Making the Case for Personal Response Systems: Evidence from Small Microeconomics Courses

Abstract

We analyze the impact a personal response system (in this case, “iClicker”)has on the educational environment in Principles of Microeconomics courses with betweenfive and fifty students. Responses to an eight-question student survey distributed spring2007 provide the quantifiable foundation for the study. Cross-sectional difference-ofmeans test results are reported for courses of differing size, as well as descriptive statisticsfor pooled data. As with previous findings in this field, students’ feelings toward the useof a personal response system are somewhat mixed; however, there appears to be greatpotential in judicious use of such technology in economics courses.