Clickers Redefining Classrooms

markmcb writes "It seems that teachers may have a new way to boost classroom participation using a device called a clicker. A clicker is a small handheld device that allows its user to wirelessly respond to various prompts selected by a teacher. So when a teacher wants opinions on topics that people tend to shy away from like sex, religion, and politics, the question can be asked and the students can answer anonymously via the clicker. Everything from a simple poll to a graded quiz can be conducted using the device. In the age of cell phones and wireless computers such a technology is likely to be well-received by students, but one can't help but wonder if such a device will breed less assertive graduates who lack the will to stand up and voice their opinion on sensitive issues."

Re:Works Great!

[moonka]

Yea, we use them sometimes down here at University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign). They rarely record the responses, are decently expensive, and while they say at the begining of the year the bookstores will take them back, they don't always, and then you're out the cash those damn things cost.

Re:Works Great!

[WhiteBandit]

Yup, we used them in our physics classes as well (SFSU). We also have to "rent" them for the semester and it costs us $15, that we never get back.

These things take up valuable class time trying to get them to work in the first place, only work via line of sight... which you think wouldn't be a problem in a smallish classroom (if they are even working at all) and just are a huge distraction.

In short, they suck balls.

Re:Works Great!

[Robotech_Master]

RTFA.

The article indeed goes over the problems that IR clickers have, but notes that they're being replaced by RF clickers which work much, much more reliably.

Wish they'd had something like this back when I was in college.

My experiences with these as an instructor

[dhirsch226]

I have used these for a couple of years in some of my intro geology courses. The companies want you to use them for quizzing/testing, but I haven't found that to be feasible in my large (120-150 student) courses. In my smaller courses I don't see a real benefit to them, because I have enough direct responses in the small-group setting. In order to use them for quizzing, you have to either:
1) Hand them out once at the beginning of the course, record who has which one, hope they bring them daily, hope they haven't been destroyed in the bottom of a backpack, and hope they haven't switched with a friend; or
2) Hand them out at the beginning of each class session you want to use them for, and somehow record who has each one. This would likely take most of the class time just recording who has each gadget!

I have found them to be mostly useful in terms of the "gee-whiz" factor. Students respond positively on evaluations, but I've found no correlation between the use of these gadgets and student learning. I still use them in about 20% of my class sessions for the intro class.