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Using Clickers

Page history last edited by dvowell@... 14 years, 10 months ago

Using Clickers

 

 

Background

"Clickers," or personal responders, have been around since the 1960's, when marketing companies created a Personal Response System (PRS) that allowed theater audiences to give feedback to unreleased movies, advertisements, and commercials.  The practice eventually moved to higher education and then into secondary and elementary classrooms.  Now, many universities require students to buy personal "clickers" that they use in all classes. The theoretical premise for the use of responders in education is well supported and affordable systems are gaining popularity due to improved and less expensive technology.

 

Overview

This workshop is an introduction to using PRS in the classroom.  You will investigate educational theories that support the use of responders and the mechanics of integrating them into teaching and assessment. Because question structure plays a large role in using PRS, the basis for hands-on practice will be Bloom's Taxonomy (both cognitive and affective). You will participate in both question and response formats.

 

Objectives

  • become familiar with one PRS system (Renaissance Personal Response System) hardware and software 
  • identify the educational value of responders
  • demonstrate proper construction of multiple-choice questions
  • create questioning that is suitable for responders
  • manipulate the components of a classroom system

 

NETS for Teachers

  • 1c.  promote student reflection using collaborative tools to reveal and clarify students' conceptual understanding and thinking, planning, and creative processes.
  • 2a.  design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity.
  • 2c.  customize and personalize learning activities to address students' diverse learning styles, working strategies, and abilities using digital tools and resources 
  • 2d.  provide students with multiple and varied formative and summative assessments aligned with content and technology standards and use resulting data to inform learning and teaching.

 

Tech Requirements

  • computer with PowerPoint or other Microsoft presentation software 
  • Internet access 

 

Relevance

"Over the last five years, a lot of studies have concluded that students who interact with one another and the instructor in the classroom learn subjects better, have a higher retention rate, and are able to apply materials more effectively than passive students" (Ainuson Abstract). President Obama has committed to "invest in innovative strategies to help teachers to improve student outcomes" (Education sec. 3). Personal Response Systems allow immediate feedback to the student and teacher about learning outcomes and aid in adapting instruction and assessment.

 

Why are Personal Response Systems "Clickers" Important?

  1. They help to maintain students' attention during a lecture and promote active student engagement during class.
  2. They create a safe space for shy and unsure students to participate; provide an inclusive environment.
  3. They promote discussion and collaboration among students during class.
  4. They encourage participation from every student and check for student understanding during class  (Bruff).

 

Ainuson, Kweku. "Effectiveness of Personal Response Systems as a Classroom Technology Tool at Clemson University" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the APSA Teaching and Learning Conference, San Jose Marriott, San Jose, California, Feb 22, 2008. 2009-02-03 <http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p245644_index.html>.

 

Bruff, Derek.  "Classroom Response Systems (Clickers)." Vanderbuilt Center for Teaching. 2008 <http://www.vanderbilt.edu/cft/resources/teaching_resources/technology/crs.htm>.

 

"Education." The White House: President Barack Obama. http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/education.

 

  

Resources

    Clickers

   Multimedia Support

 

Bloom's Taxonomy and Questioning

    Kinds, Costs and Considerations

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

Activities

 

No organized breaks...just duck out and back in!

 

Introductory Activity - Hit Me!     (10 minutes)

To start, you will gather Internet "hits" about clickers in education. You could use the word "clickers" or variations of:

  • personal responders
  • classroom responders
  • student responders
  • student response
  • audience response

 

 

Try to get a feel for:

  • how and why schools are using them
  • the benefits and detriments
  • how pervasive the use is
  • what content is most conducive to their use
  • how clickers can contribute to learning and using 21st Century Skills

 

 

If you find interesting or possibly helpful information, be sure to bookmark it (top ten social bookmarking services here).  There are resources listed above, or take a chance and Google it!

 

 

 Activity 2 - Pushing the Right Buttons!   (15 minutes)

You will be using your own clicker in an interactive quiz on (you guessed it) clickers!  As you become familiar with the tool, you will take a FAF (Fast And Furious) trip through clicker history, options, and possibilities. The more you know from your browsing,  the more points you can rack up!

 

We may also scan a presentation that I used with 8th grade students, to get an idea of some of the instructor options.

 

Be sure to notice the toolbar, the answer format options, how data is displayed, and the instructor choices for questions:

  • How can the teacher manage answering time? (Is answering opened only after clarification of question, or is answering allowed immediately?)
  • Does everyone answer once and the option is locked? 
  • Is discussion allowed?  Is there an indication that questions are answer alone or discuss?
  • Is there re-answering allowed after instruction or discussion?  (If so, how are the responses reset?)
  • How is reteaching possible with this format?

 

Activity 3 - Bloom Where You Are Planted!  (20 minutes)

Since we are talking about having students personally respond, to what do we ask them to respond? It might seem, at first glance, that clickers would limit you, as a teacher, to multiple choice questions and therefore, to lower level questioning. A review of Bloom's Taxonomy of Cognitive Skills must be in order, as well as a look at his Affective Domain, which is often overlooked. There are thousands of resources online to help you with Bloom's.  Here are a few:

 

 

And, we have to think about questioning in general.  Remember those behavioral verbs we learned to put in our lesson plans? Also, there are the true/false questions, which seem to be the trickiest for students.

 

Activity 4 - Point the Power/Power the Point!  (15 minutes)

So, at this point, you are armed with Bloom's Cognitive and Affective Taxonomy of Skills and Responses and the desire to create meaningful questions for students armed with clickers.  Using PowerPoint or any other program (even Word or Excel) that you want, you will now create four-six questions that would work well with clickers in both knowledge of content and deeper levels of thinking.  We will play it by ear to decide the content you use.

 

Activity 5 - Clicker Crunch (25 minutes)

Now, you are ready to take the instructor's position and quiz the class!  You will share the questions you created for clicker use and the rest of us will be students, fumbling our way through your test (like other students you may know).  You will manage the software and tools, control timing and re-answering, collect and show data, and give feedback to reteach. You will have a handout with the toolbar options. Of course, there is a rubric! Use it to evaluate yourself and other participants.

 

Closing Activity - Q, A, and IDKETA (5 minutes)

So, you have had a whirlwind introduction to using a personal response system to ask productive questions and engage every student in your class!  We will end with a question & answer segment for those of you who know enough to ask (hint for the acronym). 

 

Additional Notes:

Yes, there are disadvantages to using the clickers. 

 

Some students will select F when you only have A-D for choices (and yes, it gets a laugh and then more try it). Just remind them that you COULD check them out by number and KNOW what they choose, and GRADE it! (Good luck with that one).

 

Sometimes, you have a night like I did last night, praying that the ONE responder that didn't get back into the case is hidden in a bookshelf (oh, those clowns) or is in the hands of a student who will actually care when I cry and tell the class how much those things cost.  And, sometimes, like today, you will find the lost equipment stuck UNDER the tray, just for fun (whew!).

 

And, if you are enthralled too much, they groan when you get out the magic case!

 

Like anything else that we, as teachers, use to engage students in learning, use moderation.  Be creative.  Try everything.  And be glad for grant money and enthusiastic leadership.

 

 

 

 

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