Abstract:

Traditional lecture or master class leads towards passive learning where the students are expected to attend class and collect pertinent information from the teacher. Teachers are perceived as an extension of the textbook and students take notes relentlessly. In many cases, students can fall down into early boredom and get distracted during class therefore their level of attention is reduced. Student engagement is important for learning, the influence of the teacher’s pedagogical practices is, in this sense, essential. The stimulus is initiated when the students manage to change their role from that of a passive observer to an active contributor. For this, the teacher should try to conduct lectures more interactively and to get students to think critically about the class topic and to discuss ideas with their schoolmates. The clicker technology can be a means for this. It has been shown that the implementation of these devices in a classroom increases motivation, participation and attention during class. In this study, we have incorporated true-false teacher-created questions to answer at the end of each master class. After introducing concepts or processes, the teacher presents Power Point© slides with several questions about these concepts, that students responded individually by using their clicker and a discussion is stablished for every question. This study has been performed in a Molecular Pathophysiology module (each module consists of three sessions teaching, in which attendance is voluntary) coursed during the third year of the Pharmacy Degree at the Pharmacy School of the University of Castilla-La Mancha. We believe that this novelty could lead to more active learning and better retention of contents that may lead to higher grades.

In this study, we conducted a student survey at the end of each master class and collected the impressions of the students regarding the incorporation of the questionnaires by clicker technology. The students manifested that it had increased their motivation as well as their active participation in class. They also believe that this activity may have helped them to consolidate the concepts seen in the class.

We have also compared the scores obtained in evaluative tests (multiple-choice questions) by the students of the current course between them according to attendance to the sessions and with those of the former year (they didn’t receive feedback with the clickers).

Keywords:

Clicker technology, master class, higher education.