Thursday, March 15, 2007
I-clickers
Today, I just received 25 i-clickers from Houghton Mifflin to test out. These are the radio frequency classroom response system (or i-clickers). These are supposed to be a simple, flexible solution that encourages active student participation. According to the advertisement, they are “an easy-to-use radio frequency classroom response system that facilitates teacher rather than impeding it.” A little history on this particular system: In 1997, University of Illinois physicists attempted to integrate all aspects of a course using research-tested interactive engagement methods in a team teaching environment. This lead to the development of the i-clickers. I will give them a try in the next few weeks and update by findings to this blog.
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6 comments:
Hi Ken:
Here's a good link to a variety of software than can be used to design 'quiz show' type things for your new clickers. Hope they work out!--Kevin
http://www.surfpack.com/downloads/9521/makequiz.html
Hi Ken, (second attempt - first didn't work - sorry)
I have seen a couple of articles on the use of i-clickers and I was going to examine this area as part of this class. They seem to have alot of benefits - instant feedback if you had a classroom set. This system would increase student-teacher interaction, which is the area I am looking into. It will be interesting to hear about your experience with your new set.
Ken
Hi Ken -
If you are interested in trying out another brand of Clickers, i suggest Qwizdom. They are a much more flexible solution. The Instructor device is great.
www.qwizdom.com
Enjoy!!
I look forward to hearing your review on these clickers. I love clickers. I can't quite remember the name of the ones that we have in our shcool and it is a Saturday so I'm out of luck, but I love using them. The best part is that the students love them to and the studets get actively engaged in the activity. I wish I had my own class set, but the most the teachers in my school aren't on the technology band wagon yet so I usually get the one set whenever I want them. I look forward to working with you this semester. Rick
Today, I tried out the i-clickers that I have on loan for the first time. I only have 25 clickers and about 40 students in my class so students had to share. I was surprised at how easy they are to use. I simply connected the base to the computer in my classroom using a USB plug. I opened the program on the computer, turned the clickers on, and I was ready to go. I used questions that I already had in my PowerPoint lectures and wrote 4-5 choices on the board (in the future these will be added to each slide). Students had 60 seconds to solve the problem and enter their value with the clicker.
I like the way the clickers transformed a passive learning environment into an active one. I did not register the clickers (so there is no credit or score tabulated for each student’s choice). The clickers are a simple method to get all (or in my case most) of the students involved instead of just sitting there in a passive mode. Once the allotted amount of time was over (60 seconds), I could click on the display button and graph the students’ response to the current question. I could easily see the number of student that picked each choice which led to discussion. It was a great first try and I look forward to using them again soon!
I wanted to update my blog on my experience so far with the i-clickers. So far I have still enjoyed using them. Student like the use of the remotes and I like the ease of use. I like the fact that they can be utilized with any presentation application (PowerPoint, Excel, etc). I also like the ability to display and graph students’ responses (correct/incorrect answers) which encourages thoughtful discussion. Using the i-clickers, the students' participation levels have increased and further class discussion and debate have been stimulated as a result. Due to the flexibility of this system, it could also be used for attendance and for credit assignments to include quizzes. There are many teaching and learning opportunities available with this system. I have enjoyed using it so much that I have written a “new initiative” grant at my college to purchase a set of 100 clickers (and base). This system (as are all similar systems) is not cheap. It will cost about $3000 for this set. I will not know until May if the grant is funded, however, I will keep my fingers crossed.
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