Considering Clickers & Anxiety: Implementing Clicker Technology So that it Decreases Student Anxiety in the Classroom

Today's blog is written by Virginia Downing, Academic Success Manager and member of Sara Brownell's Biology Education Research Lab, Arizona State University

When it comes to increasing student learning in college classes, active learning practices have been strongly recommended as a way to build students’ content knowledge. One common instructional practice in active learning classrooms is having students use clickers – handheld response devices – to answer instructor posed questions. Clickers allow all students in the class to be able to answer a question and the instructors can see how the class as a whole answered the question. By having students actively engage with the subject matter by answering questions, studies have shown that on average students learn more and fail less in these active learning courses compared to traditional lecture courses. However, what has yet to be explored in detail is how active learning practices like clickers may increase feelings of anxiety for students that may then hinder their academic performance.

The Biology Education Research Lab at Arizona State University has explored how student anxiety influences their experience in active learning science classrooms in our recent publication in the International Journal of STEM Education, which has also been featured as an Editor’s Choice in Science magazine. A major finding of the study was that clicker questions have the potential to both increase and decrease student anxiety and how clicker questions are implemented matters.

What makes Clickers Anxiety Inducing?

While clickers provide a great way for instructors to get immediate feedback from students on course content and provide accountability to students, the implementation of this technology can lead to an increase in anxiety for our students. In our study, we found that students felt more anxious about clicker questions when they were timed and graded for accuracy. Students felt anxious because if the clickers were timed, they would feel the pressure of being rushed and felt as though they did not understand the material as well as everyone else. Their anxiety would also increase if points for clickers were tied to accuracy of the question as opposed to just getting participation points for trying to answer the question.

Students also felt more anxious when clicker questions indicated that they did not know as much as their peers. When instructors posed a clicker question and then showed the results to the whole class, students talked about feeling anxious when most of the class got the question right, but they didn’t.

Can Clickers Decrease Anxiety?

Not every aspect of using clickers in the classroom increased student anxiety. In fact, clicker questions can provide an opportunity to decrease anxiety when points are awarded for participation instead of accuracy and if students feel as though they have enough time to answer the question. Also, if students are able to clarify their understanding of subject matter in real time in the classroom and recognize what they do not understand, this seemed to decrease their anxiety. Finally, if students recognized that many of their peers have the same issues with the course material because many students got the same clicker question wrong, this seemed to decrease student anxiety.

Considering Clickers? Consider your Implementation

When deciding how to implement clickers in your classroom, consider how you are implementing clicker questions. If you have points attached to your clicker questions, think about why you are making this decision and how this can impact both accountability and anxiety. While it has been argued that clicker questions that are graded for accuracy can increase student motivation to think hard about the question, our work is indicating that it may also increase student anxiety.

Thinking about timing your clicker questions? Be mindful of how time is presented in the classroom, whether it’s through a timer posted on the screen or a self-countdown method because if students feel rushed, this can elevate their feelings of anxiety.

Lastly, consider how and when you would like to share the graphs of student responses to clicker questions in the classroom. Did the majority of the class get the answer wrong? Did the majority of the class get the answer right? How are you talking about the students who didn’t get the right answer? How you frame whether students got the question right or wrong can influence their feelings of anxiety.