Using Clickers in the Classroom

In the second paragraph of this article, Celine Provini brings up many of the benefits that I see of using clickers in the classroom. First, they can be used to quickly assess and provide feedback to students. Secondly, clickers are very engaging for students and allow for more students to participate in classroom discussions. Although I see these benefits in my classroom when I use clickers, I have never thought about is they are actually necessary.

The article discusses a study done on 2 classes that used clickers vs. 2 that did not. Although the study did not show higher test scores while using clickers or not, "the clicker group did report (albeit not in the form of a statistically significant difference) that the technology enhanced their classroom experience in terms of understanding of the topic, feelings of belonging in the class, and level of interaction with both classmates and the instructor" (Provini, 2012).

The article goes on to give some helpful tips to follow while using clickers in the classroom including types of questions to use and adequate wait time. I do plan on continuing to use clickers in my classroom, but will keep these helpful hints in mind too!