Real Learning Opportunities at Business School and Beyond
This is the 2009 volume in the Advances in Business Education and Training Book Series. The Series aims to foster advancement in the field and to serve as an international forum for scholarly and state-of-the-art research and development. This volume offe
- PDF / 128,316 Bytes
- 11 Pages / 439.37 x 666.142 pts Page_size
- 5 Downloads / 184 Views
The “Clicker” Project: A Scholarly Approach to Technology Integration Danielle Morin, Jennifer D.E. Thomas, Janette Barrington, Linda Dyer, and Maria Boutchkova
7.1 Introduction How can we make larger classes more interactive, with all students (even those in the back row) feeling engaged, reflective, and questioning ideas being presented? How do we get students to read before coming to class and prepared to take an exam? How do professors get the most out of their lectures and class time? These are the kind of questions guiding a research study on “clicker” technology in the John Molson School of Business at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. The purpose of this study is to evaluate systematically the use of clickers in a business classroom context. Clickers, also known as student response systems, are handheld devices given to students so they can individually respond to multiple-choice type questions during lectures. For that reason, clickers are more than a simple show of hands. They are used to conduct in-class polls or to hold quizzes that count toward final grades. An interesting application given in Draper & Brown (2004) had the class agree or disagree, or rate the open-ended answer given by one student. Through wireless transmission and special software the professor can graphically display an aggregate of student responses immediately within a PowerPoint presentation. Students get instant feedback on their learning in-class time and, depending on how many students get the right answer, the professor knows whether to review the content or not. Although vendors claim benefits of this technology on student engagement and performance, research to date is sparse and often inconclusive (Caldwall, 2007). The focus of the present research study is on student perceptions of learning including satisfaction in using this new technology. The Vice-Provost, Academic Programs, is leading the project and the Centre for Teaching and Learning Services, the University’s centralized unit responsible for academic staff development, is providing pedagogical and research support. Developed and assessed through this D. Morin (B) Concordia University, Montreal, QC, Canada e-mail: [email protected]
P. Daly, D. Gijbels (eds.), Real Learning Opportunities at Business School and Beyond, Advances in Business Education and Training 2, DOI 10.1007/978-90-481-2973-7 7, C Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009
97
98
D. Morin et al.
project will be a new strategy for engaging faculty in collaborative research, working toward a scholarly approach to technology integration and an understanding of best practices in this area.
7.2 Theoretical Framework Clicker technology is an innovative learning tool that has recently been appearing in university and college classrooms. Some research has shown that clicker technology is useful in increasing class participation and that participation is positively associated with student learning (Trees & Jackson, 2007). Clickers can be an excellent tool to help professors move from
Data Loading...
