Distractions

Percentage of students answering “yes” to the following statements

Statement Percentage

Did you encounter any problems or technological issues when using your cell phone?

24%

Did you check the time? 76%

Did you check your email? 13%

Did you respond to an email? 4%

Did you check a text message? 65%

Did you respond to a text message? 51%

Did you start another app? 16%

Did you surf the web? 13%

Texts and Emails sent

0 emails 96.3

0 texts 52%

1-3 texts 39%

4-35 texts 9%

Distractions

Time spent on non-course related activities

None 24%

1-5 minutes 53%

7-30 minutes 21%

> 30 minutes 2%

What do you think?

• Where does this leave you?• Does this make you more or less

interested in using clickers/cell phones in the classroom?

• How have you dealt with technology as a distraction?

Summary and Conclusions

• Whether we like to admit it or not, the use of cell phones and other technology in the college classroom is common, and is not going away!

• The challenge for instructors is to make the technology work to help improve the classroom environment, rather than allow it to be an obstacle to active learning, or to be a distraction.

• Students expect instructors to be technologically astute, and to foster an interactive learning environment.

Summary and Conclusions

• Using cell phones as clickers is one way to incorporate technology as a useful tool.

• Factors such as cost, classroom location (cell reception), student attendance, subject matter, and standardization should be addressed.

• It is important that the core Principles of Undergraduate Learning (PULs) do not suffer due to technology in the classroom.

Summary and Conclusions

• Critical Thinking has been identified as an area in which our students must improve, and technology can either serve as our Friend or as our Foe in this regard.