20090115

Education research: end-of-semester feedback on clickers (Astronomy 210, Cuesta College, Fall Semester 2008)

Cuesta College students taking Astronomy 210 (introductory astronomy) at Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, CA used clickers (Classroom Performance System, einstruction.com) to engage in peer-interaction ("think-(pair)-share") discussion questions during lecture.

During the last week of instruction, students were given the opportunity to evaluate the instructional components of the course, and the use of clickers in an online "Learning Resource Survey" hosted by SurveyMonkey.com. Questions from section II are adapted from the Student Assessment of Learning Gains (SALG) survey (developed by Elaine Seymour, Wisconsin Center for Education Research, University of Wisconsin-Madison), and questions from section III (III.1, III.3, III.5, and III.7) were adapted from a "Clicker Attitude Survey" (N. W. Reay, Lei Bao, and Pengfei Li, Physics Education Research Group, Ohio State University).

These are the complete survey results. Analysis will be forthcoming after more data has been compiled from future semesters. Values for the mean and standard deviations are given next to the modal response category for each question. Note that the order of questions within sections II and III were randomly scrambled for each student.
Learning Resource Survey
Cuesta College
Astronomy 210 Fall Semester 2008 sections 70158, 70160
(N = 65)

I. In order to receive credit for completing this survey,
first enter your first and last name below:
____


II. How much did each of the following aspects of the class help
your learning?

II.1 Lecture by instructor.
1. Strongly disagree 0 :
2. Disagree 4 : ****
3. Neutral 9 : *********
4. Agree 31 : ******************************* [4.0 +/- 0.8]
5. Strongly agree 20 : ********************

II.2 Working in groups on in-class activities.
1. Strongly disagree 0 :
2. Disagree 0 :
3. Neutral 11 : ***********
4. Agree 30 : ************************* [4.2 +/- 0.7]
5. Strongly agree 24 : ************************

II.3 Using clickers to participate in class.
1. Strongly disagree 0 :
2. Disagree 2 : **
3. Neutral 2 : **
4. Agree 31 : ******************************* [4.4 +/- 0.7]
5. Strongly agree 29 : *****************************

II.4 Reading the textbook.
1. Strongly disagree 2 : **
2. Disagree 8 : ********
3. Neutral 27 : *************************** [3.4 +/- 1.0]
4. Agree 21 : *********************
5. Strongly agree 7 : *******

II.5 Demonstrations/videos in class.
1. Strongly disagree 0 :
2. Disagree 1 : *
3. Neutral 9 : *********
4. Agree 36 : ************************************ [4.1 +/- 0.7]
5. Strongly agree 19 : *******************

II.6 Interacting with other students during class.
1. Strongly disagree 0 :
2. Disagree 1 : *
3. Neutral 10 : **********
4. Agree 33 : ********************************* [4.1 +/- 0.7]
5. Strongly agree 21 : ***********

II.7 Interacting with other students outside of class.
1. Strongly disagree 1 : *
2. Disagree 19 : *******************
3. Neutral 26 : ************************** [3.1 +/- 1.0]
4. Agree 13 : *************
5. Strongly agree 6 : ******

III. Answer the following statements which may or may not describe
your beliefs about the use of clickers in this class.

III.1 I like using clickers.
1. Strongly disagree 0 :
2. Disagree 0 :
3. Neutral 4 : ****
4. Agree 31 : ******************************* [4.4 +/- 0.6]
5. Strongly agree 20 : ******************************

III.2 Clickers helped me understand lectures better.
1. Strongly disagree 0 :
2. Disagree 2 : **
3. Neutral 9 : *********
4. Agree 37 : ************************************* [4.1 +/- 0.7]
5. Strongly agree 17 : *****************

III.3 I would recommend using clickers in future semesters of this class.
1. Strongly disagree 0 :
2. Disagree 0 :
3. Neutral 6 : ******
4. Agree 30 : ****************************** [4.4 +/- 0.6]
5. Strongly agree 29 : *****************************

III.4 I will avoid other classes using clickers in future semesters.
1. Strongly disagree 33 : *********************************
2. Disagree 26 : ************************** [1.6 +/- 4.1]
3. Neutral 4 : ****
4. Agree 2 : **
5. Strongly agree 0 :

