University of Louisville Clickers Conference June 4 – Talks by VU’s Derek Bruff, Corbette Doyle, John Seibert

Posted by Rhett Mcdaniel on Monday, March 29, 2010 in News.

The 2nd University of Louisville Clickers Conference will be held in Louisville, Kentucky, June 4th this summer. “Clickers” are handheld devices that allow students to respond synchronously to multiple-choice questions posed by their instructors. Distributions of responses are displayed on-screen to inform subsequent teaching choices and motivate discussion among students. CFT assistant director Derek Bruff, author of Teaching with Classroom Response Systems: Creating Active Learning Environments (Jossey-Bass, 2009), is giving the keynote talk at the conference.

Two Vanderbilt faculty members are also giving presentations at the conference, Corbette Doyle (Leadership, Policy, & Organizations) and John Seibert (Otolarynglogy). Details on their sessions are below.

The conference is in Louisville, just a few hours away by car. If you’re interested in attending, please let us know!

Problem-Based Learning: Using Clickers to Ensure Progress in a Learn-By-Doing Course

Themes: Combining Online Assessment and Clickers for “Just-in-Time” Learning, Clickers and Peer Instruction, Using Clickers to Identify and Teach Around Misconceptions

Presenter: Ms. Corbette Doyle, MBA, lecturer, Peabody College at Vanderbilt University

Discover the opportunity that clickers offer to address key learning concerns in a no-lecture, constructivist environment such as that used in a problem-based learning (PBL) classroom. In particular, this session will focus on the opportunity clickers offer for fundamental learning assessments, and ways to determine when contingent teaching (or spot lectures) are needed to ensure individual and collective progress. The session will mirror a PBL class, with a primary focus on audience participation and minimal lecturing from the session leader.

Integrating Audience Response Systems into Otolaryngology Residency Training

Themes: Health Sciences, Clickers and Peer Instruction, Clickers and Assessment
Recommended for new users.

Presenter: Dr. John W. Seibert, assistant professor and director of medical education, Vanderbilt University, Department of Otolarynglogy/Head and Neck Surgery

This session will feature a study that created a learning environment in which otolaryngology residents transcended traditional methods of learning using audience response systems. We initiated two bimonthly interactive learning sessions using clickers with our otolaryngology residents. One session used case-based learning, supplemented with creative and objective questions. A second session involved review questions using clickers to track resident responses. Preliminary results have shown that initial reception was favorable, with 80% of responders interested in continuing to use clickers. Data from resident responses is ongoing. Audience response systems can allow residents to not only acquire knowledge but also to apply, analyze, and create new ways of processing a higher order of thinking skills.