Dr. Patti Frazer Lock

Dr. Lock was in the process of developing “ConceptTests” to supplement Calculus textbooks. These multiple choice questions are designed to test for understanding, so it made perfect sense to mesh the development of this pedagogy with the Personal Response System technology. Dr. Lock launched a PRS pilot project with thirty-one students in Calculus I and nineteen students in Calculus II during the fall of 2005. Students used their “clickers” routinely in class to respond to multiple choice questions carefully constructed to assess student comprehension of course material.

Technology Details: Personal Response Systems (PRS) come in many shapes and sizes. The handheld device ("clicker") is shaped like a remote control, and designed to allow an individual to respond to one or more multiple choice questions. Users transmit responses wirelessly via infrared (IR) or radio frequency (RF) to a receiver strategically located at the front of the room.

Project Outcomes: There were some areas of distinct improvementin the course, foremost being student engagement with and focus on the classroom material. Students also interacted with the material much more thoroughly as a result of the PRS technology. In many cases, students would interrupt in the middle of an example to ask questions either during or after a PRS question; often those students who otherwise would have been reluctant to speak up in class. Dr. Lock observed that all types of students (quiet or loud, high achievers or average students, competitive or non-competitive) enjoyed using the personal response system in class. Using a PRS definitely made the course more fun for the students, and for the instructor!

Student Reactions: In launching the pilot project, Dr. Lock was concerned about several things and entered the semester with a fair amount of skepticism. She held negative opinions toward multiple choice questions in general; she felt that technology was impersonal in nature; she was concerned about the time pressure imposed on students by the technology. She quickly discovered all of these concerns to be non-issues for students. Students overwhelmingly reported a positive response to the use ofclickers (forty-eight out of fifty approved, one was neutral, and onewas negative toward the PRS technology) at the end of the semester. Dr. Lock also observed that there was a lot more laughing during class, and noted that as an unintended outcome not to be underestimated.

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