Approached by a number of healthcare institutions in Colorado, ADU was asked to extend their healthcare education to the Greater Denver area. Under the leadership of the founding President, Dr. David Greenlaw, ADU worked out a synchronous distance program that mirrored the faith-based education at the main campus in Orlando, Florida.
A comprehensive pilot program began in the Fall term of 2008. During the beta term in Orlando, the “offsite” students were taken to an off campus venue to simulate the offsite location. They were off campus for the entire term. Besides being mentored by a full-time faculty “offsite”, the students were using the already-familiar Turning Technologies polling virtual clicker on their laptops. Every effort was made to ensure that the “offsite” students perceived that they were experiencing immersive connection all the time with the host class at the main campus.
Seeing themselves participating visually on the screen via the Turning Technologies virtual clickers, the “offsite” students continued to feel they were a part of the host class interacting through a familiar technology. Making a contribution to the right answer column on the screen reinforced learning and affirmed their role in the larger class presence. Getting the wrong answer might not be a lonely experience as they were a part of the host class who got the wrong answer as well—it was really a one-class experience, right or wrong.
During the summer of 2009, the pilot program was delivered to Denver. Several dual enrollment students in Denver participated in a general education course to help determine the pedagogy, technology, and logistics requirements before rolling out a degree program in the following summer.
After four years, three healthcare degree programs were rolled out in Denver, and ADU had learned the following best practices in using clickers to unite the locations and turned it into a one-class learning experience:
1. Deep Learning. Derek Bruff, who wrote a book on teaching with clickers, observed that clickers could promote deep learning. It could also broaden learning from instructor-led discussion to peer discussion. For instance, a particularly helpful peer discussion moment was when there was a tie-in a multiple choice question. Instructors encouraged the students to turn to each other and discuss which of the two was the better answer followed by reopening the question for students to answer the second time. From experience, the correct answer column turned up significantly higher during the second attempt. Students not only experienced in-depth learning but also remembered it longer. As deep learning was less likely to occur at the offsite location, the clicker learning strategy made it possible for offsite students to enjoy the same learning experience as the onsite students.
2. Passive to active learning. Students in the host location could lose focus while listening passively in person, let alone the offsite students who were less engaged as they were not physically present. It was no different from watching a lecture video if the instructor did not engage or interact with the students. Creating opportunities to interact between lecture segments was helpful. However, some instructors didn’t remember to pause for questions. Even when they did, students might not be motivated to interact, especially among the offsite students. Clickers changed that. Including polling questions in between lecture segments would capture student attention as well as reinforcing knowledge retention. Researchers found “fewer attention lapses reported during demonstrations and questions than during lecture segments. There were also fewer reported lapses in attention during lecture segments in the period immediately following either a demonstration or a question, when compared to lecture segments that preceded the active learning methods” (Briggs, 2014).
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