The Influence of Tech-Savvyness and Clicker Use on Student Learning

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to investigate the influence of technology proficiency and clicker use on students’ perceptions of clickers, engagement and class grade point average. Four hundred five students completed a questionnaire that measured Student Technology Proficiency (STP; Garcia and Zapf, in press), and participated in the validation of two new dependent measures: perception of clickers and student engagement. Class GPA was collected after the semester ended. A 2x2 MANOVA experiment was conducted and yielded no differences between students enrolled in a clicker class versus not, but there were several findings between STP groups. Students high in STP had a favorable view of clickers compared to students low in STP, but students low in STP had higher engagement and earned higher grades than students high in STP. We speculate that clickers continue to fill a pedagogical niche, but only in conjunction with effective teaching practices. Implications for teaching and learning are discussed.

Keywords

• Student response systems
• Clickers
• Student technology proficiency
• Engagement
• Academic performance