Hi Sue, et al. tipsters: I have no trouble speaking up, never have, as anyone who reads my posts here and on Psychteach can well imagine :)
I haven't gone with clickers because we have relatively small classes, but I am thinking about it My bigggest problem is that I have yet to see real evidence that they enhance learning. I have seen evidence that they may enhance engagement. And MAYBE thereby, secondarily enhance learning, but I have yet to see that. My second large problem deals with the logistics. We do have a clicker system adopted by our university but so far I haven't gone with it. The students have to buy their own clickers, and remember to bring them to class each time. For those who use clickers, how has that worked out? What happens when a student forgets/loses/has his/her clicker stolen and therefore is clicker-less, sometimes for a good reason? They have their much more precious i-phones disappear, so when clickers are sort of expensive (I believe they are $50 in the bookstore here) it's not surprising they disappear sometimes. Anyway, I also tend to be a "lecturer" rather than an "interacter". I've tried the interactive route and it just doesn't match who I am. I do tend to stop and ask questions frequently, but I don't call on people for answers; I let the class as a whole contemplate for a while before forging on again. I'm too impatient waiting for the few people who talk consistently, to do so. So I've thought about clickers as an infrequent adjunct...but I'm not quite ready.....of course, maybe doing some of the research myself might in the end be the impetus. Annette Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology University of San Diego 5998 Alcala Park San Diego, CA 92110 619-260-4006 [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---- Original message ---- >Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2008 09:14:35 -0800 >From: "FRANTZ, SUE" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: RE: [tips] why so traumatic? >To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)" <[email protected]> > > I see clickers as more of a foot-in-the-door; > they're not the be-all and end-all. > > I want to quickly add that clickers have to fit the > style of the instructor. They're not for > everybody. > > I'm afraid that when I talk about clickers, people > picture me using them every 3 minutes. Some class > sessions I don't use them at all. Other days I may > have 1 or 2 questions. And others there may be 8 or > 9 -- as was the case when discussing the > availability heuristic. Some of the questions are > the kinds of questions you'd see on an exam. Others > are more about taking the class' temperature, like, > "How well do you understand _____?" Or "Want > another example?" Other questions are about > attitudes. > > I'm very much a lecturer, but I rely on student > questions to flesh things out. And this has been > the case for years. Before clickers, I could rely > on about 20-30% of my students (class size: 35 to > 50) to ask the questions. > > After clickers, I can expect a question (an actual > raising of a hand followed by the use of a voice) at > any time from about 2/3 of my class (I just went > through my roster and noted who asked a question or > made a comment last week). And this happens pretty > quickly -- I'd say within the first 4-6 class > sessions. Anecdotally, some students have said that > they usually don't speak in class, but they do in > this one. > > I'm attributing the change to the clickers, but I'm > not sure what's driving it. I can imagine several > possibilities. At root, I think, is an increased > sense of group belongingness -- it's almost an > us-as-a-class vs. The Question sort of mentality. > Students get very excited when everyone gets an > answer right. And when students get an answer > wrong, there's comfort in knowing that they're not > the only one. And sometimes when many get an answer > wrong, I have them talk amongst themselves, changing > their answers as they see fit. Just last week, I > gave them examples of positive reinforcement, and > punishment and negative reinforcement and > punishment, and asked them to identify which was > which. A lot of very good discussion ensued -- > sometimes even heated debate. Generally it started > as pairs then grew to groups of 4, then 6, then half > the room. All without any prompting from me, other > than telling them it was okay to talk to each > other. So even if that other 1/3 of the class isn't > speaking in front of the entire class, they are > talking in smaller groups. > > [As an aside, I spoke with someone a few months ago > who taught English as a Second Language courses. She > said when she gave clickers to students, it shut > them up completely. Not what you want in a language > course. So she put them in groups and gave the > group one clicker. Now they're talking again.] > > With attitude sorts of questions, students > understand intellectually that they're not the only > one who holds a particular attitude, but it's > different when they can actually see that others > believe as they do -- and, perhaps more importantly, > see that others do not believe as they do. > > So, no, I don't see clickers as removing the student > voice. Rather, I see them as the ice breaker... or > as training wheels. Once they're comfortable > speaking in class, and have a good experience with > it, I hope students are more comfortable speaking in > other classes -- or other non-academic situations. > Now there's an empirical question... > > As another aside, I'd be curious to know how many > faculty attend a session at a conference and don't > feel comfortable raising their hands to ask a > question... > > > -- > Sue Frantz Highline Community > College > Psychology Des Moines, WA > 206.878.3710 x3404 [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://flightline.highline.edu/sfrantz/ > -- > APA Division 2: Society for the Teaching of > Psychology > http://teachpsych.org/ > Office of Teaching Resources in Psychology > Associate Director > Project Syllabus > http://teachpsych.org/otrp/syllabi/syllabi.php > > ------------------------------------------------ > > From: Steven Specht > Sent: Wed 2/20/2008 4:51 AM > To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) > Subject: [tips] why so traumatic? > > But doesn't this "enable" non-responding? Some of my colleagues use the > same argument when justifying on-line discussion groups. I would rather > work on students' abilities to be confident in themselves so that being > "wrong" is not so "socially traumatic". It's difficult to say the > emperor has no clothes when you're afraid to respond. > Of course, I have the luxury of having small classes (usually under 25) > and spend some valuable class time talking about why students feel > uncomfortable raising their hands. It relates to availability heuristic > in a way I suppose too, when related to asking questions in class. I > ask them to think back on all the times they were thankful that someone > else raised his/her hand to ask a reasonable question compared to the > times when they thought someone asked a "stupid" question. We talk > about the fact that there seems to be less "stupid" questions asked, by > far. And I assure them that as a professional educator, I will handle > politely rare "stupid" question (which, imho, are very rare). > Just my 7.5 percent (adjusting for this year's CPI). > -S > > On Feb 19, 2008, at 9:22 PM, FRANTZ, SUE wrote: > > > I can't help with the cointoss -- although for some students > > calculating 50% may be a problem. I've seen students take out > > calculators (or cell phones) to add up 5 single digit numbers. > > > > For other things where there is a right or wrong answer, like the > > penny, some students would probably prefer to not participate rather > > than be wrong in front of their peers. > > > > I'm a proponent of clickers for the latter reason -- they won't help > > with the math issue. For instance, I do a demo for the availability > > heuristic. Students are asked to estimate the number of shooting > > deaths in our county (large metro area), and then they are asked to > > estimate what percentage were homicides, suicides, and accidents. > > When I used to ask for a raise of hands or for students to volunteer > > what they thought, I got very little response. With clickers, I get > > 100% response -- and after the correct answer is revealed, students > > can see that they weren't alone with their wrong answers -- AND > > they're willing, en masse, to talk about why they were wrong. > > > > -- > > Sue Frantz Highline Community College > > Psychology Des Moines, WA > > 206.878.3710 x3404 [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > http://flightline.highline.edu/sfrantz/ > > -- > > APA Division 2: Society for the Teaching of Psychology > > http://teachpsych.org/ <http://teachpsych.org/otrp/syllabi/syllabi.php> > > Office of Teaching Resources in Psychology > > Associate Director > > Project Syllabus > > http://teachpsych.org/otrp/syllabi/syllabi.php > > <http://www.apadiv2.org/otrp/index.php> > > > > ________________________________ > > > > From: William Scott [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Sent: Tue 2/19/2008 5:45 PM > > To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) > > Subject: [tips] Students who attend class but are not there > > > > > > > > In an intro class today I did a demonstration meant to show them the > > absence of psychic abilities. I had them predict a coin toss on 20 > > throws. I had planned to have those who succeeded by more than 50% > > then predict on another series of coin tosses and show the effect of > > the normal curve. After the first round, I asked how many got less > > than 50% right. About one quarter of the class raised their hands. > > Then I asked how many got more than 50% right and another quarter of > > the class raised their hands. What the ...!! I have concluded that the > > current students have found a way to send 3dimensional holographic > > avatars to class so that they can appear to be there, but they > > actually are still back in their dorm rooms sleeping. > > > > The same sort of thing happened a few years ago when I did a classic > > demonstration of choosing the face of a one cent piece. I asked the > > students to raise their hands regarding which of the different > > representations of a penny they chose. As I went through the options, > > I ended up with about 50% of the class still not claiming one as I got > > to the last one, which none of them admitted to choosing at the end. > > > > Perhaps these new clicker systems that allow us to do anonymous class > > polls might help, but I really would like to know why students come to > > class but don't take part in it. > > > > Bill Scott > > > > > > --- > > To make changes to your subscription contact: > > > > Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) > > > > > > > > --- > > To make changes to your subscription contact: > > > > Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])<winmail.dat> > > > ======================================================== > Steven M. Specht, Ph.D. > Associate Professor of Psychology > Utica College > Utica, NY 13502 > (315) 792-3171 > > "Mice may be called large or small, and so may elephants, and it is > quite understandable when someone says it was a large mouse that ran up > the trunk of a small elephant" (S. S. Stevens, 1958) > > --- > To make changes to your subscription contact: > > Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) > > --- > To make changes to your subscription contact: > > Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
