Improved Academic Performance and Student Perceptions of Learning Through Use of a Cell Phone‐Based Personal Response System

Abstract

Personal response systems, such as clickers, have been widely used to improve the effectiveness of teaching in various classroom settings. Although hand-held clicker response systems have been the subject of multiple prior studies, few studies have focused on the use of cell phone-based personal response system (CPPRS) specifically. This study explores students' academic performance and their perceptions of learning through the use of a CPPRS (TopHat) in an undergraduate Food Science class. In this study, students did not use the CPPRS during the first half of the semester-long course, but did during the second half. When CPPRS was used, students responded to 2 multiple-choice questions at 3 points during the class, (a) at the beginning of class, (b) in the middle of the class, and (c) at the end of the class. Student performance was measured by correctness rates on eight 10-item multiple choice quizzes, 4 quizzes each covering the class content that was delivered with compared with without CPPRS. A survey was conducted at the end of the semester asking (n = 28) students' perceptions of CPPRS. The average correctness rate for quizzes covering content delivered with CPPRS (85% ± 9%) was significantly higher than for content delivered without CPPRS (82% ± 10%) (P = 0.016). In addition, students perceived that CPPRS was easy to use (5.04 ± 0.58 on a 1 to 6 scale with 1 being strongly disagree and 6 being strongly agree) and positively impacted their learning (4.52 ± 0.99 using the same scale). When used correctly, CPPRS can facilitate student learning in lectures.

Students’ perceptions of Plickers and crossword puzzles in undergraduate studies

“…Plickers afford students the opportunity to voice their misunderstandings anonymously and as a result, the lecturer can respond to those students without pointing them out when incorrect responses are seen on the screen. These findings align with previous research studies in that students in higher education are supportive of using ARSs, such as Plickers, because they may improve their ability to learn new concepts, attend class more regularly, and prepare for required course assignments (Chan, Wan, & Ko, 2019; Kay & LeSage, 2009; Ma et al., 2018; Shieh, 2012).…”

“…Research has clearly demonstrated that the more students become involved with the “real life” situations, the more they learn (Liverpool‐Tasie, Adjognon, & McKim, 2019; Lo, Gdovin, Stankiewicz, Appezzato, & Garvey, 2006). Therefore, the current trends in teaching undergraduate students are to provide learning environments that are student centered, where the student can actively learn about the subject matter (Al‐Samarraie & Saeed, 2018; Duffrin, 2006; Ma, Steger, Doolittle, & Stewart, 2018). Active learning is an approach to instruction that involves actively engaging students with the course material through discussions, problem‐based learning, case studies, role plays, group projects, think‐pair‐share, peer learning, and other methods (Michael, 2004; Reitmeier, 2010).…”

“…In recent years, there has been a paradigm shift in the classroom from the traditional interaction focused on raising hands to a more technology‐based audience response system (ARS), such as the use of Kahoot!, Socrative, Quizlet, Mastery Connect, Clickers, and Plickers (Blasco‐Arcas, Buil, Hernández‐Ortega, & Sese, 2013; Gauci, Dantas, Williams, & Kemm, 2009; Lantz, 2010). Empirical studies have found that the use of ARSs helps to increase students’ attention and participation, improve their attendance, and enhance their learning performance (Aricò & Lancaster, 2018; Kay & LeSage, 2009; Ma, Steger, Doolittle, & Stewart, 2018).…”

Impact of a Web-Based Review Quiz on the Learning Outcomes of Dental Hygiene Students in Japan

“…The increase in the number of smartphone users is followed by criticisms about the various downsides in the use of smart devices, including Internet or smartphone addiction (Tateno et al, 2019a;Tateno et al, 2019b;Martínez-Sánchez et al, 2020). However, several studies suggest that the use of such technologies has a positive effect on academic performance (Ma et al, 2018;Han and Yi, 2019). Moreover, the importance of gaining Information and Communication Technology (ICT) literacy has been widely recognized worldwide (Fukumoto, 2017).…”

Experiences of Assessment in Data and Security Courses using Personal Response Systems

“…Tivener and Hetzler report students demonstrated improved knowledge acquisition on an introductory athletic course that used regular quizzes delivered using an audience response system [25]. Similarly, Ma et al report student performance was stronger on food science courses when using an audience response system to complete quizzes probing lecture content [18]. Song et al report that student engagement and interaction was improved on language courses that utilised audience response systems for student generated questions [24].…”