Markus Boettcher

How often do you use clickers in your class?

I am using the personal response system (PRS) for a variety of purposes: (a) to check on students' previous knowledge and preconceptions about a topic to be covered in class; (b) to get immediate feedback on the extent to which students have understood the material just taught in class; (c) to get students engaged and thinking about class content by asking transfer questions; (d) to check on the completion of homework assignments; (d) for graded quizzes.

How often do you use clickers in your class? How many questions do you give during a typical lecture?

In a typical lecture, I use the PRS 3 - 6 times per lecture, usually during each lecture. Generally, the students are requested to answer the questions independently. Each student is assigned a unique transmitter number, which allows me to connect given answers to individual students. The PRS records are used to enter into the grade for class participation, and occasionally, graded quizzes are administered via the PRS.

How have students responded to the use of clickers?

I have done a few polls on the students concerning their opinion about the use of the PRS. The opinion is generally very positive. The students generally agree that it keeps them engaged and connected to the lecture, and my experience is that they tend to come into class better prepared than when they don't expect to be asked any questions during the lecture.

What advice do you have about using clickers?

It takes some practise to use the PRS efficiently, without losing too much class time distributing transmitters, and finding the right balance between allowing students enough time to answer the questions without too much idle time.

What are the biggest challenges to using clickers effectively?

It is important to advise students to not frantically keep hitting the answer button and get frustrated when they see that their answer wasn't registered right the first time. Often, the infra-red PRS system we are using (GTCO CalComp InterWrite) gets jammed during the first few seconds when everybody is trying to get their answer in. Advise your students to wait for a couple of seconds and then try again. A response time between 30 and 45 seconds is generally enough for most questions. An efficient way to assign PRS transmitter numbers to individual students is to post a corresponding list online, so that students come into class already knowing which transmitter to pick up (have additional printed lists available for those who don't remember their number!), and keep the list unchanged for the entire course.