New for back-to-school: 'Clickers'

Students in Ann Auleb's biology of human sexuality class at San Francisco State University are often shy about joining classroom debates on gay marriage, abortion, circumcision and other emotion-stirring topics.

But more students came out of their shells this spring when Auleb introduced "clickers" into her classes. Students used the handheld gadgets, which look and work a lot like TV remote controls, to respond to classroom polls and quizzes without ever raising their hands or voices.

Using special receivers connected to their laptops, instructors were able to instantly gather responses to personal yes-or-no questions like, "Would you have your child circumcised?" They used the results to start discussions in the 350-student class.

News.context

What's new:
Gadgets called "clickers" are appearing at hundreds of U.S. colleges and high schools, giving teachers and students alike instant feedback on how well lectures are sinking in.

Bottom line:
Clicker technology is becoming cheaper and more reliable as manufacturers replace infrared clickers with ones that use radio frequency. But compatibility among clickers and receivers will be key to the technology's success.

More stories on this topic

"They're getting hard numbers on what people see and what people believe, and I think that's exciting for the students," said Christopher Fisher, Auleb's graduate teaching assistant. "I think there's a big concern with being normal. They get to see how they fall in line with their classmates. It definitely sparks some conversation."

So far, Auleb and her assistants are impressed with the technology, also known as classroom response systems--and apparently they aren't alone. The devices are appearing at hundreds of colleges and high schools across the country, giving teachers and students alike instant feedback on how well lectures are sinking in. The technology can also make classes in big lecture halls more engaging and interactive, especially for students who have grown up on the Web, cell phones and video games, proponents say.

The technology, based on radio frequency or infrared signals, has been around for years but has caught the attention of American educators over the past year or so. Schools and universities--most in the United States--bought nearly a million clickers last year, almost double the previous year, according to U.K market research firm DTC Worldwide. DTC, which tracks the global market for education technology, expects that 8 million clickers--$350 million worth--will be sold annually by 2008.

At San Francisco State, about 40 instructors are using clickers, according to Fisher. Other major schools using the devices include Harvard University, Northwestern University, Ohio State University, Purdue University and the University of Washington. eInstruction, one of the largest clicker companies, said that more than 700 universities are now using its devices. Turning Technologies, an Ohio competitor, has sold its version to more than 250. High schools and grade schools are adopting the technology too, they said.

Student shenanigans
"It's absolutely taken off," said Darrell Ward, chief executive officer and president of eInstruction, which is based in Denton, Texas.

One reason for schools' sudden interest in the technology is that textbook publishers are helping to sell the systems by bundling discounted clickers and related software with their books. Turning Technologies has an exclusive distribution agreement with Thomson Higher Education, a text book division of The Thomson Corporation. McGraw-Hill Higher Education sells clickers from eInstruction, and Pearson Prentice Hall sells clicker systems made by Columbia, Md.-based GTCO CalComp.

The technology has also become cheaper and more reliable over the past year or so as manufacturers replace infrared clickers with ones that use radio frequency, said Todd Pinney, manger of Turning Technologies' higher education unit.

Radio frequency technology is easier to use and set up because it requires fewer receivers and processes student responses faster than infrared, Pinney said. They're also easier for students because they don't have to aim the devices in any particular direction.

The newer clickers use a 2.4GHz signal, the same range as a typical cordless phone or Wi-Fi network, Pinney said. The receivers are the size of a flash drive and plug directly into the USB port of a laptop or desktop computer.

Some companies, including Turning Technologies, have created software that incorporates quiz questions and responses into Microsoft's PowerPoint presentation slides. That feature appeals to William Zoller, a chemistry professor at the University of Washington, who began using the Turning Technologies system in his 280-student freshman chemistry course this spring.

Zoller, a longtime PowerPoint user, began slipping slides into his presentations every week that posed multiple-choice questions such as, "To which group of elements does bromine belong?" In some cases, including the bromine one, he found he needed to revisit certain subjects. "The instant feedback lets me change the pace of the class or cover material again," Zoller said. "I can just back up a couple of slides."

Other instructors find the devices useful for taking attendance and administering graded quizzes. Scores are automatically logged into the system, eliminating the need to collect and grade each test by hand.

Although many instructors give the technology rave reviews, there's a dearth of research on how student response systems actually affect performance, including test scores, attendance and grades. It's also easy to imagine students engaging in some shenanigans

[TV James]

Oh, boo hoo.

"But such 'standardization,' in industry lingo, may go against the grain of professors, who tend to be very independent-minded, Ward said."

People are trying to be way too independent these days without understanding (or caring?) about the ramifications. Standards exist for a reason. To save money, avoid confusion, etc.

And a department complains later when we bill them for IT support because they insisted on implementing something other than the standard and we have to go learn how to support it. (That is not to say that if someone wants to prove to us why the standard doesn't meet the needs of their division, that we won't allow them to switch and support them, but if it's just a matter of personal taste, then it's your own problem.)

If you're going to start establishing IT guidelines (doing their job for them) then maybe the IT guys should come teach your classes. (What? They're not qualified and don't have the education necessary? But you're fully trained in the world of IT because you don't get lost when you go to Best Buy?)

It just amazes me that the same people who will accept the available choices for health plans from their employer without complaining raise the biggest stink if their exact brand of technology or software isn't the standard at their company and think they know best.

[Byronic]

IT establishing 'standards'

In my experience, the users often tend to know more about the
technology than the IT staff. Usually the IT staff is busy
pushing their own favorite tech and is upset that they should
have to know more than one technology. The ironic thing is
that the rest of us have to know at least 2 or 3 ways of doing the
same thing, but you, whose job it is to support this, think you
know best and are upset that the rest of us don't agree with you.
So you decline 'support' (e.g. work against your client's wishes)
when it is in fact your job to SUPPORT technolgy and not
DICTATE it.

If you don't like supporting a variety of technologies (let's say
you only want to use MS tech because it's just easier for you and
you are in your 'comfort zone') then maybe you need to find
something else to do.

[jvyduna]

Cell Phone ARS

This exists today - people can use their cell phones to vote in PowerPoint using Poll Everywhere, and it's free for low volume voting. See http://www.polleverywhere.com