Welcome to the Clicker Closet

The purpose of this electronic closet is to share Clicker PowerPoint presentations and other clicker information that can enhance social norms campaigns.

People often find social norms statistics “too good to be true.” Clicker systems and the immediate group feedback make social norms campaigns credible and overcome skepticism in participants.

All visitors are invited to visit our Media Closet and download any materials they find helpful -- for free.

What’s the catch? None! Everything is free. But we think it is fair to ask you to share back with us. If you get creative and make improvements or come up with new PowerPoints, we’d love to have you share them back with us. That way we will keep the cycle of strategy and resource sharing going! Please send submissions to thewell@vcu.edu for review and possible posting.

The closet also contains some information about clicker systems and a few research articles. If you have some interesting articles or information to share, please submit those as well.

Clickers? What's that?

“Clicker” is the affectionate nickname we use for “audience response systems.” Audience response technology uses handheld wireless remote devices (clickers) that work in conjunction with projection systems (usually a laptop with PowerPoint and a projector). While there are many different types of clicker systems, the purpose of all of them is to provide immediate audience feedback. Clicker systems are powerful tools that increase active learning and improve group discussion.

What clicker system does The Well use?

We now use the Turning Technologies system (www.turningtechnologies.com). This system is simple to use and works easily with PowerPoint. After four years of hard use, we have found our clicker keypads to be almost indestructible. The only downside to Turning Technology clickers is that they are small and easy for students to accidentally take with them. To reduce clicker loss, we now attach our clickers to lanyards and put contact information on them. We always offer “clicker amnesty” for anyone who returns a lost clicker.

Why do we use clickers for norm setting?

At VCU we use clickers to reveal the “gap” between perception and reality. We ask a perception question about what audience members think other people do -- and follow immediately with a question that allows individuals to say anonymously what they really do. The data is displayed immediately in a graph. There is no time for anyone to alter or tamper with the results. Seeing really does become believing! Our research shows that students are much more likely to have healthy and accurate perceptions if they have participated in a clicker session.

Clickers have a wide variety of other uses in social norms campaigns. We also use clickers to conduct market saturation surveys in classrooms, to augment focus group discussions and to media ballot future campaigns.

What is BLING and what does it have to do with social norms and clickers?

Dr. Joseph LaBrie coined the term BLING for “Brief-Live-Interactive-Normative-Groups” in 2009. BLING sessions build healthy social norms by using the power of clickers.

Suggested readings on clickers and/or BLING:

LaBrie, J.W., Hummer, J.F., Huchting, K.K., & Neighbors, C. (2009). A brief live interactive normative group intervention using wireless keypads to reduce drinking and alcohol consequences in college student athletes. Drug and Alcohol Review, 28, 40-47.

LaBrie, J.W., Hummer, J.F., Neighbors, C. & Pedersen, E.R. (2008). Live interactive group-specific normative feedback reduces misperceptions and drinking in college students: a randomized cluster trial. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 22 (1), 141-148.

LaBrie, J.W., Earlywine, M. Lamb, T, & Shelesky, K. (2006). Comparing electronic-keypad response to paper-and-pencil questionnaires in group assessments of alcohol consumption and related attitudes. Addictive Behaviors, 31, 2334-2338.

(See www.socialnorms.org for the most up-to-date social norms research articles.)

VCU BLING Research

The following study shows the impact of a Welcome Week BLING session on freshmen’s alcohol use perceptions and behaviors 11 weeks into their first semester on campus:

Hancock, L., Vatalaro, K., and Barber, J. (2010). Using Audience Response Technology in Brief Live Interactive Normative Group (BLING) Sessions to Reduce High Risk Drinking in College Freshmen. College Health in Action. Vol. 49. No 3: 14-15.
College Health in Action first quarter 2010 article [pdf]