Making Politics “Click”: The Costs and Benefits of Using Clickers in an Introductory Political Science Course

Abstract

In this article, the author addresses both the costs and benefits of implementing clickers into an introductory political science course. Comparing student responses to a mid-semester survey in both a clicker and non-clicker course, the results show that students have higher satisfaction of the course and instructor, higher exam scores, and feel more comfortable participating in class when using clickers. The author finds that the benefits of using clickers in a large introductory course greatly outweigh the costs and encourages others to try the technology.

Keywords:

• clickers
• student response system
• student satisfaction

Acknowledgments

An earlier version of this article was presented at the 2011 Southern Political Science Association meeting. The author would like to thank the panel members for their helpful comments.

Notes

To register the students with their clicker, the instructor (or department) must purchase a receiver that plugs into a USB port.

N = 115.

Semester 1, Third Exam Average: 69; Semester 2, Third Exam Average: 75.

In the clicker session, students' grades averaged 2.5% higher than the session that did not use the clickers.

The students in the clicker section had an average GPA of 2.5679, an ACT score of 20.04, and an SAT of 984.53. The students in the regular section had an average GPA of 2.5506, an ACT score of 19.99, and a SAT of 986.03.

Significantly more students who used the clickers said that the exams were fair, p ≤ .01. While more felt like they were prepared for the exam, the results failed to reach significance.