Is Group Polling Better? An Investigation of the Effect of Individual and Group Polling Strategies on Students' Academic Performance, Anxiety, and Attention

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of polling technologies (clickers or tablets) integrated with strategies (individual or group) on students' academic performance, anxiety, and attention. The participants were 34 students enrolled in an educational research methodology course. The anxiety scale, pre- and in-class quizzes, brainwaves of attention levels, open-ended questionnaires, and a 20-minute structured interview were used in this study. During the experiment period of three weeks, the instructor conducted three types of polling activities. The results showed that the instant polling strategy helped promote learning performance, and if a team was given an opportunity to discuss a topic after it was announced, this would help reduce students' feelings of anxiety and increase their attention levels. This study suggests that classroom activities can be designed to incorporate team polling for increased participation.