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benefits of peer instruction
In this video, Harvard Physics Professor Eric Mazur shares the story of the moment he realized his outstanding teaching reviews were not actually resulting in the student learning outcomes he believed he was achieving – a harsh wake-up call that led him to discover the teaching strategy he named “peer instruction”.
What is peer instruction? Peer instruction refers to the practice of students learning through discussion with peers.
Why use peer instruction? It is one of the most research-validated forms of active learning; the “Research” tab at this AAPT link includes a long list of studies supporting the practice.
Education Tech for Polling and Interaction
In-class polling has many possible uses (adapted from Douglas Duncan at CU Boulder):
- Find out what students learned from assigned reading before class
- Measure what students know before you start to teach them and after you think you’ve taught them
- Measure attitudes and opinions, with more honest answers if the topic is personal or embarrassing
- Get students to confront common misconceptions
- Facilitate discussion and peer instruction (having peers learn from one another)
- Increase student retention of what you teach, through engagement and peer instruction
- Transform the way you do demonstrations (involve all students in prediction and reasoning)
HOW CAN I IMPLEMENT THIS SUCCESSFULLY?
Explore the toggles below to learn about the best practices for implementing polling in your course, as well as guides for setting up iClicker, and information on various polling technologies.
This video shows an example of active learning with polling:
WANT TO DIG DEEPER?
Advantages and Disadvantages in Polling
This article summarizes the advantages and disadvantages of using a clicker-like polling technology over flashcards or hands. None of these are magically achieved by the clicker itself. They are achieved – or not achieved – entirely by what you do in implementation.
How to Set Up iClicker at UCLA
Installation and Connecting to Bruin Learn
We HIGHLY recommend you schedule a time to set-up your clicker with UCLA’s iClicker representative. They can meet with you over Zoom to help you install the software, connect to the gradebook in Bruin Learn, and practice launching a poll and syncing to the gradebook.
Contact:Jennie Ribera, jennie.ribera@macmillan.com
If you prefer to try it on your own, you can access iClicker’s “Getting Started” guide.
Picking up an Instructor Kit
You can pick up an instructor kit at the CEILS office, 222 Hershey Hall. Please contact media@ceils.ucla.edu to schedule a time to stop by.
Consultation on Question Design/Pedagogical Practices for Using iClicker and other Polling Tools
A member of the CEILS team would be happy to meet with you and discuss some best practices for designing engaging questions to use with polling software. Contact media@ceils.ucla.edu to schedule a consultation.
Do students need a remote or can they use their phone?
Students can utilize a physical remote or they can use the mobile app. Note that using the mobile application will provide you a bit more flexibility in the question type (beyond multiple choice), however sticking to multiple choice can still meet your needs and create significant discussion and engagement.
The Center for the Advancement of Teaching (CAT) has a limited number of iClicker student remotes available for rental: https://www.teaching.ucla.edu/iclicker-rentals
Additional iClicker Resources
Additional Resources:
See sample syllabus text when using iclicker –> “Course Materials” section
Writing Great Questions for Peer Instruction
Thought Questions- A New Approach to Using Clickers Teresa Foley & Pei-San Tsai
Niemeyer & Zewail-Foote (2018, Journal of Chemical Education) found that compared to men, women had significantly higher perceptions of the benefits of clickers and their ability to increase student engagement.
Want even more information? The Carl Wieman Science Education Initiative has a great collection of polling tool resources.
Polling Applications for Smart Phones and Other Devices
Interested in alternative polling tools to i>clicker?
There are several free or low-cost polling tools for your smart phone or other electronic device. Note that some UCLA faculty have reported experiencing wi-fi issues when trying to use these online polling applications (i>clicker uses radio frequency rather than a wi-fi signal and thus bypasses this issue). That being said, if you opt to try an alternative polling system, please test the online application prior to use in a specific classroom, especially if implementing the technology in a large class. Note that we also suggest using these online polling tools at workshops and conferences — they provide an excellent way to make your seminar talks interactive!
Here are some polling tool alternatives to i>clicker:
- ABCD Card App for Smartphones
- Visit http://cii.wwu.edu/cii/ABCD/ and download app from iTunes or Google Play.
- Developed by Western Washington University, this simple app allows students to project a bright selected choice (ABCD?) on their phone and hold up for you to see.
- Socrative
- Visit https://www.socrative.com to learn more about the tool and its features, view a demo, create an account, and see pricing options for a PRO account.
- Online Polling Tool (OPT)
- Visit https://onlinepoll.ucla.edu/ to access the tool and view a demo
- To request a test of the specific classroom where you will use OPT, please contact rrocchio@oit.ucla.edu.
- Poll Everywhere
- Visit https://www.polleverywhere.com/ to access the tool, view a demo, and see pricing options.
- Kahoot!
- Visit https://getkahoot.com to access the tool and see a video showing the various learning environments where this tool has been used.
- Plickers
- Visit https://www.plickers.com/ to access the tool and learn more about how to use the application in your course.
- Mentimeter
- Visit https://www.mentimeter.com to see features for facilitation and presentation as well as view pricing options.
Tech-Free Voting Cards for Student Polling
We recommend using iClicker software if possible in order to not only view student responses, but also to be able to analyze the results of your polling by individual student or the class as a whole and award participation points.
However, if you would prefer a non-technology option or want to provide non-technology options to your TAs for their discussion sections, you can use these voting cards. Either print them for students or ask students to print (in color!) and bring one to all classes.
These cards can be folded and held up during class as you ask multiple choice questions.