What's a clicker?

The other day I was teaching a lesson on the beginnings of the Universe. I was covering a lot of new material in class. After every section of discusison, I would stop and ask for questions...big surprise, there were no questions. Then I would ask a few questions based on the material, to see if students were able to apply the ideas. Five or six hands would go up, questions would be answered and I would move on. I covered the first 500,000 years of the history of our Universe in just under the 24 minutes I had in our shortened schedule. Pretty good for a day. Now, what are the chances that ALL of my students actually understood the material we went through? I won't know that until I give them some kind of assessment - an application assignment or maybe a test. This might not be for 3 or more days after the lesson, during which time the class would have moved forward in the unit. Add another day or two for grading, now the student is at least a week into the material and I don't know if they really grasped the basic concept.



Enter...THE CLICKER. Let's go back to my classroom scenario, except this time, when I pause to check for comprehension, every student is holding a clicker, a small calculator looking device that will allow them to interact with my questions in a whole new way. I ask my first question and now all 29 students have a chance to answer. Looking up at my projector screen, I see an indicator that lets them know that their response has been entered into the system. With one click of my mouse, a graph appears showing how many students picked each possible answer. Instant feedback and I am able to immediately go back to the material and reteach it. If I didn't give them the right answer initially, I can re-poll the question and see if understanding has improved.







What is a clicker any way? Clicker is a nickname for a student responder. There are many different styles available on the market. The main systems are either infrared or radio. Ours is an infrared system. There are 32 responders in each set. They are numbered. They "talk" to a receiver that you position in the front of your room. Because it is an infrared system, there does need to be a direct sight line to the receiver, but the students can use the responders from anyplace in your room. Our responders run through Turning Point software. This software allows you to create special, interactive question slides IN a PowerPoint presentation. So, if you know how to do basic PowerPoint, you should feel pretty comfortable using the software. The 2008 version we have access to has the ability to tie your questions to Ohio State Standards. It also comes with an OAT and OGT question bank, sorted by indicators and a test writer component.



Data based decision making is one of the foundations of creating effective lessons. The responders allow you to collect a lot of data about your class. The software can generate individual student reports, class reports, reports by indicator and reports that combine data from multiple classes. These reports have graphs built into them so that you can quickly see areas that you may need to re-teach or students who may need extra help.Later this year, the Turning Point Software will also by synced with Study Island.



Student responders are great for doing pre-assessment to see what kids know before a unit begins or post assessment to check their progress. They can be used anonymously or you can create class lists in the software and assign a specific number to each student that they will use each time you do a clicker lesson. You can also set up team competitions for fun reviews.



Currently, there are two sets of 32 student responders available in the FHS/LFM complex. I will be offering after school training when we return from spring break. The responders will be housed in the library where they can be checked out just like the computer labs or the stand alone projectors.



SOFTWARE

Turning Point Software is available FREE for download to PCs or Macs. You can install it on multiple computers. You can then work on making slides at home or school, use the question bank or create a test with the testmaker component. Choose the 2008 version to get the basic software. You might also want to download Turning Point To Go which will let you ask a question at any point in a lesson without having to create it in a slide.

Training for Turning Point will be scheduled after Spring Break or see Me:)