Teaching with Classroom Response Systems: Creating Active Learning Environments (review)

As Derek Bruff states in the preface, this book is "a practical guide for instructors interested in teaching with classroom response systems" (p. xii). In six chapters (207 pages), Bruff shares not only his experiences with clickers (handheld wireless transmitters) but also examples from about 50 instructors in different disciplines at a variety of institutions. The goal was to find out how they used clickers in activities and discussion, the challenges they have faced when using these devices, and the reactions of students to learning in this way.

Based on the fact that almost 2,000 people per month visit Bruff's clickers website (www.vanderbilt.edu/cft/cr/crs.htm), there appears to be an interest in knowing more about how to use classroom response systems in the teaching and learning process. Since active learning, classroom assessment techniques, and feedback systems are important concepts in creating learning environments, this book is a contribution.

Chapter 1 sets the context for understanding how to begin to use clickers. While classroom response technology dates back to the early 1960s, the methods appear to be gaining momentum based on the numerous examples in the book from other instructors. As Bruff points out:

The consensus of several literature reviews seems to be that the use of clickers often increases student attendance, participation, and enjoyment of classes and provides students and instructors with useful feedback on student learning … [although] "most literature reviews call for further research into the effects of clickers on student learning."

(p. 5)

Bruff convinces me that there are several advantages in using this technology. Since we know that students come to courses with different learning styles, clickers benefit students who are not comfortable openly participating in front of their peers. Another advantage is how clickers provide an objective and quantifiable way to evaluate class participation—a constant challenge for most instructors.

Other advantages include being able to create a sense of healthy competition among students to make learning more enjoyable. For particularly sensitive topics such as those in the areas of diversity or human development, clickers provide anonymity. Clickers also provide data so that the results of the questions can be shared with all students in a confidential way. Another advantage is the time savings when evaluating responses on quizzes or other summative assessments. This method can also monitor student attendance data by tracking when clickers are used.

Chapter 3 describes how most questions fall into two categories: content questions used to assess student learning and process questions used to collect information from students to determine how they interact with each other and the course material. It was the section on process questions that I found intriguing. For such questions, clickers can be used to collect information on demographic data to provide the background information of the students in the course. Since each group of students is unique, opinion questions can be asked about feelings and beliefs, an approach that helps instructors get to know their students and that lets students know something about each other without having to share this information individually.

Decades of research on human learning have produced findings that different groups have summarized in sets of "principles of good practice." As Mary Huba and I point out in Learner-Centered Assessment on College Campuses: Shifting the Focus from Teaching to Learning, students learn by constructing, rather than receiving knowledge. In fact, students learn best when they (a) consider what they know about a topic before learning more, (b) reflect on what has been learned, and (c) try out the new learning in their own setting. Clickers can be used to accomplish these principles.

Monitoring questions can be used for continuously improving the course. While it is important for students to have feedback in order to improve, faculty members also need feedback to improve teaching so that students in courses learn more effectively. Since some students are hesitant about giving honest feedback to professors, using clickers...