Using Electronic Response Systems in Economics Classes

Abstract

College instructors and students participated in a pilot project at the University of Akron to enhance student learning through the use of a common teaching pedagogy, peer instruction. The teaching pedagogy was supported by the use of technology, an electronic personal response system, which recorded student responses. The authors report their experiences in using this technology-enhanced teaching pedagogy and provide another example of an active and collaborative learning tool that instructors can use to move beyond “chalk and talk.” Preliminary survey results from students participating in this pilot project are also reported.

Keywords:

• electronic response system
• interactive learning
• peer instruction
• technology

JEL Codes:

• A12
• A20

Sucharita Ghosh is an associate professor of economics at the University of Akron (e-mail: [email protected]). Francesco Renna is an associate professor of economics at the University of Akron (e-mail: [email protected]). The authors thank the Center of Collaborative Inquiry and the Institute of Teaching and Learning at the University of Akron for funding the grants that supported the use of this technology in the classroom, and participants of the Carnegie Colloquim at the AAHE National Conference on Higher Education in Atlanta in 2005 and the Midwest Conference on Student Learning in Economics in Akron in 2004 for their helpful comments and suggestions. They also thank David McConnell, Mike Nelson, Steven Yamarik, and four anonymous referees for their insighful comments and suggestions.

Notes

1. Several other cooperative learning activities are described in Keenan and Maier (1995).

2. For more information about eInstruction, visit http://www.einstruction.com.

3. There are several independent providers of personal response systems. These are often available from textbook publishers. For example, Turning Point is available from Thompson-South Western Publishing, and Hyper-Interactive Teaching Technology and InterWrite Personal Response System are available from Pearson Education. The technology is usually available at a discounted price from the publisher if the instructor adopts their textbooks.

4. For example, Poulis et al. (1998) analyzed the performance of more than 5,000 students and reported an increase in student pass-rates from about 55 percent to more than 80 percent in physics courses that used an electronic response system combined with student discussion for what they termed “audience paced feedback.” Similar results were found in Crouch and Mazur (2001).

5. Marburger (2005) found that cooperative learning techniques did not improve students’ scores on multiple-choice questions but they helped students improve deep learning, where students are required to integrate their knowledge and apply it to comprehensive “real world” situations.

6. Instructors always have the option to ask students to discuss the question in pairs, even if the majority of the students answered correctly. The discussion of the question with a peer can reinforce the understanding of the concept and avoid the possibility that the student selected the correct answer either by using incorrect reasoning or by guessing the answer.

7. Occasionally, the number of correct answers decreases after peer instruction. This occurs because students are inclined to change their response on the basis of how other students answered the question. The instructor can take this opportunity to emphasize that the most popular choice in the first round is not necessarily the correct one. Over a short period of time students typically correct their behavior.

8. We have no means to assess if this policy improved students’ attendance. However, Greer and Heaney (2004) reported an increase in student attendance rates from 40 to 50 percent to 80 to 90 percent, which is attributed to a similar extra-credit point policy.

9. The responses regarding graduate-level classes pertain to only three classes, two of which were taught by the same instructor.