III.5 Clickers were a positive experience.
1. Strongly disagree 1 : *
2. Disagree 0 :
3. Neutral 7 : *******
4. Agree 35 : *********************************** [4.2 +/- 0.7]
5. Strongly agree 22 : **********************

III.6 Too much time in class was spent using clickers.
1. Strongly disagree 17 : *****************
2. Disagree 33 : ********************************* [2.0 +/- 2.2]
3. Neutral 12 : *******
4. Agree 3 : ***
5. Strongly agree 0 :

III.7 Too many clicker questions were asked.
1. Strongly disagree 18 : ******************
2. Disagree 39 : *************************************** [1.9 +/- 2.3]
3. Neutral 5 : *****
4. Agree 3 : ***
5. Strongly agree 0 :

III.8 Using clickers was difficult.
1. Strongly disagree 44 : ******************************************** [1.4 +/- 5.4]
2. Disagree 16 : ****************
3. Neutral 5 : *****
4. Agree 0 :
5. Strongly agree 0 :

IV. (Optional.) Please type in any comments you may have regarding
the use of clickers in Astronomy 210.
The following are all of the student responses to this question, verbatim and unedited (with a few editorial context clarifications in [brackets]).
"P-Dog is a funny yet helpful teacher and makes the class more enjoyable."

"Clickers are cool!"

"The clickers were chillin but too often I forgot my clicker and then I would not get credit! Which sucked cause I was baking on those clicker points. I never missed a class but sometimes missed a click. But that is my own fault so I think that they are good for the most part."

"I thought the clicker questions were a great way to stimulate involvement with the entire class, but when the class didn't know the answer I think it would have been better for P-Dog to explain it to us rather than have us ask our neighbors."

"I liked the clickers"

"Clicker questions provided opportunities to discuss difficult concepts. I think more of them for more difficult concepts would have been helpful. In-class activities were great but too many times not all of my assigned [groupmates] showed up or did not really contribute to answering the questions. Maybe the in-class activities could be homework and more clicker questions during class."

"PDawg is awesome"

"i liked the clicker questions it gave me a chance to understand more of what you were talking about in the lectures because of the examples and explanations"

"thanks for an Astronomical semester P-Dog!"

"I really think that the clickers are a good learning experience but it was hard and got confusing when we talked it out if the results varied because I couldn't always make the connection between the actual answer and the answer that the people around me thought it was. But i also really like the videos [PowerPoint presentations] during lecture it helps me to visually understand what you are explaining."

"Clickers were okay. I don't feel like I benifited anything from them though. I also thought that 'talking it out' irrelevant because when the class' answers are all across the board, obviously nobody knows the answer so I found that no one really new what to talk out. But I didn't think using clickers was a bad experience though!"

"The clickers were extremely helpful in not only understanding some of the information covered on the exams, but also in helping me to truly 'own' the information I spit back out."

"I thought the clicker questions were very helpful..even more so because I could go back online and download them to study."

"they were tight"

"I like using clickers becuase I have time to think about the questions, and can receive credit from that."

"good class"

"Clickers were fun! I enjoyed using them for in class quiz type things!"

"Clickers help organize student responses."

"I thought that using the clickers in class helped keep everyone on task and to focus on the material that we were learning about"

"Clickers were a postive learning experience for me :)"

"Clickers are awesome! They are a great way to make sure that students are participating in and attending class. Clickers are easy to use, and you don't even have to get the questions right to get full credit.... it's basically free points for being involved in the class."

"Pat Len is an awesome teacher. It's great the way the class has everyone collaborate their information with the group activities, and the clicker questions helped especially when your confused. You get to see where everyone else is and then go back over a question by collaborating with other. Clickers, awesome. Group activities, great. Dr. len, the bomb."

"Clickers are blue and have buttons. My favorite button was the 'F' button, but I also enjoyed 'C' and 'H' as well."

"They cost too much, and you had to pay more and have a credit card to register them."

"Clickers are a good way of learning!"
Previous post:
Education research: preliminary feedback on clickers (Astronomy 210, Cuesta College, Fall Semester 2008)
Discussion of preliminary Astronomy 210 student opinions from this semester.

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