Why Clicker Response Systems Are Beneficial to Classroom Learning

It can be difficult for a teacher to provide a truly interactive learning environment. Teachers often end up resorting to the standard lecture format that has the teacher saying the information and the students simply jotting it down in their notes. This isn't due to lazy teachers or disinterested students, but rather, to the structural difficulties inherent in a classroom setting. The teacher needs to communicate knowledge that the students need to remember and the most direct way to do this is to merely present the information to them. That said, most teachers and students would prefer, and would do better with, a more interactive learning environment.

Students are better able to grasp concepts and ideas when they can interact with those ideas. Teachers had, until only recently, relied entirely on things like polling students by having them raise their hands to get their feedback and participation. While this is a great way for the more outgoing students to participate, it does favor those who are willing to speak out in front of their peers. Time constraints also make it hard for all students to engage in the discussion.

With the introduction of classroom response system, also called clicker response systems, teachers can use technology to overcome some of the obstacles to better interaction. Teachers can present a question to the class and students can respond instantly by entering their answers into their personal clicker devices. The responses they enter are recorded by a computer which can instantly generate graphs of the students' aggregated responses. Each student can answer the question safe in the knowledge that their peers will not be able to see how they responded, while still providing teachers with the specific information on each student's performance.

Students benefit from this type of instruction in several ways. Students can join in the discussion and offer their responses without having those responses linked to them by their peers. It also gives all students a chance to weigh in, even if time is limited. Students who participate in the discussion have a larger stake in the lesson and demonstrate a better understanding of the material presented to them.

It's also better for teachers, as the socrative system provides real-time feedback on the effectiveness of a lesson. Teachers can judge whether the majority of the students are following and understanding the information presented to them. If most of the students do not understand the material, the teacher can switch to a different approach right away, instead of waiting to see how well the students perform on a test later. The information provided by the students that is stored by the computer can be used to further refine the lessons, prepare student-specific help for those who aren't understanding the material or online slideshow, and provide an easy way to grade students on participation as well as understanding of the material.