Title: Measuring student learning over time with clickers in an introductory operations management course

Authors: Harm-Jan Steenhuis, Brian Grinder, Erik-Joost De Bruijn

Addresses: College of Business and Public Administration, Eastern Washington University, 668 N. Riverpoint Blvd., Suite A, Spokane, WA 99202, USA. ' College of Business and Public Administration, Eastern Washington University, 668 N. Riverpoint Blvd., Suite A, Spokane, WA 99202, USA. ' School of Management and Governance, University of Twente, PO Box 715, Enschede, 7500 AE, The Netherlands

Abstract: This article describes the use of classroom communications systems, otherwise known as clickers, for measuring student learning over time. In an introductory operations management course, they were used to track student learning and progress. Student learning was assessed based upon the three lower levels in Bloom|s taxonomy: knowledge, understanding and application. This assessment occurred during lectures, small-stakes quizzes and high-stakes tests. This article shows that assessment opportunities are made possible through the use of clickers. This provides a mechanism to measure learning and allows an instructor to adjust instruction and to diagnose individual students in a timely manner so that additional help can be provided to students in need. Since many of the factors involved in the learning process lie outside of the realm of clicker technology, readers are advised to be cautious about reaching conclusions too quickly with regard to student learning and clickers.

Keywords: clickers; higher education; learning measurement; operations management; student learning; introductory courses.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIOME.2009.028855

International Journal of Information and Operations Management Education, 2009 Vol.3 No.1, pp.23 - 39

Received: 09 Sep 2008
Accepted: 03 Dec 2008
Published online: 09 Oct 2009 *

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