Emergent Technology GRIT 685

What is it?  A set of handheld devices  “Clickers”  Allow all students to answer an instructor’s questions  Allows the teacher monitor how well the class as a whole and individual students are grasping the lesson

How does it work?  Instructor poses a question  Students respond using a handheld transmitter or “clicker”  Student presses a particular key to indicate his or her reply  Responses are collected through radio frequency or infrared technology by a small receiver  Software that processes the clicker signal is either contained in the receiver or loaded onto a computer  After responses are locked in, the instructor may display the percentage of students who indicate each particular response

Integrating Questions  To gauge student comprehension or elicit an opinion  Questions can be thoughtfully integrated into a lesson or asked “on the fly”  Multiple Formats Multiple Choice True or False Short Answer Numerical Etc

Increased Student Engagement Benefit #1  Novelty “hooks” students  Anonymous responses Low risk context  Required response  Participation is mandated, increasing the likelihood that the child is paying attention to the lesson Accountability factor

Increased Student Engagement  “When more students can respond to a question honestly, more students are prepared to engage in subsequent discussion. The display of results…provides further motivation for meaningful discussion as students become aware of divergent views.” Bruff ( )

Considerations  Questions set the stage for learning however, it is through independent thought, small group discussion, and class wide debate that deep learning actually occurs  “asking the right questions is more important than the technology. Poorly structured questions or ones that don’t focus on key concepts and reveal misunderstandings can undermine the value of personal response systems.” (Educause, 2005)

Data-Driven Decision Making Benefit #2  Formative assessments accomplished in real time with instantaneous feedback  Teachers can analyze the data immediately and use this information to guide instruction  Whole class level or targeted to help individual students

Data-driven Decision Making  Allows teachers to fine-tune their instruction  Lessons adjusted or adapted as needed  Results from class responses can be saved and then displayed in a variety of formats histograms, pie charts, etc  Results can be saved to spreadsheet programs for semester or year-long analyses may inform subsequent curriculum development  Allow teachers to monitor student progress over time and to determine if teaching intervention has made a difference in student thinking

Teacher & Student Benefits  For instructors, clickers are used to evaluate student mastery of content  For students, clickers provide a quick way to validate their own learning, helping them to identify areas that need improvement Encourages self-monitoring

Considerations  The quality of the questions is a decisive factor in establishing the legitimacy & value of using a student response system  Multiple choice questions should include common incorrect answers as options  Questions should require students to apply a concept rather than merely define it

Best Practices  Can be used as a vehicle for pre- assessment to determine student perceptions  Then again subsequent to a group discussion meant to correct or deepen understanding to determine the effectiveness of those efforts

Other Uses  Can be used to administer summative assessments  Student learning is evaluated through graded quizzes  Saves time by self-grading and organizing the data

Final Thoughts  engage higher level and critical thinking skills  peer-learning approach In this method, a content question is posed, and as students vote, you show the responses without revealing the correct answer. Students then discuss their response with a neighbor or in a group and revote  To elicit deep discussion, use clickers to gauge students’ opinions or to show the range of opinions that exist on a given topic creates the opportunity for classmates to discuss their responses and connect their ideas