How do I begin?

To get started using the Student Response System for your course, complete the following steps:

STEP 1:   Contact Mike Roy in Academic Technology at 597-2705 or email him at roy@ohio.edu. He will schedule an appointment with you to familiarize you with the technology (both software and hardware). This training also provides you with both technical and pedagogical experience in using a Student Response System. If several people from your department are interested in signing up together, Mike can schedule a department-wide introduction to the Student Response System and tailor it to your needs.

STEP 2: Download the TurningPoint software and install it on your personal or office computer. This is the software you will use to author interactive question slides within Microsoft PowerPoint. Be sure to download TurningPoint 2008.

STEP 3: Begin re-working your lecture presentations to include interactive slides. You may want to begin by lecturing for 10 minutes and then posting an interactive question slide to confirm whether or not your students are getting it. The key to using "clickers" effectively is asking good questions. This is a skill that takes time and practice.

STEP 4: Complete the online request form to notify Academic Technology of your intention to use the SRS at least 30 days prior to the beginning of the quarter. When you submit this request form, Academic Technology will make sure that your classroom is equipped to support clicker use.

STEP 5: Inform your students via your course syllabus and course Blackboard site that they will be required to use a clicker for your course. We will provide them a clicker free of charge. However, inform your students that they will be held responsible for paying the cost to replace their clicker in the event that it is lost, broken or stolen from them.

STEP 6: Give your students the web address for the clicker registration site. They must register their clicker ID (the 6-digit number on the back of the clicker) using the online registration form at the address you give them. You may want to write out this address in your syllabus as well as on your Blackboard course site. You will receive the web address to your course registration form in an email after you have completed the online request form in step 3 above.

STEP 7: After students have registered their clickers for your course you will be able to record how each individual answered any given question in class. This is possible because of a "participant list" file that pairs your students' names with corresponding clicker ID's. You will receive a participant list at the end of each week during drop/add period to be uploaded to the computer where you teach. We will email you step-by-step instructions to show you how to upload and update your participant list. Without a participant list you can only poll your students anonymously.

STEP 8: Teach your students how to use clickers in class. We've created two job aides to help you. Feel free to download these files and share them with your students.

Teach students how to use clickers (Word document)
Teach students how to use clickers (PowerPoint file)

STEP 9: At the end of each class period save your interactive session data. Session data records the questions you asked and how students responded to each question. You will use session data files to create detailed reports in Excel or Word, which you can import into your gradebook. We've created a Daily Checklist (Word document) that you can take to class to walk you through these steps each day.