My Experience Using I-clickers

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!