Clickers and active engagement sociology - jeff loats

NameSchoolDepartment

CLICKERS AND ACTIVE ENGAGEMENT@ MSU DENVER SOCIOLOGY DEPARTMENT

DR. JEFF LOATSDEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS

2THE TECHNOLOGY CHALLENGE

• Not a magic bullet

• Increase personal contact

• Fundamentally new opportunities

3TECHNOLOGIES VS. TECHNIQUESiClickers

Colored cards

Hands

Peer Instruction

Factual recall

Polling/survey

Poll-Teach-Poll

Thought Questions

Teach-Test-Retest

… adding metacognition

4

Are you currently using clickers or another classroom response system in your courses?

A) I have never used them.

B) I have used them before, but don’t currently.

C) I use them currently in at least one class.

5PHYSICS EDUCATION REVOLUTIONEric Mazur, Physicist at Harvard:

6“ALL SIMILARLY (IN)EFFECTIVE…”

7

University of Washington

University of Colorado

University of Illinois

at Urbana-Champaign

8MAZUR’S PERSONAL REVOLUTION(added) Pre-class reading, enforced

(removed) Most sample problems

(removed) Derivations

(modified) Lecture broken up into small bites

(added) Depth over coverage

(added) Concept Tests with Peer Instruction

9

PEER INSTRUCTION

• Multiple choice questions–Conceptual–Hard

1. Students answer Individually

2. Discussion with peers

3. Students answer post-discussion

4. Class-wide discussion

10

Students have developed a robot dog and a robot cat, both of which can run at 8 mph and walk at 4 mph.

A the end of the term, there is a race!

The robot cat must run for half of its racing time, then walk.

The robot dog must run for half the racing distance, then walk.

Which one wins the race?

A) Robot cat B) Robot dog C) They tie

11

MAZUR AFTER 1 YEAR

12

ELSEWHERE?

13

WHY CLICKERS?

• Alternatives:–Hand raising–Numbered/colored cards

• Anonymity + secrecy honesty• Inclusive• Fast• Credit for learning

14TECHNOLOGIES VS. TECHNIQUESiClickers

Colored cards

Hands

Peer Instruction

Factual recall

Polling/survey

Poll-Teach-Poll

Thought Questions

Teach-Test-Retest

… adding metacognition

15

FACTUAL RECALL

• Rated poorly by students

• High stakes?

• Reading quiz or diagnostic?

16

What is the correct expression for the area of a circle?

A) e ∙ r

B) e ∙ r2

C) π ∙ d

D) π ∙ r2

E) π ∙ r

17

POLLING/SURVEY

• Share without risk

• Comparison statistics

• Controversial topics are engaging

18

Do you feel you were treated fairly at all levels of review when you had your most recent professional review (renewal, tenure, promotion, etc.)?

A)Yes

B)No

First: Women only Second: Men only

19

How large of an effect does bias have in the social sciences? [Measurement was of faculty responsiveness to prospective student emails.]

A)Women/minorities do worse by ~11%)

B)Women/minorities do worse by ~3%

C)No difference across gender/ethnicities

D)Caucasian males do worse by ~3%

E)Caucasian males do worse by ~11%

20

POLL-TEACH-POLL

• Poll but don’t show results• Teach• Poll again to explore shifts in attitudes

• Peer sharing for added metacognition

• Insightful results for instructor

21

Which best describes your feelings about female circumcision/female genital mutilation?

A)I am writing letters to the WHO to protest.

B)To each their own… we shouldn’t interfere with another culture.

C)What is the big deal… males around the world are circumcised.

D)I don’t know anything about it.

22

THOUGHT QUESTIONS

• Choose a relevant open-ended question.• Small group discussion• Presentation & defense by a single group• Class votes: Agree/Disagree/Don’t know• Majority disagrees? Next group presents!

• Repeat until majority agrees

Created by Teresa Foley & Pei-San Tai from the CU Integrative Physiology Department

23

Endocrinology:

What would you predict would happen to the ovulatory frequency if one ovary were removed?

Immunology:

Given that all blood cell types derive from the pluripotent hemopoietic stem cell, why are there so many different types of cells in the immune system?

24

TEACH-TEST-RETEST

• Skill focused questions

• Diagnostic and formative assessment

• Repeated testing beats repeated studying!

25

ADDING METACOGNITION

“… and I can explain why”“… but I don’t know why”

• Good for two-choice questions

• Adds to formative assessment value

26

THE EVIDENCE STANDARD

• Quick/easy attendance in large class sizes.

• Provides anonymity (Banks, 2006).

• Every student participates (Banks, 2006).

• Encourages active learning (Martyn, 2007).

27

THE EVIDENCE STANDARD

• Improved concentration (Hinde & Hunt, 2006)

• Improved learning and retention (Moreau, 2010).

• Improved exam scores (Poirier & Feldman, 2007)

• Efficient use of class time (Anderson, et al. 2011).

28

GOOD QUESTIONS

29

BEST PRACTICES

• Start small – 5 min of each hour of class

• Sell it – Be explicit about why

• Be consistent – Nearly every class

• Engage students – Wait for explanation

• Demonstrate value – Focus on wrong answers

• Follow up – Assessments must change

• Credit – 2%-15% for participation… mostly.

30

GET SUPPORTED!

• Try it… but be smart!

• Resources:–Center for Faculty Development–Metro’s TLT Conference (Oct. 26th)–Teacher Scholar Forum (Feb. 22nd)–Me (visit, email, chat, etc.)–Colleagues!

31

YOUR SUMMARY

For yourself… or to share?

What part of how or why to use clickers is the fuzziest for you after this talk?

What is the biggest reason you might not give clickers a try in one course next term?

Contact me: Jeff.Loats@gmail.com

Presentation:www.slideshare.net/jeffloats