Analysis

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Audience Analysis:

21^st century college students have unique characteristics in their learning styles, needs and abilities. Current undergraduate and graduate students are utilizing technology in ways that will change the instructional methods instructors must use to foster engaging classroom instruction.  Clickers are currently being used at several colleges to assist in technology integration, give immediate feedback and change the learning environment to better accommodate the uniqueness of these 21^st century college students.

Current undergrad students are characterized by the following traits: 

• students want immediate feedback from their instructors
• students want easy access to their instructors
• students expect instructors to be technologically proficient as it pertains to their field
• students desire access to technology more than ever before
• students learn better through technologically-based collaborative projects.

Our intended target audience includes 3,000 undergraduate college students over the course of a year.  Students response systems (clickers) will be in all subject areas with classes ranging between 20 and 100 students.  Each classroom will be equipped with clickers for use on a daily basis across subject areas. 

The undergraduate participants have been exposed all of their lives to technology (digital natives), and are very comfortable with new technology.  These students are characteristically eager to learn new material, and self-motivated. 

Undergraduate students in large classrooms tend to fade into the crowd, or not prepare for class.  In addition to easy of use, clicker promote group and individual responses and participation.  They help motivate students to attend class and prepare for the lectures, as well as get involved themselves.  Additionally, by using clickers, instructors are able to analyze mastery levels of various learning objectives, and target remediation accordingly.  

In most undergraduate courses, individuals are in a passive environment.  They merely sit and take notes while the professor is lecturing.  Incorporating clickers empowers professors by providing an active learning environment, where student clicker responses help guide discussion and provide ongoing feedback to the instructor, allowing them to reteach or review "on the fly."  The target audience is often enthralled in an interactive, two-way learning environment, one that results in not only higher levels of engagement, but accelerated concept mastery.

Instructors will need training to make sure that they are providing higher order questions to promote group conversation.   Students will participate in the activity and then answer what they deem is the correct response with their clicker.  Some constraints are the teachers’ technology backgrounds: training instructors on effective practices with the new technology to keep the instructors involved and using it in their classrooms.

Clickers will cost the students between 25 and 50 dollars, on top of any books they will need for the course.  Some clickers will be provided as funds permit.  Sensors to identify the clickers will be installed in all the classrooms and on all professors' computers to provide students with continuity in their learning environment. 

Data will be collected before to see if using the clickers will result in higher academic grades, and higher attendance rates, as well as a desire by undergrad students to use clickers in other classes.  We will be looking at the data collected from the results over the year to show the benefits of clickers in a classroom.  The number of responses in general will measure student involvement, correct responses will measure mastery levels of various learning objectives, and responses over various periods of time will measure student attendance.   We will also survey other classes where clickers were not used, to determine if using the clicker really did have the desired affect.

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