This document discusses the use of clickers, or student response systems, to promote student engagement at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT). It provides examples of how clickers have been used at CPUT since 2004, including for polling questions, testing pre-knowledge, competitions, and changing student opinions. Feedback from students and lecturers suggests that clickers make learning more interactive and fun, help students practice concepts, and reveal common misconceptions. While clickers can increase superficial interaction, research also indicates they support meaningful learning through discussion and conceptual change when used as part of a structured sequence involving questioning, peer instruction, and explanation.

1. Clickers at CPUT– and
student engagement?
Daniela Gachago,
Educational Technology Unit, Fundani Centre for
Higher Education Development, CPUT

2. Interactive, instructing
questioning as teaching
method is nothing new…

3. New technology…CLICKERS!
 Anonymous
 Instant feedback
 Variety of question
types
 Record of data

4. My experience with clickers…
Clickers used since 2004
2500 clickers, first and second year students in
College of Science and Engineering
Issued to students through library
Clickers used since 2010
125 clickers, mainly for Foundation
students
Issued to lecturers on demand

5. Typical usage at Edinburgh
 Students bring clickers to each class
 3-5 questions asked per class
 Knowledge type questions (right answer)
 Focus on consistent use
 Main purpose: keep students awake, engage
large classes, feedback to staff and students,
reveal common misconceptions

6. A boat carrying a large boulder is floating on a
lake. The boulder is thrown overboard and sinks.
The water in the lake with respect to the shore
1. Rises
67%
2. Drops
3. Remains the same
17% 17%
1 2 3

7. UoE staff perception

8. UoE (staff): Ranked by
importance, clickers seem to be
most useful to…
Score (max 500)
500
450
400
350
300
250
200 Score (max
150
100
50
0
increase get feedback on reveal common help students help students keep students keep students increase
interaction students’ misconceptions understand practice awake entertained attendance
understanding difficult concepts

9. Usage at CPUT
 Only 125 handsets for 2 campuses and 36.000
students
 No installed PCs in lecture theatres
 How? Why?
 Creativity! Discussion
Testing of pre-knowledge
Competitions Pub quizzes
Data collection Change of opinion/behaviour

10. The figure below presents three corridors to be
used for traversing a road connecting two
termini Mbazwana and Sodwana Bay
Civil Engineering First Year students

11. Q2: The earth is flat.
1. It is not flat, I can convince someone who says it is flat
2. It is flat, and I can convince someone who says it is not
flat
3. It is not flat, although I do not know how to convince
someone who says it is flat
4. It is flat, although I do not know how to convince
someone who says it is not flat
Geomorphology class: Testing of pre-knowledge

12. Lecturer’s feedback…
Generally most students got all the questions right- which
really surprised me, as I thought they had no idea of the
concepts I was gonna teach. I had got this impression from
the lecturer whom I took this topic from, and who has
taught it for over 20 years. She said was certain, from her
experience, that the students know nothing, hence my
surprise at the consistently correct answers. ….
This also made me re-think my teaching approach, and I have
been able to spend less time on the basics, go faster in class
(I gave the students typed notes), and I've had time to
include videos for teaching (which the students have loved
very much!).

13. Why bother?
“What is engaging about clickers … is increased
interaction superficial or meaningful in terms of
learning? “ (Kay & LeSage 2009)

14. Steve Draper,
University of Glasgow
“Possibly the most productive
application, however, and the
one with the largest body of
existing research, is in using
the equipment to initiate a
discussion.* ”
* Draper S. (n.d.) Electronically enhanced classroom interaction.

15. Mazur Sequence
“You can forget facts but you cannot forget understanding”
Prof. Eric Mazur, Harvard

16. Enter question text...
1. Answer 1
67%
2. Answer 2
3. Answer 3
17% 17%
1 2 3

18. First year Business students: Intercultural communication class

19. Student lecturer discussion

20. First year Business students: Intercultural communication class

21. Class
discussion

22. First year Business students: Intercultural communication class

23. Typical question course 1
pre

24. Digital story intervention

25. GD Foundation
students: I like clickers
because...

26. They are fun and full of energy I dont feel judged...
They are an exciting new way of learning They make me feel like I
am participating in class
They are simple to use... although I dont speak up
It feels safe to
I like clickers... participate
They make us learn from each other Nobody pushes you to
talk if you dont want to..
They let me see what other think
They make us think outside the box... It helps widening the thinking
and helps the flow of thinking juice
You hear others opinions and then you weigh it up
with your own and with that you can formulate a
better answer

27. Student engagement levels
Gachago D., Morris A., Simons, E. (in development)

28. Johnson et al. (1998):
 Cooperation is an essential pre-requisite for
cognitive growth
 Controversy theory: “…students need to be
confronted with opposing points of
views, leading to uncertainty or conceptual
conflicts, for students to re-conceptualize and
look for more information, which then in turn
leads to more refined and thoughtful
conclusions.”

29. Thank you!
Daniela Gachago
gachagod@cput.ac.za
http://www.cput.ac.za/blogs/edutech/clickers-at-
cput/