tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18155604.post7030338157022515352..comments2023-10-17T10:21:11.698-06:00Comments on The Clutter Museum: Using clickers in the university classroomLeslie M-Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02434392840359276805noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18155604.post-41819349581775009102009-10-09T19:26:27.661-06:002009-10-09T19:26:27.661-06:00I'm interested in trying out clickers since my...I'm interested in trying out clickers since my university provides them to faculty and I love technology! But, since I'm doing a literature class, I am not sure how I can integrate clickers in a meaningful way. I could poll the students about the reading, but then what? I'm afraid I'd have to write a bunch of slides where I offered opinions that they could only (dis)agree with and that doesn't seem too productive. There are no true/false, right/wrong answers in our reading assignments...All of the examples I've found online of profs using clickers tend to be in other disciplines (social sciences, sciences, math, etc.)--in which concepts, problem sets, facts, and so on are being taught. I mean, if I have the students read a novel, their ultimate assignment is to write a paper about it, not to answer factual questions like "what year was Jane Austen born?" <br />Thanks for any feedback you & your readers can offer!!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18155604.post-22684583657188170692009-04-06T00:36:00.000-06:002009-04-06T00:36:00.000-06:00I recently came accross your blog and have been re...I recently came accross your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I dont know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.cheap jordan shoeshttp://www.chinawholesale2008.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18155604.post-77248246930591037722009-03-15T16:41:00.000-06:002009-03-15T16:41:00.000-06:00Great summary of some recent discussions about cli...Great summary of some recent discussions about clickers. I'll second your recommendations to have tech support available for in-class support with very little notice. That level of support makes it much more likely that instructors won't be turned off from using clickers by technical problems, many of which are easy to fix with the right bit of information.<BR/><BR/>Also, I like the idea of finding out from the bookstore who's ordering clickers and providing some proactive pedagogical support. I've found that many instructors figure out one or two useful things to do with clickers and then stick with those uses. A little bit of continuing inspiration can help instructors keep innovating.<BR/><BR/>The peer instruction technique you describe is pretty much the standard use of clickers in college and university settings. Clickers provide a very useful tool for gauging student understanding, but they're perhaps even more useful in engaging students in small-group and classwide discussions. Asking clicker questions motivates all students in a class to think about a question and commit to an answers, which sets them up well to contribute to discussions.<BR/><BR/>And while clickers work very well in large classes, where there are few options for assessing and engaging students, they also work well in smaller class (20 to 40 students). When I ask a verbal question of students in a small class, I'm only going to be able to hear from a few students. Posing the same question as a clicker question (a) allows me to find out all of my students' perspectives on the question and (b) prompts them all to think about the question independently--before they find out what their peers or instructor thinks. These benefits are evident even in small classes.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18155604.post-24778364258776738312009-03-08T15:49:00.000-06:002009-03-08T15:49:00.000-06:00Hey LeslieI work primarily as educator in a museum...Hey Leslie<BR/><BR/>I work primarily as educator in a museum and last year we were given an experience with a type of 'voting / multichoice' clicker you're talking about. I'm not aware of NZ universities using them - this guy was advocating their use in everday classroom situations though.<BR/>I'm not a big fan of these either - for the same reasons you've stated. Some fancy number-crunching of answers at the end of a lecture could justify the lecture - 'oh yes - 78% got the answer right, I must've given a good lecture'. It doesn't cover interest levels, engagement with the subject, the lecturer or other students at all. It's also faceless (unless students are asked to punch in their code first). It is trickier but asking people to put their hands up, voice an opinion/answer/question - something visual and or verbal, ensures ownwership of the knowledge, 'putting their money where their mouth is'. <BR/>If you want to have your students to engage with you and other students then it put the onus on you to be engaging in the first place. I think purely using the clickers would take this onus away - droning teaching at students would be allowed to continue.<BR/>I could see the clickers working better under this use:<BR/>'I have also heard of professors asking students to individually punch in an answer--A, B, C, D, or E, for example--then confer with their fellow students before answering the question a second time.'<BR/>This allows for students to give their answer/opinion but more importantly it requires engagement with each other AND the acceptance that you're allowed to change your mind once you have new facts on board. This is how we teach primary school students at the museum - seems quite effective. Means that students learn that teachers are only part of a resource, they don't know everything :-)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com