How Cool Are Clickers?

Last week’s New York Times published an essay titled “Geek Lessons” by Mark Edmundson, who teaches English at the University of Virginia.  It’s an interesting exploration of the role that being “uncool,” that is, unconventional, plays in college and university instruction.  Edmundson claims that instructors who bend over backwards to be “cool” tend to lose the ability to help students see the world in different ways.

Edmundson mentions that one of the more common ways for instructors to try to be cool is to incorporate technology in their classes since students love computers.  Can you guess what technology he uses as his first example of instructors adding some technology just so their students will think them cool?  Clickers, of course.

I’ll admit that some students and some professors think clickers are pretty cool.  And I’m sure some instructors start using clickers primarily for the entertainment value.  However, I would also argue that clickers can be used very effectively to help students see the world in different ways…

Imagine a chemistry professor who asks students through a clicker question to predict the outcome of a classroom demonstration.  When the professor conducts the demonstration and the results of the clicker question make clear that most of the students’ predictions were incorrect, they’re primed to learn why their intuitions were wrong.

Or imagine an English professor who has students respond to a multiple-choice, critical-thinking clicker question.  Students submit their answers, perhaps thinking that the question has a single right answer.  When the professor leads a class discussion that makes clear that the text being discussed provides evidence in favor of several of the answers, the students start to appreciate the complexities of a subject they once thought black-and-white.

Or imagine a sociology professor who asks students to respond to a clicker question about their personal opinions about religion or politics.  When the results of the clicker question make clear to students that many of their peers think very differently than they do, the students see the relevance of discussing diverse perspectives in the course.

Edmundson writes…

Good teachers matter because they can surprise you out of your complacency and into new views of yourself and the world.

It seems to me that a classroom response system can be a very effective tool in the hands of a teacher interested in helping students view the world in new ways.