Response-Card Instruction and Student Learning in a College Classroom

We compared the effects of in-class review questions with and without student-response cards on learning and participation in a community college classroom using an alternating treatments design. In addition, students completed consumer satisfaction questionnaires at 3 points throughout the course. A higher percentage of students earned an A on their end-of-class quiz during classes with response cards than during those without. The use of response cards also resulted in greater student participation compared to classes in which response cards were not used. The consumer satisfaction questionnaire indicated favorable student evaluation of the response-card method of instruction. We discuss these results in the context of extending the research on active student responding in college classrooms.