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Clickers for Large Class Teaching
This document summarizes a pilot program at the National University of Ireland Galway that introduced clicker technology into large undergraduate science classes to increase student engagement and participation. Over 750 clickers were distributed to first year students across various core science modules. Student and staff feedback was overall positive, with students reporting that clickers helped keep them focused, allowed anonymous participation, and added an interactive element to lectures. Some concerns were around attendance monitoring, interrupting lecture flow, and ensuring academic content was still covered. The university aims to continue supporting staff adoption of clickers and evolving pedagogical strategies to maximize benefits.
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Clickers for Large Class Teaching
- 1. Clickers for largeclass teachingSupporting Academic Staffat NUI Galway, IrelandSharon Flynn &Fiona ConcannonCELT, NUI Galway
- 2. Context of HigherEducation in IrelandGrowth in student numbers at undergraduate level
- 3. Concern about lackof student participation
- 4. Poor retention offirst year students (non-presence rates of 11%), especially in Science, Agriculture and Veterinary (HEA, 2010)
- 5. Anecdotal concerns arounddecreased student performance at end of year examsClickers for Student Engagement in Large Class Teaching
- 6. Other Irish pilotstudiesIn Ireland…
- 7. Johnson and Lillis(2010)- UL
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- 9. Bowe & Cowan(2004) – DIT
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- 12. Mazur, Bruff, Caldwell,Fies & Marshcall.
- 13. Caldwell (2007) notes,“The reviews of the literature, however, also agree that much of the research so far is not systematic enough to permit scientific conclusions about what causes the benefits”. NUI Galway First Year PilotDistributed 762 “eInstruction cricket” devices to incoming first year undergraduate science students
- 14. Over 40RF receivers distributed to members of academic staff
- 15. Installed software inlecture theatresFirst Year Curriculum60 ECTS, Full Time, Level 8
- 16. 3 x 1hour-long lectures and lab practical sessions per week
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- 24. Earth & OceanSciences
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- 26. Financial Maths &Economics
- 27. Computer ScienceHow wasthe technology adopted?
- 28. Used in largeclassesClass size varied between 100 and 300 students
- 29. Mixed variety ofuse in practice, depending on
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- 32. organisation of teachingwithin the module
- 33. Not used inlab sessions or practical sessions Adoption of clickers for staffMapping the technology to the existing teaching practices
- 34. Process of transformingthe underlying pedagogy to accommodate for increased interaction (whether discussion, conceptualisation or reflection)Supporting Staff
- 35. Support and TrainingTrainingWorkshops (6)
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- 38. Resource website andrecordings
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- 41. The Reported ExperienceBystudents and by academic staff
- 43. Student FeedbackN=272 (35%response rate)
- 45. Student Reported Frequencyof Use in LecturesN=272
- 46. What is goodabout using clickers?N=272
- 47. What is notgood about using clickers?N=272
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- 49. Attendance monitoring andconcerns over data and privacy
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- 52. Mixed cohort groupsas a barrier to use?
- 53. Balancing academic buy-invs. promoting consistency of useLessons learnedWhere to from here…
- 54. What did thestudents say?Worth using clickers again?
- 57. What would improveyour experience of using clickers?N=272
- 58. ConclusionsAdoption of thetechnology is unique to the culture and context within the discipline
- 59. Experience of expertsis very persuasive
- 60. Staff looking for“just-in-time” support
- 61. In supporting staff,need to listen to both staff and student voices
- 62. Overwhelmingly positive studentfeedback
- 63. Need for evolvingimprovements in question design and pedagogic strategies adopted
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- 65. It’s the journey,not the destination…