How well do clicker scores correlate with course performance? A case study in two MIS courses

Using real time student response systems (clickers) in Management Information Systems classes (as well as in other disciplines) has previously been shown to lead to better student engagement and better student performance. This paper considers how the students’ overall performance in the class correlates with the students’ performance on various assessment tools used in the class. For medium sized classes (20-30 students) as taught by the author of this paper, the correlation coefficient varies across the various assessment tools, and it also varies for any given assessment tool from section to section of the same class. The main result in this paper is that the correlation coefficient for the clicker score is one of the highest among the various assessment tools, for both graduate and undergraduate classes. This correlation coefficient is also more stable from section to section than the correlation coefficient for most other assessment tools. A possible explanation for this higher stability of the correlation coefficient for clicker scores is that clickers are particularly good at averaging student performance over the entire semester, more accurately than most other assessment methods. Finally, the correlation coefficient does not appear to depend on whether the clicker use is mandated or left optional (for extra credit points). A possible explanation is that clickers engage students in a healthy competition with the rest of the class as well as with themselves. The positive outcomes arising from the use of clickers make them a highly effective classroom tool.