A meta-analysis of the effects of audience response systems (clicker-based technologies) on cognition and affect

Abstract

Audience Response Systems (ARS) are thought to be a good way of using technology to increase engagement in the classroom and have been widely adopted by many instructors seeking to improve academic performance through student engagement. While researchers have examined the degree to which they promote cognitive and non-cognitive learning outcomes in the classroom, most of their findings are largely mixed and inconclusive. This meta-analysis seeks to resolve the conflicting findings. Specifically, the meta-analysis compared classrooms that did, and did not use ARS-based technologies on different cognitive and non-cognitive learning outcomes to examine the potential effects of using ARS. Overall, we found small but significant effects of using ARS-based technologies on a number of desirable cognitive and non-cognitive learning outcomes. Further analysis revealed that knowledge domain, class size, and the use of clicker questions, are among factors that significantly moderated the summary effect sizes observed among the studies in the meta-analysis. These findings hold significant implication for the implementation of clicker-based technologies in the classroom.