Clickers and Peer Instruction...An Effective Teaching Strategy. Peer instruction, a technique made popular in college lecture halls by Harvard physics professor, Eric Mazur, may be better known to elementary and high school teachers as the cooperative learning strategy, Think-Pair-Share. Whatever you choose to call this strategy, it becomes even more effective when combined with the use of classroom clickers. This technique can be used during whole class discussions and is an effective tool to get students to think on their own, to listen to differing opinions, and to generate their own opinion about a topic. In the discussion part of this strategy, misconceptions are often revealed and resolved, making this a very effective teaching strategy for key concepts.
You do not really understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother. - Albert Einstein This type of instruction provides several learning benefits to students. It gives the student the opportunity to try and persuade his partner or group that his idea is correct. Faculty Opinions | Clickers at UNLV | UNLV Office of Information Technology (OIT) I>clicker Summer 2008 Why are you using clickers? I pilot tested clickers during a summer session course and now use them for four classes with a total of some 350 students. I first was introduced to clicker in a TLC session and thought they were a brilliant idea.
Have clickers improved learning for your students? Definitely improved learning through providing a feedback loop for me with regard to effectiveness of teaching - I can check for understanding with all students in a matter of seconds. Have you used clickers for testing? I use the clickers for class participation only - no exams. Can you tell us a little about how you use the clickers in a typical class period? I integrate five clicker questions in each 75-minute lecture. What suggestions would you give to faculty for implementation? First determine if they fit into your presentation style and your mission and purpose as an instructor. Tell us a bit about i>clicker. iclicker support is first class. Anything you'd like to add? How clicker technology is changing higher education. For a long time, college professors had no idea whether their lectures were sinking in --until exam time, when it became clear that students either got the lesson… or didn’t.
But in the last decade, the use of student response systems, or hand-held, wireless clickers, has enabled educators to promote learning and improve teaching. Last week I talked with Michele Shuster, assistant professor of biology at New Mexico State University. Shuster was an early adopter of clickers and also runs clicker workshops for faculty interested in using student response systems in their classrooms. (I was thankful that I wasn’t sitting in a lecture when, 20 minutes in, she told me that most people have an attention span of about 12 minutes.) Excerpts of our conversation are below. OK, let’s talk about clickers. How long have you been using them? Eight or nine years. Describe what they look like today. And who pays for them?
Students pay for the clicker. They use their clickers to vote. So Intro to Biology. SRS in Higher Education. Classroom Response Systems. (or better known as "clickers") This module was initially developed by Joe Calhoun, Florida State University, then enhanced with the valuable assistance from S. Raj Chaudhury, Shelby Frost, Bill Goffe, KimMarie McGoldrick, Mark Maier, and Scott Simkins. What is a Classroom Response System?
Similar to TV remote controls, clickers are used in class to answer questions. Are you looking for a way to increase student engagement and learning in your classes? A Classroom Response System (CRS) is technology that promotes and implements active and cooperative learning. Beatty (2004) states that "By engaging their minds in class, (CRS) based instruction makes students active participants in the learning process. " learn more about Classroom Response Systems Why Teach with a Classroom Response System? As one instructor says, "My worst day with clickers is better than my best day without them. " There are two primary benefits of teaching with a Classroom Response System: Resources. Clickers-Students&TeachersSpeak.
Did You Know . . .The Power of a Student Response System. 2/1/2009 By: The YouTube video "Did You Know? " popularized this question and shed light on our rapidly changing world through startling statistics regarding MySpace, internet connectivity and the growth of the world's knowledge. Several spin off videos such as the TeacherTube "Connected Classroom" revealed the substantial digital divide between the evolving world technologies and the antiquated methodologies still persistent in the majority of America's classrooms.
One of the more powerful statements in the "Did You Know" videos is that we are preparing students for jobs that do not yet exist. How we accomplish this impossible mission requires new and innovative practices that engage digital natives rather than power them down in their primary learning environment...our classrooms. Did you know that student response systems can change assessing for grades to assessing for learning? Did you know that student response systems engage all students for all questions ? Dr. Top 12 Best Practices for Clickers in the Classroom. I recently had the opportunity to write a whitepaper for DYMO/Mimio Interactive Teaching Technologies about use of hi-tech Student Response Systems (aka “clickers”) in the classroom. In full disclosure, DYMO/Mimio, a Newell Rubbermaid company, is my former employer. When I was working in the educational technology hardware industry one of the most common questions I was asked was some variation of “Can you show me research that says that if I put this equipment in my classroom my students’ outcomes will improve?”
This was a question that I got not just from customers, but from colleagues alike. It was a fascinating and shocking question to me. The idea that adding a chunk of metal and plastic into a classroom would suddenly, magically, transform academic performance was one that people so badly wanted to be true…an educational panacea…what better way to solve the education problem AND generate sales? Top 12 Best Practices for Clickers in the Classroom 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. Classroom Response System (“Clickers”) Bibliography.