Classroom
Clickers		    

Classroom response systems (or "clickers") are showing up in many more classrooms at schools and campuses.  In a college setting, the lack of a campus "standardization" on one clicker brand and type can cause clicker "chaos" -- the result of a proliferation of many different brands being adopted (with textbook publishers pushing professors to bundle their company's brand of clicker with their textbook).  Students can wind up having to buy several different clickers for the same term or year.
 

Clicker standardization
and support at college campuses:

As presented at EDUCAUSE 2006 in Dallas, the campuses listed at right have developed and implemented a comprehensive plan for supporting the use of a classroom response system (or "clicker") and its accompanying instructor software.  This includes:

  • Standardization on a single brand after establishing careful criteria -- technological, pedagogical, and usability -- and evaluating various types (infrared vs. Radio Frequency), brands, and types of clickers and the software used by instructors (and, in some cases, the student software used when there is a "virtual clicker" client available to load on their wireless PDA or laptop for a clicker-less classroom response system.).
     
  • Training for instructors, TAs, and staff in use of the software as well as awareness sessions about best practices for using them effectively to enhance interaction, engagement, and learning. 
     
  • Support for faculty, staff, and students.
     
  • Working out a relationship with the clicker vendor and campus area bookstores for sale of clickers directly to students or to departments (and, in some cases, the sale of a registration codes each term; others have lifetime, transferrable licenses included with the purchase of a more expensive clicker).
     
  • Creation of online resources sites that include an introduction for professors who are considering use of clickers, or who have chosen to use them.  Case studies and teaching strategies are included.  Links to these sites are at right above.
     
  • Pilot studies and research projects to evaluate the impact of using clickers on interaction level, engagement, and attainment of intended learning outcomes (vs. classes taught without clickers).  Some have research studies creating case studies examining whether students in sections of the same course perform better on exams if they were in one that used a clicker (and compare which strategies were most effective among the sections that used them).

 

 Clicker resource websites @ campuses:
University of Florida
Academic Technology: Classroom Support

University of Kansas
Instructional Development and Support (IDS)

Ohio State University
Technology Enhanced Learning & Research (TELR)

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Learning Technology Center (LTC)

 
Sampling of topics and links from sites above:

Handout distributed at EDUCAUSE 2006:

 


Other campuses, other links:  

If you have built a similar clicker resources site (on a web server at your ".edu" domain) and would like a link to it to be added to this site, please send it to tom@ClassroomClickers.com mentioning which vendor (and model and type -- IR vs. RF) you chose.  If you'd like to share a copy of your campus' contract with the vendor, reports about pilots or commitee studies, and/or any insights on how things are going, please submit that as well so I can post it and share it with those who are beginning or are in the middle of such a process.  I may also add a blog or discussion link here soon on the topic so you can add these directly.